Camshaft Suggestions

[Mopar_Mudder]

Here is the deal,

Muscle Motors out of Michigan built the 440 for my Dodge truck and it is great, now I want more power and I am going to purchase a complete roller cam set up from them. Let me start with some specs on the truck:

1983 Dodge 1 Ton 4x4
1972 440 Block
Ported heads with 2.14 intake 1.81 exhaust
Keith black pistons 9.5:1
Edlebrook Performer RPM intake
Holley 750 #3310 off road carb
4 Spd manual tranny (to be a automatic in the future)
4:88 gears and 38" tires
Aprox #6500

I have been working on getting this cam for about a year now and January is the month I am going to do it. Currently it has a Mopar Performance 272/272 .455 lift cam in it that I really have been very happy with as far as the bottom end goes, I want to gain some power in the 3000-6500 rpm area and keep the bottom as is, that is the reason for the roller cam. Muscle Motors is recommending a custom grind from Competion Cam that is 285 (252@.050) and .562 lift, 108 center line single pattern. I have been running simulations on the Dyno 2000 software and the cam does look to do what I want, adding to the top end and losing no bottom end. I had someone else recommend to me Crower cams and I ran one of their dual pattern cams, 236/246 @ .050 & .550/.548 lift 110 center line. The Crower cam looks to make 10-20 hp more up to the 5500 rpm level and then only loose 10 hp from the 5500-6500 rpm compared to the Comp Cam grind that Muscle Motors recommended. Then on the torque side of things the Crower makes 40ftlb more on the low end about 20ftlb more in the mid range and only makes less then the Comp cam after 6000 rpm.

Now all I have to go on is what the Dyno program tells me, I have no real experience with either, I am looking for advise and any other recommendations. Please help me out on this, got to drop a bunch of cash and would like to get it right the first time, I will also be adding a set of roller rockers at the same time, will 1.6 ratio be of any benefit?

The combo also needs to work with an automatic trans in the future (which I am also looking for suggestions on)

My truck has a site here: http://discover-net.net/~greener/truck.htm

greener@chibardun.net

[mopar34069 Joanne]

muscle motors are sharp people they usually know what they r talking about. Personally tho I would go for the one that makes the hp in bootom range to mid range for the 10 hps u will lose in the top end. 1:6/1 roller rockers will help give u a little more lift and save the valve guides.

[1st weg]

If you were happy with what Muscle Motors did for you in the past,let them do it again!!! Tell them about the Crower cam ,the automatic and especially the 1.6 rockers. They not only make a big differance in lift,but change duration that the dyno programs dont adjust for automaticly. Muscle Motors has a good rep,the guy`s there have always been able to answer ANY of my questions. And I`ve asked some Doozys. I have the desktop dyno program too, it`s a lot of fun to see how the changes affect HP/TQ. I`ve talked to guy`s that have built engines from there dyno programs and then had the engine dynoed,they said that they were CLOSE to what was predicted.NOT exact,It`s a $35 program !!! Trust the Guy`s that did right by you the first time. It`s been my experience they know MOPAR !! p.s. ask them about ultradyne cams.

[PRO]

I see 2 conflicts of interest here,#6500 and high rpms(I have a similiar situation,#5400 and 6000rpms)or we could call it simply torque vs hp,you know you cant really have both but why not try right? Well I'd lean towards more bottom end and give up some top end especially if your going to an auto,you'll definitely need a stall of around 2400-3000,personally I'd stick to the 4spd(mines an auto!) or go to a Lakewood bellhousing(yes for your 4wd)and bolt in a New venture 5 spd out of a late model 4wd,the manual trans is alot more forgiving,Maybe you should go to the auto first and then consider recamming,that way you would have a better idea if your already over cammed,automatics take more hp to drive than sticks.Also Hughes engines makes some very good custom grinds.Hope this helps....PRO...

[This message has been edited by PRO (edited January 09, 2000).]