cam shafts

[thallium]

I'm getting ready to pull the 318 out of the 70 charger and thinking about how to rebuild the engine. I'm going for gas mileage but would like to make it sound a little lopey(mean). It'll be doing mostly freeway driving.  Everything I'm going to leave stock. It's a 70 stock 318. stock heads, 2 barrel, stock manifold, stock exhaust manifolds, stock converters, 2:93 gearing.  I was looking at hughes "muscle car series cam shafts" the small block profiles.

http://www.hughesengines.com/cams/cam_index.asp

http://www.hughesengines.com/cams/sb_muscle.asp

would the "HMC 1414 AL"  get decent gas mileage? with everthing else being stock on the car execpt the cam? using the 2 barrel should limit the amount of gas getting sucked down the manifold. or is there a cam that you guys could suggest that can be decent on gas mileage but just sound lopey.  If there isn't anything out there, i'll be going with the stock cam.  Gas mileage is the most important item here, but I was just thinking if there was a way to make it sound cool at the same time.

[firefighter3931]

Tabe,

A cam with short duration numbers is what you'll want for good low end power and fuel economy. A small 4bbl like a carter 625cfm would be a good choice for better fuel economy, inmo. The venturi's on a 2bbl are fairly large because evrything needs to run through them. The 625 carter has comparatively smaller primaries. An Engle k54/k56 split pattern hydraulic would be a nice cam for that combo...it won't be real "lopey" but it will have excellent street manners and make high vacuum. An old edelbrock ld4b would be a nice intake manifold to compliment the rest of the package. You can find those used at swaps or on e-bay pretty cheap.

Ron

[thallium]

Ron, are there any holley carbs that work well with the combo you suggested? I can play with a holley, but I have clue when it comes to carters.

[firefighter3931]

Sure, a holley 600cfm vacuum secondary carb would work fine with that combo. Nice thing about the vacuum secondary carbs is that they only open fully when the engine needs it. Keep your foot out of it and it's pretty efficient at cruising speed.

Ron

[thallium]

Ron,  Thanks for the help. I'll be looking for a  ld4b intake at the mopar spring fling in april. The k54 cam, holley 600 vac secondary I can get online.

[Chryco Psycho]

Use the Engle over the Hughes , Engle is far better to deal with

[cryotek]

What are some of the problems with Hughes?  I was considering one of their cams also.

[thallium]

Cryotek.  I have the hughes 2328 cam in my 440 with eddie heads, holley street dom, and 770 vac secondary with 1/34 inch headers. I can tell you this cam is awesome! The engine has so much torque and is so responsive on the low end. The thing revs instantly and can light them up at a 30 mph roll. The engine is awesome. I can attribute a big part of this to the cam.  The thing has so much torque and revs so effortlessly, it's crazy. I'm very pleased with this cam made by hughes.   I'm pretty sure I bought mine when Engle was making cams for Hughes.

Neil and Ron know their stuff (along with alot of others on here), so I'm going to try the engle k54 in my 318.  If engle was making the cams for hughes, you'll be happy with an engle cam.

[firefighter3931]

What are some of the problems with Hughes?  I was considering one of their cams also.

Some of the new Hughes grinds are very agressive from what i've read allthough no direct experience. Noisy valvetrain and higher spring pressures are by products of agressive grinds. Bigger spring pressures can lead to potential cam lobe failures.

The k54 is a good cam. Chryco recommended it to Dave (the ARROW) for his rebuilt 440 which was a low compression combo. I helped Dave with the engine install and subsequent breakin of the engine and it went like clockwork. I know he is very pleased with the outcome and the engine is way more responsive than it was previously with the 284/484 purple shaft. 

Ron

[Chryco Psycho]

Simply put if you have a problem with an Engle Cam they will stand behind their product & help you ... Hughes will not , you will have to buy a new cam at full cost