Hughes cams

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rvh072

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Looking at building a stroker 408. Just wondering if hughes cams are any good. I want to stay with a hydraulic. Have eddy heds so lift is limeted to 575. The cam i'm looking at is hugseh4246al-8 .Any input would be appreciated.
 
Hughes dosnt grind there own cams . They are repackaging someone else's .
I called Ken at Oregon cam grinding ( owner ) will probably want to talk duration more than lift.
Hughes sure makes themselves sound good on their website don't they?
 
The Hughes cams are ground for them by Bullet I believe. Some like them and have had good luck with them and some cannot stand them.

To me it's like this. If you're building just a street car, the Hughes stuff is too edgy. Ramp rates real fast and aggressive. Really tough on the valve train day in and day out. I much prefer something a little lazy and old school in a daily driver.

Plenty of stuff out there like that to choose from. It's worked well for 50 plus years and will still work well.

Now if you're going racing, you may want the fastest ramps possible.
 
My car is street driven but far from a daily driver. I'm looking to run 11's and still be steetable. I have a 3200 convertor and 410 gears.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The Hughes cams are ground for them by Bullet I believe. Some like them and have had good luck with them and some cannot stand them.

To me it's like this. If you're building just a street car, the Hughes stuff is too edgy. Ramp rates real fast and aggressive. Really tough on the valve train day in and day out. I much prefer something a little lazy and old school in a daily driver.

Plenty of stuff out there like that to choose from. It's worked well for 50 plus years and will still work well.

Now if you're going racing, you may want the fastest ramps possible.
Click to expand...

This . Major lift (& matching higher valve spring pressures, to go with this) ,can require more valve train maintence, & require top end quality parts.
 
Then Hughes might be for you.
 
I like the Howards grinds a lot. Look at the lift per duration compared to other grinds. It is almost like they grind to suit the .903 lifter diameter. They may in fact do. I am not sure.
 
I like mine, I also have the eddy heads with stock springs and good rockers, just a weekend car, not a drag car, but have logged some miles since I put it together 14 years ago.
 
Got a Hugh's hydraulic roller cam in a stock Magnum 360 crate motor. It works great for street or strip.
 
I have there whiplash cam in my 340 works great ! Has amazing power and sounds great . if I had one thing bad to say its that the cam its does not have the vacum to run my power breaks ! So if your using a whiplash cam run the breaks though your power steering to get the pressure to stop your car
 
In fear of being redundant (which this is) you will ALWAYS get a better cam if you are willing to CALL the manufacturer and tell them ALL of YOUR specs and them let THEM tell YOU what cam you SHOULD use that THEY grind.

Off the shelf cams are silly. Unless you don't care.

That said, I use (and not in this order) Racer Brown (call Jim AFTER 3 PM PACIFIC time) and just listen to a smart man talk.

Cam Motion. I deal with Danny. When I have need of big lift and the fastest ramps I call Danny at Cam Motion.

If I have an oddball deal or just want a second or even third opinion I call Mike Jones at Jones cams. He works on a bunch of different types of engines. Another guy who can teach you more in a 10 minute phone call than several hours on the web.

And, don't forget Erson. One of their guys posts on FABO and they are updating the grinds.

Use your phone. Listen. Learn. Get the best performance from you combo and the most value for your $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The Hughes cams are ground for them by Bullet I believe. Some like them and have had good luck with them and some cannot stand them.

To me it's like this. If you're building just a street car, the Hughes stuff is too edgy. Ramp rates real fast and aggressive. Really tough on the valve train day in and day out. I much prefer something a little lazy and old school in a daily driver.

Plenty of stuff out there like that to choose from. It's worked well for 50 plus years and will still work well.

Now if you're going racing, you may want the fastest ramps possible.
Click to expand...

I agree, the ramp speeds are a bit rough. Hughes cams are good for race apps, but for street, maybe another brand. Although Hughes doesn't grind their own cams, I've used them with no problems.
 
It looks like Hughes cams are now using Howards, some of the Hughes and Howards are exactly the same. Just bought one of Hughes 6064 solid cams, has slightly more lift than the previous 6064 cam that is being used in our 71dart.
 
