cam selection for 440: too cool for the new school?

[hard-charger]

hey I was wondering what cam would anyone suggest for my combo?

engine - 440, 30 over balanced, forged crank,steel rods. all that good stuff. 10.1 comp.
intake & carb - edelbrock torker 2 w/ a 750 holley dp
heads - iorn 906's adjustable 1.6 crane roller rockers
cam - solid purple shaft .557 lift
exhuast - hooker super comps 1 7/8 with purple hornies
rear end - 489 with detroit locker 4.10 ratio.

the cam is cool but ya i could use some more power.  the cam is a old grind but im old school, but understand that technology has advanced
i was thinking solid roller mabey? i dont know? how much gain are we looikin @ here? do i need to change enything else, to get more power from this block?

[Duey]

Engle KV-1, perhaps KV-2 for solid.
Engle K58 or K60 for hyd. 

Ron and Neil could confirm or refute the recommendation...

Cheers,
Duey

[Chryco Psycho]

Welcome
Lets see here
Where are you looking for more power ? high RPM or low end

Next are the heads ported , you have approx .585 lift , over .550 lift at the valve with lash taken into consideration , anything over .480 lift with no porting will not increase flow , also do you have 1.81 exhaust valves installed ?

I really do not see the Cam as the problem , this cam will pull to 6500+ RPM & i know 2 street cars running deep in the 11s with htis cam
the problems I see are get a better intake , the Street Dom , or better yet a M1 single plane with the dominator flange & a minimum 950 carb , the Dominator will work better though   , even the "small" 750 Dom will increase power on a 440 over an 850 /4150 carb

The other issue is exhaust flow , what size pipe are you using & last time I checked Purple Hornies are very restictive

I would work on getting more air both In & Out of the engine first

[firefighter3931]

do i need to change enything else, to get more power from this block?

Welcome Hard Charger

You're gonna need to port those heads to get the most out of that cam and an increase in power. At a minimum you should use the MP portiing templates and open up the bowls. The guides will also need to be trimmed down for retainer clearance with the increased lift. Obviously, the matching valvesprings will need to be installed for the cam.

The torker isn't a bad intake manifold and will make descent power. A member just dynoed his engine and it made 528hp with the old style torker. Personally, if i had it....i'd run it. On the carb, a nice upgrade would be a proform main body installed on your 750dp to increase the flow to 830 cfm. I have the same carb on mine and it made more power than an 850dp as measured on the dyno....5hp more in back to back pulls. The proform main body sells for $99.00 at Summit and it is well worth the money.

If you're looking for a cam and haven't purchased anything yet....there are better options than the 557 MP grind. The ductile iron 1.5:1 rockers would be a good choice for the street and they're reasonably priced and nearly indestructable as well. With 10:1 compression i'd be looking at a 240-245* @ .050 solid to keep cylinder pressure up.

The "best" cam for this engine really depends on the rest of the combo, specificly the stall speed and rear end gearing. Going too big on the cam will rob bottom end power and hurt "off the line" acceleration. How much stall and gear will this car be running ?

Ron

[hard-charger]

would the torker 2 have more ballz if i had it port matched to the heads? im gonna have the heads ported soon, is it worth the effort?
it has a tci super street fighter converter. i think its 3800 stall. and 4.10 gears
and are the 1.6 crane roller rocker not good,or should i use somthing else?
this car sees more strip than street, but yes i still drive it around town when the wether is good.
I got some money to spend,not alot but some. I just wanna put my hard earnd cash where its gonna make some real good power. thanks

[Ghoste]

Port matching is easy enough that it costs you nothing but time and if you are going to open the heads then it's almost a must.  Even without touching the heads it's a good idea IMO.

[Chryco Psycho]

porting or replacing the heads will make a Huge difference , the Torker 2 is not great , porting will help but I would replace it
the Gold Crane rockers are decent & if you have them keep them changing them will not help HP at all

[MOPARHOUND!]

how much gain are we looikin @ here? do i need to change enything else, to get more power from this block?

