yet another cam thread for stroker

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Jbarker

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Hi fellas-
I'm rebuilding my low deck 383 based 489 stroker after my rockers let go and trashed the cam. It was a good ride though- I got 10 years and 12,000 miles out of it. Of course, I want it a little faster this time around. I'd like to see 600 hp or perhaps a bit more. I would greatly appreciate any camshaft advice I can find. I'm pretty sure I'd like to stick with a solid lifter (non-roller) cam. I spoke with a guy @ Hughes and he recommended a cam with a duration of 246/250 @ .050" tappet lift and .576/.588" lift with 1.5:1 rockers. My cylinder head guy thought it was a bit conservative. What do you guys think?
A little more about the motor: 440 source heads, CNC ported. TTI 2" to 2 1/8" stepped headers. 3.55 gears. 727 trans. Carb still to be decided but I think Holley 850 or 950 with mechanical secondaries. Edelbrock performer RPM intake. I have a 9" converter from Dynamic that stalled @ 4000 rpm with my old engine (which was probably just shy of 500 hp). Converter can be changed to suit the needs of new engine. Pistons are dished giving me 9.8:1 compression. The skirts are a little scuffed so they may need replacement. I would consider buying pistons giving higher compression ratio, but this baby HAS to run on premium pump gas. I put on about 1,000 miles a year. Engine is going into a 3400 lb '71 Dart.
This is a street car, but I live out in the country with plenty of open cornfields and I regularly pound the snot out of it. Looking for an aggressive street car, nasty sounding idle, doesn't need good vacuum because I have manual brakes. I'm stealing this quote from someone on Bigblockdart.com from many years ago, but I'm looking for an "engine that scares the girls at the drive-though window."
I don't want it to kill me with maintenance though. I don't mind adjusting valves, but I don't want to be replacing valve springs every few years. So what do you think about a cam? Any suggestions about anything else that I'm planning with this engine combo are welcome. Thanks in advance!
-Jay
 
Welcome aboard Jay!

The cam might be a hair on the conservative side but I did notice you only have 9.8-1 compression with aluminum heads. The tire size is also unknown which plays a factor. Since your heads are (assumed) well ported, you should make excellent power.

The cam will work well with the stall and 3.55’s and a reasonable tire size. The issue with going bigger is IMO (and not Necessarily correct!) is bigger maynot exactly be better for the combo you have now and retain all that you would want in drivability and manors. The combo may start to become unbalanced a little bit with a larger cam. Also understand that you can ask this question to 20 people and get 20 different answers. Which can also change tomorrow!

I’ll leave the rest to the been there and done that crowd. The best source.
 
Cams for race engines are easy, you just pick one that puts the power where you need it. Cams for street cars are almost impossible to pick since nobody agrees what a street car is.

Your car isn't a race car. You have 3.55 gears, 9.8 compression, a dual plane intake and budget heads. You can run any cam you want but I'd suggest putting something in there that is mild rather than wild. The Hughes cams would work or anything in that general area. The MP .528 would work really well for you even though it seems too mild. Bigger cams are going to sound mean, but won't make more power given your intake, heads and compression. A big cam in your engine will be hard to tune. It will sound fast but it won't actually be fast.
 
Thanks for the info guys! A car that sounds fast but really is slow would definitely be a problem! I sure don't want to fall into that novice mistake of overcamming an engine. I will be taking my block to the machine shop this week to see if I can get away with just a hone or if it needs to be bored too. Once I find that out, I may bump the compression ratio up a bit and that will help me make the decision as well.
 
We had an engine like yours on the dyno recently. Mild build, dual plane intake, budget heads, modest compression, etc. The guy had been talked into a big cam and the engine ran like crap. Sounded mean but wouldn't make any power. We put a cam that was 20 degrees smaller in and the engine picked up 100 hp. Big cams only make big power if everything else is big. If everything else is small then the big cam kills the torque and the small heads, dual plane intake and low compression team up to kill the top end number.
 
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