a cam for my combo??

[rubinracing]

So the car is a mostly stock 74 cuda with a 360 and 727. Don't know the rear gear ratio. I've got a set of 1 5/8's headers that I'll be putting on and probably run 2.5 piping with flowmasters.

On the intake side I've accquired a torker II (I know its single plain, but it was cheap and I had to jump on it), and a 750 Holley carb (May look for a demon to replace it). Stock heads, but I will upgrade to eddy Al heads eventually.

Mainly I needed some input on a good cam profile that will suit this combo and be good for about 1500-5000 rpm. It will be mostly street driven so it should have some low end grunt. I'm hoping for somewhere around 300hp. All I know is that I should be aiming for just bellow .500 lift, but dont know anything about what duration to go with.

Another question is about the headers. How long will it be until they start rusting if I just paint them with a high temp paint?

[owatajrkiam]

Giving a recommendation for a cam without knowing what torque converter or gear ratio is tough,...but...i see you are interested in the Edelbrock heads,so i think more hp is forseen in the future (it's a sickness you know!). The Comp Cams XE268H is a great cam 224/230 @050 and .477"/.480" lift!. It is rated for 1,600-5,800 rpm range!. This cam is as much as you want right now,but will work very well later on if you go to the Eddy heads and a better intake and more compression,as you can step up to 1.6 ratio rockers in the future to gain more lift!.

Glen

[valiant64]

If 300 HP is your goal, that can be done easily with the factory iron heads. The cam that owatajrkiam recommended should get you there, and with the 2.02 intake valve & some good porting done to the heads, maybe a bit more than 300 HP.

[rubinracing]

Thanks for the great advice. I will definitely be aiming for either this exact cam or something with similar specs, and will most likely seek for more advice once I do find something. Anyways, will I need upgraded springs with this lift?? I am not planning on removing the heads so I may need to find a spring-with-head-on remover. I would love to put bigger valves in and try a bit of porting/gasket matching, but I'm hoping not to touch the heads at all until I get the eddys. I'm just hoping for 300hp with these bolt ons. Once I change the heads and maybe upgrade the internals I will be moving up. stroker? charger? nos? all the above? who knows. only time will tell.

[dodger1]

Is the motor the original 74 360? Got a TQ on an iron spreadbore? Can you I.D. the heads? If it's indeed the stock 74, it's a smog head (587 casting) and probably won't respond all that much. However, I have a Mopar 220-228 cam in my smog-headed 78 360. It runs pretty well up to 5000, which is OK as I have a rather tall 2.94 axle. I'd guesstimate 275 hp at the crank. I have a TQ on the stock iron spreadbore, a Mallory multi-spark box, and 9:1 cast pistons, with Hedmans and a 2.5" exhaust. Oh yeah, my Mirada weighs 3600lbs wet. My thinking is that the single-plane you have will hurt the bottom end, unless you have a loose converter and a lower axle. I would be inclined to wait until the $$$ are there for the new heads, then get the best cam for that combo. Meanwhile, the exhaust mods will help out the car right now.

[hotrod7043]

That 268 Comp will surprise ya, i had one in a 360 ands that thing pulled hard.74 360 is a hp motor and no smog head.

[rumblefish360]

I 3rd the XE268 Comp Cam. A good choice that will work with the current low compresion engine and really wake up later when you feed it some good slugs and heads.

300 hp? No problem with this cam and headers along with what ya got now.

[dodger1]

So the '587 head is a decent one? I was under the impression that all the heads after the '915 casting were low-compression smoggers. But I agree with the 268 cam choice - not that much difference from the Mopar cam I have, as far as duration goes anyway.

[hotrod7043]

Ya the compressiom ratio at the 72 340s and 360s is just controlled by piston and chambers ans a 188 intake valve many late 340 & 360 stockers run High tens low 11s with these heads. A stock 71 340 the piston is Above deck .045
with a with a .020 steel shim fact gkst it 10.5 to1

[rubinracing]

Thanks again everyone. I decided to take your advice and will order the XE268. Does anyone know of a good distributor in Ontario to cut on shipping costs? I checked and it would be 60-70 dollars for summit to ship the cam & lifter kit to Ontario.