I just wanna put my hard earnd cash where its gonna make some real good power. thanks

Your combo is screaming for a set of Eddy heads, I'm thinking 50hp or more.  You'll be glad you bolted them on.  As a bonus, you'll also lose 50 lbs off the front end, and run cooler on the street.

Eddy's flow well to .600 out of the box, and you are already lifting the valve .596" (.557 with 1.6 ratio rockers).

Right now, you have a lot of lift that cant't be utilized by those factory 906 heads.

(Hope he drops in to read this, been awhile since this thread started).

[hard-charger]

hey thanks fo r the tips! I was totally thinking about new heads all together, and a new cam. 
I was looking into comp cams.  Iim not to shure about the diference between the magnum cams and the extreme energy.
Does anybody know what what benifits they have between eachother?
as for heads, i was seeing and hearing about e-heads like it was standard equiptment. but!! ive been looking for more info on bulldog heads.  where do they come? i heard they were mopar performance..who sells them? how much do they cost? how much better are they than e-heads? are they angled plugs or streight??
thanks everyone!!!

[Chryco Psycho]

Bulldogs are made by Bullldog , angle plug & good heads IMO , better then eddy at around 41800 / pair http://www.bulldogperformance.net/Chrysler.html

not sure on the comp cams , I never use then , basically just small block Chev grinds on Mopar cores

[firefighter3931]

Comp makes a series of high lift/fast rate hydraulic grinds. Take a look at the xehl series which are Mopar specific cams. I like the Edelbrock heads, great value for the $$. They are an angle plug head, like Bulldog and Indy.

Ron

[hard-charger]

a little off the subject...but anybody got any info on the mopar chrome ECU? got the orange one, was thinking about switching to msd distributor and 6al. it gonna cost more to switch, but if the chrome box is almost as good, id like to save a little there and spend more elswhere. thanks for all the advice. its a good feeling when all those chevy ford guys a know are afraid!

[Ghoste]

I've had a couple of the chrome ones and they both burned out on me so I switched back to the orange box.  Someone (Neil or Runner or???) has the exact opposite experience.
How's that for a definitive answer.
The chrome one is supposed to hold to a closer tolerance on the dwell and to a higher rpm.

[hard-charger]

hey thanks for the input! maybe ill stick with the orange box for now and drop some money on the cam.  its like a 20 year old grind...no seriously the cam itself is like 20 years old ha.ha...  im looking into the comp cams ex-hl. is the solid better? or should i go for the hydralic lift? thanks everyone!!!!

[firefighter3931]

hey thanks for the input! maybe ill stick with the orange box for now and drop some money on the cam.  its like a 20 year old grind...no seriously the cam itself is like 20 years old ha.ha...  im looking into the comp cams ex-hl. is the solid better? or should i go for the hydralic lift? thanks everyone!!!!

HC, if the orange box is working stick with it for now....chances are that it will frag itself sooner or later, when that happens just go to a msd 6a or 6al. The HL hydraulic Comp grinds are descent but if you're starting out fresh Mechanical is the way to go. You'll need an adjustable valvetrain to make the flat tappet solid work so factor that into the cost as well.

Ron

[hard-charger]

thank you, thank you!
what grinds should i be lookin to buy?  i was tryin to decide between the comp mech-magnum , and the ex-energy-mech lift.  I now have a set of slightly ported 906's with 1.81 ex. and have been milled down a bit with a zero deck block. so im guessing affective como ratio is higher than it was when i had stock heads, and 10.1 comp. and the deck hght wasnt zero.  hell i dont know what it could be now?  but its got alot more romp!
i do have a weind tunnel ram with 2 750cfm eddys that came with the heads, its all matched n stuff. was a good price for all. thinkin about using it. but i have no idea about what cam to use.
trying to run past mabey 6,500 but no moe then 7,100 somewhere in there i guess?
still wanna drive on the street sometime. and to the track, and have a somewhat decent ride. 
does the msd 6al work with the mopar electronic ign? how does that hook up?
                    ride is lookin mean now!!! thanks for all the help!!
everyone i know has alot of chevy ford advice, but nobody knows mopar. im learning tho...

