Cam choices for stock 318's

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toolmanmike

toolmanmike

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I sat down for a hour or so tonight and banged away at the Desktop Dyno. Don't beat me up over that. I wanted to do a comparison of small block hydraulic cams that we may put in our stock or near stock 318's. I entered specs for 14 or so cams. Most had .050 duration at 220° . Some were below, some just above with the largest being 227°. The lift spec ranged from .400-.479. Most were 110° lobe center , some were 112° and a couple were ground on 108°.l tell you what, the HP and torque ranges were all pretty close. HP was 280-300 and torque was all around 325. The HP peaked at 4500-5500r's and torque was from 3500-5000. Other than the rpm range where things peaked at they were all quite close. If I was to buy a cam to put in my stock bottom end 318 with 302 heads and dual exhaust, LD4B intake and 600-650 carb I would choose the Howards #711381-10 208/214 255/261 .479/.494 110°. It produced 302 hp @5500 and 338 tq @ 3500. This cam was only 5 hp from 2 or 3 others and the same for the torque numbers. In closing, If you have a stocker 318 and want to put a cam in it. don't look for a magic bullet. There isn't one. You will need a big cam, convertor, gears, headers, single plane intake,good sized carb etc to get the big numbers from your teen. tmm
 
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Ive had great luck with cams that are basically .455 lift with 220 degrees @50 Ive run this basic spec by several manufaturers and they work really well about as big as you want with stock convertor.
 
I will list a few different cams I've used in mild 318's. All have responded well.
  1. I did a used 360 2bbl cam. Free. It could be felt by the "seat of the pants".
  2. 340 automatic cam. This worked awesome. It had stock converter and 3.21 gears. The car did have TQ/cast intake, cut 360 heads, with headers.
  3. MP .474/280 adv. duration. I used a couple of these in 318's. With 4bbl, home ported heads, and headers, it pulled very well in the RPM's. A little "lazy" off line, but both times had stock converter and 2.76 gears.
  4. Summit K50052 kit. Nice cam for the money
 
318willrun said:
I will list a few different cams I've used in mild 318's. All have responded well.
  1. I did a used 360 2bbl cam. Free. It could be felt by the "seat of the pants".
  2. 340 automatic cam. This worked awesome. It had stock converter and 3.21 gears. The car did have TQ/cast intake, cut 360 heads, with headers.
  3. MP .474/280 adv. duration. I used a couple of these in 318's. With 4bbl, home ported heads, and headers, it pulled very well in the RPM's. A little "lazy" off line, but both times had stock converter and 2.76 gears.
  4. Summit K50052 kit. Nice cam for the money
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Good to know. Lots of talk about that 340 cam being a good one.
 
toolmanmike said:
Good to know. Lots of talk about that 340 cam being a good one.
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Car ran 14.40's at 96 mph. Not bad considering 3.21's with stock converter/727. Better converter and 904 it might have hit high 13's...... not bad for a stock block 318 with 3.21's :)
 
I ran a junkyard 318 in my old daily driver 69dart many years ago. Had 140kmiles when I got it. Put in a new oil pump, a 68 340 intake and headers. Used an old Crane fireball with 300° adv duration and some old Engle springs I had. That thing ran amazingly well!!!! But with a 3.91 sure grip and a 4spd, even the wore out 273 would put the mustang Gt kids in their place. That was a pretty fun and reliable car. Sounded like a mean old bear, ran cheap pump gas and drove it everywhere. Used that cam in several different engines over the years
 
318willrun said:
I will list a few different cams I've used in mild 318's. All have responded well.
  1. I did a used 360 2bbl cam. Free. It could be felt by the "seat of the pants".
  2. 340 automatic cam. This worked awesome. It had stock converter and 3.21 gears. The car did have TQ/cast intake, cut 360 heads, with headers.
  3. MP .474/280 adv. duration. I used a couple of these in 318's. With 4bbl, home ported heads, and headers, it pulled very well in the RPM's. A little "lazy" off line, but both times had stock converter and 2.76 gears.
  4. Summit K50052 kit. Nice cam for the money
Click to expand...

I have the Mopar .474 in my mild 318 with 2.02 heads and it performs very well in the butt dyno (never been on the machine). And that is without an optimal rear end gear.
 
The largest cam I use with a stock converter can vary, but in general terms, (for an A body) 218@.050 is as large as it gets. I also would not use a gear ratio lower than 3.21 & a stock diameter tire. If anything, a slightly smaller one works better in a daily driver.

The desk top dyno is a fine learning tool and is relatively accurate in its calculations.
 
COMP-Cams 20-220-3. 250/260 .432/.444
Took our 318 Scamp with stock bottom end around the block for its first shakedown this past weekend. 7.25 with 2.76 gears. Still did a peg leg burnout for half a block without even getting in it hard. Can't wait till we put the 8.8 in with 3.73 Trac loc and tweak the tune. This is gonna be fun. Cam seems too pull well off idle. Probably too small for a lot of people.
 
rumblefish360 said:
LOL. I should have added that your 3.73’s and a increase in tire diameter would be really good.
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The reason I wondered is because 3.73 is probably pushing it. This cam is done at 5000. 3.91 and numerically higher I'm thinking would get us there too quick. I don't know I'm a Noob at gear ratio selection. Going by what our machine shop guy suggested. Sorry to the OP. Enough hijacking. I should start a new thread.
 
Yea, that’s don’t think I’d go 3.91 or numerically higher.
 
The best all around choice for a stock 318 is a stock 318 camshaft.
 
rumblefish360 said:
And what if you wanted more power from a camshaft change and change nothing else save valve springs?
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Not worth the money and effort, IMO, without other mods such as four barrel carburetor and headers.
 
moparmandan said:
I've heard this before. Why? Now you have me re-thinking 3.73.......
Sorry don't want to hi-jack.
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When I had the 67 together I had Ford 3.7X rear with the tallest rear tires I could get under there. Loved em. Don't do "high miles" cruising
 
RustyRatRod said:
Not worth the money and effort, IMO, without other mods such as four barrel carburetor and headers.
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Then what would you use for a cam with headers, 4bbl. intake and carb BUT no converter and gear change?
 
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