Whiplash Cams (318 LA)

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lilredrooster

lilredrooster

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Well you can hear the sound on the below link, and, you can read the Hughes spiel on the below quote.......

Is this a possible answer to the 318 LA low compression issues...... ????

Do these cams work..... ????

Interested in hearing your related thoughts/opinions/experiences/comments.......


Sound = [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufRTSVOnmDQ"]Plymouth Duster Hughes Whiplash cam - YouTube[/ame]

Spiel =
"Whiplash cams are designed for the very low compression Mopar O.E.M. engines such as all the 318's, 360, 400 and all 383 & 440's built after 1971.

The factory built these engines with a combination of low compression and cams that produced very low cylinder pressure and low power (see this tech article CLICK HERE). Normally, to increase the cylinder pressure in these engines you would have to disassemble the engine, buy new pistons & rings (at a minimum), rebore & hone, rebalance and reassemble. And then you would still need cam & lifters. The cost of this build-up could easily be $2,000.00 or more and take 2-3 weeks.

The unique design of the Whiplash cam will accomplish all of the same results for as little as $340.00 (cam, springs & lifters) and take about one Saturday afternoon to complete. The Whiplash cams are designed, like all of our "real" Mopar cams to take advantage of the .904" lifter diameter whcih increases the area-under-the-curve, for more breathing time. However, with low lifts (yes we consider .520" low lift) so that you do not need to remove the heads and machine the valve guides.

These Whiplash cams have become one of our top selling items and we have customer that want to put them in engines that are not low compression. The problem is that the cam will still raise the cylinder pressure and your engine may then require race gasoline or a mix of pump and race gas. As a general rule of thumb engine wih a true measured compression ratio more than 8.9:1 with iron heads or 10:1 with aluminum heads should not expect to be able to run on just premium gas. And, whatever you do, DO NOT retard the timing to "make it work". That will "work" and also reduce your power & torque considerably. You'll be sorry!"
 
They are just like any other camshaft and work best with matching components like valve springs.

Also, FWIW, this is nothing new. Crower was grinding cams in a very similar fashion over 40 years before the Whiplash cams were introduced, so it's "been around awhile". No need to think you're "gettin somethin new" cause you aint.

That said, yes, if your engine now is "in good shape" and you use the correct corresponding valve springs, you can probably expect some pretty peppy performance out of it.

But no way in hell would I make the swap without the valve springs and matching lifters too. No way no how. That's just stupidness.
 
I haven't used one but here's my take on the subject of these cams designed to sound bigger than they are. Just like comp's thumper series, these cams do raise cylinder pressure a little with their tighter lobe separation angle and more valve timing does fill the cylinders more to make more power in a low compression engine, but, I think you can call any competent cam grinder and get a custom ground cam "for your particular application" that could very well work somewhat better for the same price, or maybe even less since Hughes is kinda pricey on their cams. I've used Racer Brown cams with good results and if I were hopping up a stock teen Jim's the man I'd call. And X2 on what Rob said about using the correct springs to make it work right

BTW: if you really want it to run better and sound tough have a mild solid tight lash cam ground for it. And don't listen to all the bull about how you've got to adjust a solid cam's lash every 1000 miles. Cam's ground 40-50 yrs ago were that way but today's tight lash designs are the cats meow. I have one in my 408 and put about 3000 HARD miles on it a year and every spring I lash the cam and usually only have to tighten a few .001~.002". In other words I could probably go 2 yrs. between lashing it but I just do it yearly cause I'm a maintenance freak
 
lilredrooster said:
Well you can hear the sound on the below link, and, you can read the Hughes spiel on the below quote.......

Is this a possible answer to the 318 LA low compression issues...... ????

Do these cams work..... ????

Interested in hearing your related thoughts/opinions/experiences/comments.......


Sound = Plymouth Duster Hughes Whiplash cam - YouTube

Spiel =
"Whiplash cams are designed for the very low compression Mopar O.E.M. engines such as all the 318's, 360, 400 and all 383 & 440's built after 1971.

The factory built these engines with a combination of low compression and cams that produced very low cylinder pressure and low power (see this tech article CLICK HERE). Normally, to increase the cylinder pressure in these engines you would have to disassemble the engine, buy new pistons & rings (at a minimum), rebore & hone, rebalance and reassemble. And then you would still need cam & lifters. The cost of this build-up could easily be $2,000.00 or more and take 2-3 weeks.

The unique design of the Whiplash cam will accomplish all of the same results for as little as $340.00 (cam, springs & lifters) and take about one Saturday afternoon to complete. The Whiplash cams are designed, like all of our "real" Mopar cams to take advantage of the .904" lifter diameter whcih increases the area-under-the-curve, for more breathing time. However, with low lifts (yes we consider .520" low lift) so that you do not need to remove the heads and machine the valve guides.