[firefighter3931]

HC :

(1) how fast is the car now...1/8, 1/4, mph, 60ft
(2) How hard are you spinning the motor and where does it nose over (rpm)

Looking more closely at the combo, the 557 doesn't seem that out of place, inmo. A faster rate cam will idle better and make a little more power but nothing drastic. Like Neil said, that grind will easily pull to 6500 if all is well with the valvetrain. With 10:1 compression that cam is just about right....you could go slightly bigger but it will hurt cylinder pressure at lower engine speeds. More duration means a looser converter.  The heads are what will limit how much power it will make and where that power will fall off. It's difficult to project how this combo will perform w/o more info....specificly headflow #'s.

Personally, i'd try the tunnel ram on it and see how it performs, assuming you have enough converter....which i think you do. The engine wants more air and 750cfm is probably a little on the small side for that combo. Tunnel rams make awesome torque above 3500 rpm despite their appearance which looks decievingly "high rpm" oriented. The ram effect with increased fuel and air will wake it up. Most people refuse to cut up a stock hood so tunnel rams aren't as popular as they once were....but that doesn't mean that they don't work. I see it as an improvement over what's currently on the engine given the cam, stall and gearing. Try it out first before cutting your stock hood. 

The E-heads are the next step up in the cylinder head food chain. Even with box stock Eddies you should be in the 525hp range with all else remaining the same. 

Ron

Ps. Have a look at this thread on Vegas Mike's build. A few things were tweaked with dramatic results. This is a good example of how mismatching the cam can really cripple performance. The dyno results speak for themself.


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,6000.0.html

[hard-charger]

ya..i got my heart set on eddy heads still.  the mdified 906's and tunnel ram was to good of a deal to pass.  i traded my old reabuilt 383 shrot block and old heads for them. it was a hefty hunk of iorn sitting in my already cluterd garage. whith no car for it so it didnt cost me anything except over-stock
anywho..
thanks for all the advice!! thanks for the input firefighter, that engine looks bitchen!!!
gotta get those e-heads!
i got a glass hood on the car now so i guess i dont have a problem cutting a hole in it.
if i ever switch back, ill pull out the stock hood n stuff. 
i got hooker super comps 1/78's now, will that be a fittment issue when i change to e-heads? with the angled plugs n-all? will i have to get spacific spark plug wires, and heat sleeves and all that?
its a 1969 dodge charger.
plus purple hornies are out. mabey gonna run something with a cut out?

i cant really take it to the track yet and get numbers, the frount end is havin issues.  got any recomandations on where to get a good frount end rebiult kit?

[firefighter3931]

i got hooker super comps 1/78's now, will that be a fittment issue when i change to e-heads? with the angled plugs n-all? will i have to get spacific spark plug wires, and heat sleeves and all that?
its a 1969 dodge charger.
plus purple hornies are out. mabey gonna run something with a cut out?

i cant really take it to the track yet and get numbers, the frount end is havin issues.  got any recomandations on where to get a good frount end rebiult kit?

HC, the supercomps are supposed to be a poor match for any angled plug head....this is what i've heard but no direct experience. The 17/8 Comps are supposed to fit better and will require some clearancing on a couple of tubes. I had the Comps on mine when it was dynoed, fwiw. In the end i just went with TTI for the quality and those are the best fitting header for an angled plug head casting.

For exhaust you should consider a nice x-pipe system....it'll make a lot more power than with the purple hornies. I like Dynomax Ultraflow for mufflers. With an x-pipe you won't need or want a cutout....it'll run better than it would on open headers if everything is sized accordingly.

On the front end: mine has a PST kit on it and i really liked it when the car was running. The car felt stiff and stable....not sloppy like typical rubber bushing front ends. The car also has some chassis upgrades; lower control arms boxed, frames tied and an 8pt bar. I have SS springs for the back with Comp Engineering drag shocks at both ends.

Ron