Is that 5-speed the AX-15, or the NV3500 or something else?
That Whiplash cam is gonna have advertised specs of around 270/284/107. which means, in at 105, the Ica is gonna be 60* and the overlap comes to 63*, which is between two and 3 times as much as a regular 223/236 cam would have. This is what gives it that lumpy idle.
The thing is, if you are willing to put up with that idle, then why not run a "real cam" of about the same advertised intake, say a 268/276/108; which could be 226/232, @050, and pick up a lil extra absolute power, and extra power stroke, while sacrificing one cam-size worth of overlap, which, on the street in two gears, doesn't count for much anyway.
That lil 223 whiplash is gonna power-peak around 5000, maybe up to 5200. So with the Ax15, you'll probably pull the 1-2 shift around 5700, to get into Second at 3500, but with 3.73s and say 29" tires, this is gonna be 34mph. The 2-3 split in that trans is also a wide ratio, so Second will also need to go to about 5700, now at 57mph. Stuffing it into Third, yur back to 3500, and your street-race is over, unless you are willing to risk getting a speeding ticket. Third will get you 83mph@5200, but pulling from 3500, that's a really long leg, especially for a 318........ so it better have compression.
To get it, I recommend alloy heads, and run the pressure up to more than 185 psi; perhaps as high as 200. Now you can run that Whiplash to bleed the pressure down at low rpm. And your starter gear of 3.83 x 3.73=14.30, with 29s (which would act like 12.62 with 26s), is gonna be right on.
I still wouldn't run that Whiplash.
BTW-1
Just so you know, a long time ago, in my 367LA, I ran a Hughes fast-rate 223/230/110 cam, which was 270/276@050, with alloy heads at up to 195psi. I ran it with a Mopar od box and a GVod behind it. In double overdrive the cruize rpm was; 65=1600/ 85=2100 rpm, I coaxed 32 mpg out of that combo.
The point is; pressure makes heat, and heat makes torque, and torque times rpm makes power. I ran the pressure on cheap 87E10 gas.
With your iron head combo, 9.8 Scr will be pushing it with 91 gas, and the bottom-end will still feel like a 318, because of the late-closing intake event, coupled with the long-period overlap.
IMO, if you're gonna sacrifice the bottom end like that, then you might as well run a "real cam" in the first place. or Pump up the pressure to use Alloy heads.
Just so you know;
That 223/230/110 cam was my favorite of the three cams that my 367 has entertained. IMO Hughes knocked it out of the park with that one; and at 11.3 Scr, I just made it that much better.
BTW-2
IMO, 3.73s are the wrong rear gear for your combo for your stated usage with tall tires. IMO, for low-ET, you really want to hit 65mph on the power peak, in either Second or Third gear.
Also, in that AX-15, the first two splits are VERY wide, 61% and 62%. They do not play well with a high-rpm engine. For a shift rpm of 5700, the rpm drop is to 3500, which means your engine needs a powerband of 2200. You'll never get that out of your iron-headed 318 at 160/165 psi. It will be ok on the 1-2, cuz she's blasting to 34 mph with tires on fire. But when she shifts to Second, or especially Third, that's when you're gonna feel it. The 3>4 split is 69%, so now yur back in action, but with 3.73s your speed is out of sight.
That trans is a dream for a hi-torque 5.2, with the long-ram intake, sorta like the factory "keg".
BTW-3
The NV 3500 has better splits, but still no hell.
Since you don't care about hi-way economy, I recommend the Commando 4-speed. It still has a wide 1-2 split, but the 2>3 is better, and the 2>3 is really good ....... with the right rear gear. I've been running it since about 2004 and am real happy.
BTW-4
Here is a gear-ratio breakdown;
AX-15; 3.83-2.33-1.44-1.00-.79od; splits of .61/.62/.69/.79
A833; 3.09-1.92-1.40-1.00; splits of .62/.73/.715
This only tells part of the story; to see the rest, you need to include the rear gear, in your case 3.73s. Yo can see this by converting each gear to an On-Road gear by multiplying the two. Thus the Roadgears become
AX15; 14.29-8.68-5.37-3.73-2.95 and
Mopar; 11.53-7.16-5.22-3.73 and to hit 5700 @65mph with 29"tires, you need a gear of 7.56.
To keep the AX, you need;
7.56/233=3.24s for Second or 7.56/1.44=5.25s for Third.
To use the Commando, you need
7.56/1.92= 3.94s for Second or 7.56/1.40= 5.40 for Third
It is highly unlikely that you would run 5.40s on the street. Therefore, your choices are; 3.24s for the AX, or 3.94s for the Commando. Your starter gears then, would be
12.41 for the AX, and 12.08 for the Commando
The payoff is in the 2>3 split, where the AX drops to 3500 from 5700, whereas the Mopar only falls to 4160, putting you 660 rpm further up the Powerband, and now pulling harder, especially with a real cam, lol.
I say "real cam", in jest. The Whiplash has it's place in the HotRod world. I mean, it sounds pretty good at idle.
But
nobody races at idle.
And once you wind it up, it's "just" a 223 cam.
If yur ok with that, who cares what my opinion is.
BTW-5
I eventually swapped that 223/230/110 out, for a 230/237/110..
That gave me about the same overlap as your whiplash, but changed the Ica to 66 from 60, dropping my cylinder pressure. To get it back, I just decked the block again. So,
my "real cam" now idles like your Whiplash.
But whereas the car went 106mph in the qtr with the 223 Hughes cam, it now goes 93 in the Eighth with the 230 cam.
That's a hell uvathing. Everything else is the same. Well not quite, the small cam was at 3650 pounds, while, the larger cam was at 3457, a difference of 193 pounds, which itself was worth 19hp. The rest was in the cam, and it's combo.
The Wallace calculator says it takes 335hp to go 106(Qtr), and 433 to go 93(1/8th). So, to say I was ecstatic, would not be overstating it. But
I wouldn't want any more cam than this in my manual-trans combo. BTW, my alloy heads are OOTB Eddies.
In any case
Happy HotRodding