You can have howards custom grind you a cam for under $150 for a hydraulic flat tappet. They have a wide range of lobes from old school generic lobes to mopar specific grinds. You call up howards, they give you a blank # and a grind # and you can order it through summit or any other place that deals in howards parts. Its easy, great parts, and a good price!
 
I have run 2 of the Hughes LA-cams; A 2330 fast rate, and now a 3237 fast rate. I have around 100,000 miles on the 3237 and the Eddies. On the street I cant tell when the cam stops pulling. I usually yank the stick at 7200.Not that it needs to go there. It seems to start at about 5200/5400.But the engine just sounds so darn mean at the top, screaming through the TTIs,Dynomaxers and dual 3 inchers.
I tried the 292/509 cam. I liked both of the Hughes cams way waaaaay better.The 3237 started out a little soft on the bottom, but I finally got the tune right, and now its dynomite.
I seem to remember them coming in an Engle box, or just maybe it was Erson. Yeah maybe Erson.It was around 10 years ago, now.
Well guess what, I still have the box and it only has Hughes name on it, so Ima thinking the mfg name was on the back end of the cam.I do remember it was a familiar name from the 60s/70s.
 
I believe Engle used to make Hughes cams years ago. Last I knew Bullet was grinding their cams. Wouldn't surprise me if they jumped ship to Howards. The tech guys at Hughes are very sharp and helpfull, unlike some of the big name big advertising budget cam companies.
 
I'll give Hughes this......at least they don't cookie cut everything on a 110 LSA.
 
Hughes has probably done more work on designing cams specifically for our engines than anyone else out there arguably. The ramps are aggressive I suppose but they have cams to suit all combo's and desired outcomes! The difference is they design even the most mild "stock replacement" cam to outperform a stock replacement cam! Which is a GOOD thing! It makes me laugh when I hear their cams are "too aggressive"?!? Makes no sense when you think about what good/efficient cam design is supposed to do for ANY engine build/outcome which is MAKE THE MOST POWER IN THE DESIRED RPM RANGE! You want "lazy"? Go plop a junkyard 318 in your car and join Grandma at bingo night....sheesh ok rant over

RRR I'm not sayin lazy ramps are bad or the old school grinds have no use I'm just sayin maybe step down a couple grinds on a Hughes line and still make more power??

Hughes Whiplash in my Duster is great, absolutely love it. I'd go with Hughes again, if not I'd go with one of Harold's grinds he designed for the Lunati "VooDoo" line...same principles applied

Ironically I spoke with Dave and he actually wasn't a big fan of the Whillash style cams but the Thumpr was so popular and he was getting demand for a GOOD Chrysler version so they designed one (for idiots like me), and it works! But he's always subscribed to the walk lightly but carry a big stick philosophy! Looser lobe sep's, better idle quality and drivability, more vacuum but fast(er)ramps taking advantage of the .904 lifter diameter (and why not) to make great power in a same rpm range. This whole notion of them being "race" cams couldn't be further from the truth...ok now rant over. :)
 
Most off-the-shelf flat tappet camshafts are optimized for the SBC.

The Chrysler .904" lifter bore has about 15% more surface area than a SBC engine's .845". This allows for a comparatively higher rate of lift without reliability issues.

On the flipside of this when using a hydraulic tappet more isn't always better. At some point adding "more" cam will reduce your RPM range due to lifter pump-up. more duration will cause it to occur earlier.

So in that sense, IMO a high rate of lift is most useful with mild camshafts which are not pushing the threshold of having lifter pump-up occur while the engine is still making power.
 
Yeah, I set my lifter preload right at the top, with about 1/4 to3/8 turn preload. Ive never run into pump-up with my little HEH3237 cam, even north of 7200.Yeah Ive had to reset a couple of them,here and there. Better that than bent valves.Yeah I coulda put solids in there.Maybe I shoulda. Maybe Ima just lazy.Maybe I dont like the racket solids make.In any case,Hughes for the win! Of course I have no bases of comparison, as Ive tried no other, as this one just wont give up. lol
I will certainly entertain Hughes again, should I need or want a new cam,some day.
 
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