These Whiplash cams have become one of our top selling items and we have customer that want to put them in engines that are not low compression. The problem is that the cam will still raise the cylinder pressure and your engine may then require race gasoline or a mix of pump and race gas. As a general rule of thumb engine wih a true measured compression ratio more than 8.9:1 with iron heads or 10:1 with aluminum heads should not expect to be able to run on just premium gas. And, whatever you do, DO NOT retard the timing to "make it work". That will "work" and also reduce your power & torque considerably. You'll be sorry!"
Click to expand...


What a great sound on that Duster!
 
I met the guy that owns that Duster at the Nats this year. He has since built a 360 for the car but he said the 318 ran really well. I love the car and the sound of that Whiplash. Here's another video. As you can hear the cam smooths out with a slight rpm increase but idles with a nasty lope.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
G`day Guys,
Many Thanks to "All" for taking the time to share and post your thoughts and comments, as always, very much appreciated.......

Totally agree, Duster looks and sounds awesome..... But what does it perform like?? That is the bigger question......

To TMMike,
When you met the proud owner, did he give you any idea what other mods the 318 may have had?? Any before and after numbers/times/speeds quoted re: performance??

Can`t just buy a camshaft on the sound at idle........ Surely not......

Good Stuff......
 
toolmanmike said:
I met the guy that owns that Duster at the Nats this year. He has since built a 360 for the car but he said the 318 ran really well. I love the car and the sound of that Whiplash. Here's another video. As you can hear the cam smooths out with a slight rpm increase but idles with a nasty lope. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PN8Cr0h1G8
Click to expand...

T.M.M., that car, just has "it"... That 70's retro vibe. I usually build my hot rods,on this motif, that cam is needed to perfect that" era vibe". I don't normally like narrow lca's, that car is sweet ,with a thump. ( & probably bad gas mileage, lol)
 
lilredrooster said:
G`day Guys,
Many Thanks to "All" for taking the time to share and post your thoughts and comments, as always, very much appreciated.......

Totally agree, Duster looks and sounds awesome..... But what does it perform like?? That is the bigger question......

To TMMike,
When you met the proud owner, did he give you any idea what other mods the 318 may have had?? Any before and after numbers/times/speeds quoted re: performance??

Can`t just buy a camshaft on the sound at idle........ Surely not......

Good Stuff......
Click to expand...

I'm sure he told me how fast it was but I don't recall what he said. I was so excited just to meet him and see the car in person. One thing you have to remember about the Whiplash type cams is that it's all about the idle. They smooth out at 2000 rpm like Grandma's car. They do work pretty well for a street cam.

Snake said:
That stripe is killer were can I get that.:D
Click to expand...

He had someone do it for him. I love the graphics and the stripe.
 
Here's a shot or three. The last photo is me.
 

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I have never installed a cam cuz it makes a lumpy idle( that Duster sounds good tho). No. I choose the cam to put the power in a certain rpm range and to have a certain powerband, dictated by the tranny ratios, at that rpm.Then crank the Scr up, to optimize the Dcr.
How it idles is of no consequence to me.
While the Whiplash philosophy works, for some, .....................................
The only way to increase cylinder pressure with a cam is to close the intake sooner. That's not the way to make power. The way to make power is to open the valves as far as possible and hold them open for as long as possible, and to induct as much air as possible.( it's always about getting the air in), and to then compress the charge as much as possible, commensurate with the available fuel, and finally,light it off at just the right time.
Closing the intake early, opening it just a lil, and then having to run premium gas on top of all that, is just whiplash philosophy.Sure sounds fast tho.
 
AJ/FormS said:
I have never installed a cam cuz it makes a lumpy idle( that Duster sounds good tho). No. I choose the cam to put the power in a certain rpm range and to have a certain powerband, dictated by the tranny ratios, at that rpm.Then crank the Scr up, to optimize the Dcr.
How it idles is of no consequence to me.
While the Hughes philosophy works, for some, .....................................
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
A little food for thought... IMO a cam designed for sound is only good for that. Power might be "OK" but it won't be as good as it can be.

[ame]https://youtu.be/Ojwkdoaq0w4[/ame]
 
I have been resisting but..... Cam sounds are like shiney wheels; they have no real relationship to torque, HP, or speed.
 
I've said it many times before, the camshaft is but one small part of a high performance engine. If you build a true high performance engine, even with a very mild camshaft, it WILL sound like a high performance engine. I never take sound into consideration......well........I take that back.


I DID take sound into consideration on my rat truck engine. An early Chrysler Hemi with zoomies hangin off the sides doesn't need to sound stock. So I had Oregon regrind the factory hydraulic into a small solid. .435 lift and 240* @ .050" ground on a 106 lobe separation. So, nasty it will sound.
 
