273 camshaft

[MILO]

Well summer is almost over and I can do some work on the Dart this winter. For the 273 I have, I purchased a camshaft on craigslist the guy told me that it was out of a engine that he had in his garage for a while a 273 hipo I bought the pistons and cam. The cam dident have any Chrysler markins on it. I installed it and it seamed kinda radical but not too bad I did have to keep the idle turned up a bit. When driving it it runs very good but when having the 4 speed in first and driving slow around town stoplight to stoplight it gives you the hirky jerks not to good to have to step on the gas and hold the clutch in tell it slows some then letting out to go a little further.* Here is my question to anyone who has a stock 273 hipo 4-speed Is the stock cam this way??? I do have a couple extra cams a stock 273 2v and a stock 273 4v and wondering what one to use I want to be able to drive and enjoy this car more next year.

 

[caferacerx]

if it were me I would run the stock 4V cam

 

[toolmanmike]

The HP cam is really pretty mild. You can idle it slow and use it with an auto trans with a stock converter. The Isky E-4 is as close as you can get with a off-the -shelf solid lifter cam. I'd give you a link but they're hard to find on their website. I found mine on Flatlander Racings site. http://www.flatlanderracing.com/

 

[BillGrissom]

Milo, too bad you didn't measure the lobes with a caliper before you installed it, so you know what you have. You still can with the valve cover off, using a dial indicator, but a pain to setup and I get erratic results with my cheap tools. A rough idle could also be caused by a lean mixture, like from a vacuum leak. If you don't hear it rumble in the exhaust, it may not be the cam.

I found a shop in Oregon that would regrind my stock 2-barrel cam to the Hi-Po profile, ~$80 + shipping. Any shop can do it if they have the "pattern cam", which this place did. I ended up buying a new hydraulic cam (0.422/0.444 lift at valve, I recall). toolmanmike is correct about the HP cam being mild by today's standards. As I recall from my Dart book, it has ~0.395" intake lift vs 0.375" for the 2-barrel cam. The hydraulic one I installed is termed "RV/Torquer" so considered still good on the low end, though comparing solids and hydraulics is not one-one. Some hate to give up the "tic-tic" sound of solid lifters, but I installed Roades leak-down lifters which sound similar (some hate the sound) and should give me even better low-end torque and mileage. I'll know when I start driving the car, hopefully soon.

 

[toolmanmike]

PS. That's a real clean 64 you have there! Mike

 

[MILO]

Thanks for all the comments I think that I will go with the stock 4v cam and hope that its better. Now to get a lifter removal tool. I see there is a few for sale on e-bay

 

[65CudaFish]

There is also a Crower Cam that is really close to stock 4V it's # 31320 Advertised Duration intake 278 degrees and exhaust 288 degrees. The lift is intake .446 and exhaust .456. It's solid lifters and sets intake .022 and exhaust .022. I bought one and put it in a 273 and it was very enjoyable P.A.W. sells them and so does Summit Racing and the Crower lifters (as are most solids) are just like the stock ones.

 

[pishta]

... P.A.W. sells them ...

Dang, where have you been? PAW has been out of the game for almost a year, nothing but early Hemi's now. Looks like its more of a hobby for the guy now than a business. Bummer, they were cheap and close....and had a heck of a printed catalog, it was like a phonebook!

 

[RustyRatRod]

What a nice little 64. I have a 63 myself. Just as a note, you cannot tell a damn thing from measuring camshaft lobes with calipers. That's always been one of the funniest things I've ever heard. A stock camshaft and a .650 lift camshaft can have the same measurements since the .650 lobe is in a different position because of the different base circle. The only accurate way is to measure it either in the engine with a dial indicator or in a simple camshaft jig out of the engine on the bench with a dial indicator.

 

[MILO]

What a nice little 64. I have a 63 myself. Just as a note, you cannot tell a damn thing from measuring camshaft lobes with calipers. That's always been one of the funniest things I've ever heard. A stock camshaft and a .650 lift camshaft can have the same measurements since the .650 lobe is in a different position because of the different base circle. The only accurate way is to measure it either in the engine with a dial indicator or in a simple camshaft jig out of the engine on the bench with a dial indicator.

Thanks that makes the most sense to me I did measure the lobes on all 3 with a cheap Harbor Freight digital caliper and they all was the same

 

[RedFish]

That "herky jerky" can come from the flywheel and/or pressure plate too.

 

[604]

I always herd you measure the hight of the lobe, then the with and subtract the width from the hight. Then take it times your rocker ratio. It is a way crude way, but I have tried it a time or to on cams that I new the specs on and it was in the ball park. Enough to give you a rough idea. Sounds like that cam is to big for what you want. But sounds like about the size I am wanting for my dart! LOL

 

[BillGrissom]

I do the same as 604, using a simple vernier caliper. Indeed, I did last week to verify a new SBM cam I got on ebay since arrived in a GM cam box (it was correct). I remembered how tough it is to get consistent measurements, even on the bench. The lobe height can vary 10 mil each measurement (same lobe). I hold the vernier tight and rotate it around the lobe and note the max reading for lobe height and min reading at the base circle. Still, any cocking of the vernier makes it read high.

 

[65CudaFish]

Dang, where have you been? PAW has been out of the game for almost a year, nothing but early Hemi's now. Looks like its more of a hobby for the guy now than a business. Bummer, they were cheap and close....and had a heck of a printed catalog, it was like a phonebook!

Bummer, I bought from them last in June of 2010ops:

 

[toolmanmike]

I like the Crower cam specs. Should have put one of those in. The Isky E-4 is as close to stock as I found but a little more attitude would be fun. The Crower should have a bit of a lope. Anybody have one in a 273 that we could hear?

 

[MILO]

Well I had some time to work on the Dart 273 I removed the camshaft and looked it over close and found what looks like faded orange or purple markings and on the

front the number 1136 and on the rear where the distributor gear is D2 and 31 or 3I then 537 then a circled M then a F Then a upsidedown 7
.
I dont know what this cam is but after installing another stock cam the car no longer has the herky jerkies and runs and sounds good (not so lumpy) And per my other post on the distributor vaccum at idle the new cam corrected this.