But please let me know if I need to also purchase different springs for this cam, and which ones. Also what length pushrods would I need? Summit suggests 7.550, is this the stock size? I'm sorry about all the newbie questions, but I want my first mopar to come out perfectly.

There is a kit on Summit racing with just the cam and lifters for $185, or a kit with cam, lifters, springs, gears, chain, seals and retainers for $385. Does this seem like a good deal? Will I HAVE to change the gears and chain? I know the retainers are re-usable and the seals (I think) are fine. I'm also curious why this set doesn't include pushrods if its so complete.

[owatajrkiam]

Here's a way of getting around the ridiculous shipping into Canada!!!!. I see you live in Oshawa,Ont. which is about 75-100 miles to Buffalo,NY!. Go to a US postal office and get a PO box,and have a bunch of buddies or club members in on it!. Then you send all the parts there and have someone go down once a week and pick them up!. This solves a few problems,...#1 tied up at customs!. #2 No brokerage fees!. #3 You will only pay G.S.T. at the border and NO duty!. I do this all the time,plus i have a broker on the US side where i ship my ups packages,as ups does not deliver to a PO box,so anything you have shipped will have to go to usps and make sure they del. to a PO box,because some companys do not!. Just make sure you print out a copy of you're invoice prior to getting to customs and only declare value of item,as you do not have to pay g.s.t. on shipping!. I do this all the time as i have a PO box in the US!. No sets come with pushrods as there are too many variables, (milled heads,ball or cup,etc.) I would go with the whole set and the timing chain and gears can't hurt either!. Too bad you weren't looking for a XE284H set as i have one avail,and the expensive shipping would be almost nil.

Glen

[dodger1]

I'd be tempted to go with the $385 kit - I would have if it was available when I did my engine. owhatanamehesgot () has a good point regarding shipping. And go check out http://www.karbelt.com/index.html for a local supplier. If you run across Jim Adam, say hi from Paul!!

[owatajrkiam]

Here's our answer to Summit and Jegs in Canada! http://www.mopacautosupply.com/main.html I bought my Eddy heads from Calgary and they shipped them by Purolator from Langly,BC to me in Winnipeg in 3 days and NO charge for shipping!!!. You will like their prices and these guys are Mopar friendly!.

Glen

[dodger1]

Yes, mopac was a good shop to deal with 15 years ago in Vancouver. Good to know they are still doing the right thing. But can they compete with stores in the Southern Ontario area?

[darktone]

Don't forget there is a good chance your cam bearings might be worn out. Then you will have to pull the engine. If this was my car and I did not have the $'s to things right the first time I would just leave the engine as is and I would put in a 3.55 gear set with some type of posi. The torkerII is for high rpm and will hurt performce on your car. If you have a factory 4 barrel your better off.

[rumblefish360]

Originally Posted by rubinracing

But please let me know if I need to also purchase different springs for this cam, and which ones. Also what length pushrods would I need? Summit suggests 7.550, is this the stock size? I'm sorry about all the newbie questions, but I want my first mopar to come out perfectly.

Comp cams as well as other cam manufactures offer matched springs with and for there cam as you found out in the below parragraph. The stock pushrods will be fine to reuse. Unless you mill the head alot.

There is a kit on Summit racing with just the cam and lifters for $185, or a kit with cam, lifters, springs, gears, chain, seals and retainers for $385. Does this seem like a good deal? Will I HAVE to change the gears and chain? I know the retainers are re-usable and the seals (I think) are fine. I'm also curious why this set doesn't include pushrods if its so complete.

Get the whole kit if you can. The timing chain and gears are good to swap out on a build up. The OE parts are more likely wornout. I would chain the timing chain and gears out.

The reason it doesn't contain pushrods is that the OE units are fine for re-use. They donot exactly wear out. Also, if you mill the head in excess of .035, a new length pushrod may be in order.

The pushrod sits in the lifter and that is where there is a certain amount of play. The lifter has .050 of play in it's adjustment. In otherwords, the pushrod can be plus or minus .050 in it's length.