Reading the spiel,they don't present you with all the information on how to resolve low compression. You can easily leave the entire bottom end alone,have the heads cut and end up with very useable and reasonable compression in the 9 to 9.5:1 range.
 
I have the 340 whiplash cam in my car sounds awesome as far as performance I had a comp cam and lunati both cams around 480 lift the whiplash cam is 549 lift because I am running 1.6 rockers out of all the cams i have run the whiplash has had the most power out of any of them prolly not going to change it keeping my compression down to 9 to 1 the only downside to the cam is it did not have enough vacuum to run my power breaks ! I had to run my breaks though hydro boost off my power steering to stop the car .
 
Just wanted to thank everyone again for sharing your thoughts and comments.....

Special Thanks to TMMike, Grrrrrrrreat Photos and information.......

Special Thanks also to Mopar3401987 for posting, Grrrrrrrrreat to hear from an actual Proud and Happy Whiplash Cam owner....... Care to share some more info on your engine set up....... Do you have any performance data/figures/numbers/speeds/ET`s etc......

All the Best.....
 
i have not had the car on a dyno or been down the track with it yet . they only way i can gauge the power is racing my friend in his 89 fox mustang back in 2006 my motor 73 340 with 8.5 to 1 was rebuilt to stock spec expt for a comp cam part kit # SK20-223-3 he told me his mustang ran high 13s and beat me the first time we raced him i then up graded to air gap intake and headers but was still being beat me so i pulled the stock j head 188 valve bolted on eddy RPM heads ported with 208 valve and with a ported intake then put in Lunati's Voodoo # 10200702 with 1.6 PRW rockers ran 2500 rpm stall then dropped in a 3.91 shure grip in it. lets just say his mustang could no longer keep up ! :) the last thing i did was add the whiplash cam and could tell that it had more power then the lunati i ran before seem to pull better at a dig i have a rev limiter on my car so i dont turn it past 6000 but i would say it pulls hard form 1500 to 6000 RPM i know some guys turn their 340s higher so i cant till you how the cam preforms past 6000 rpm. i am not knocking the comp or Lunati they were great cams i just end up liking the whiplash cam the most.
 
mopar3401987 said:
I have the 340 whiplash cam in my car sounds awesome as far as performance I had a comp cam and lunati both cams around 480 lift the whiplash cam is 549 lift because I am running 6.1 rockers out of all the cams i have run the whiplash has had the most power out of any of them prolly not going to change it keeping my compression down to 9 to 1 the only downside to the cam is it did not have enough vacuum to run my power breaks ! I had to run my breaks though hydro boost off my power steering to stop the car .
Click to expand...
It ought to have more power with the lift going from .480" to .549" lift; that's not an apples-to-apples comparison between cams. (BTW, I bet those '6.1' rockers are reeeeally long LOL)
 
thats not 100% true i ran Lunati's # 10200702 with the 1.6 rockers prolly round 509 intake and 528 on exhaust for lift. so yes i went up in cam size and i am not saying there are not better cams out there i was just stating my experience with the cams i have run in my passed. lilredrooster wanted to know about peoples experience running the hughes whiplash cam so i figured i would chime in with my experience.
 
mopar3401987 said:
i have not had the car on a dyno or been down the track with it yet . they only way i can gauge the power is racing my friend in his 89 fox mustang back in 2006 my motor 73 340 with 8.5 to 1 was rebuilt to stock spec expt for a comp cam part kit # SK20-223-3 he told me his mustang ran high 13s and beat me the first time we raced him i then up graded to air gap intake and headers but was still being beat me so i pulled the stock j head 188 valve bolted on eddy RPM heads ported with 208 valve and with a ported intake then put in Lunati's Voodoo # 10200702 with 1.6 PRW rockers ran 2500 rpm stall then dropped in a 3.91 shure grip in it. lets just say his mustang could no longer keep up ! :) the last thing i did was add the whiplash cam and could tell that it had more power then the lunati i ran before seem to pull better at a dig i have a rev limiter on my car so i dont turn it past 6000 but i would say it pulls hard form 1500 to 6000 RPM i know some guys turn their 340s higher so i cant till you how the cam preforms past 6000 rpm. i am not knocking the comp or Lunati they were great cams i just end up liking the whiplash cam the most.
Click to expand...



Grrrrrrrrreat Post.........

Thank-You mopar3401987 So much for taking the time to share your experiences here...... Pure Gold Mate........ What a Fantastic Site this is........
 
As much as I've posted in opposition to choosing a cam by sound, I actually like the idea behind the Whiplash cams. It makes it easier for people to choose a cam that will sound good and not be overcammed. But they are way overpriced. You can find an old Crower grind for far less that does the same thing. Still though, if you got the coin, have at it.
 
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