383 questions...

[akers63]

I was wonder who makes the best cams for a 383 and where is the best place to get them online? I have a 69 roadrunner I'm restoring and I'm rebuilding the engine. I just want to put a slightly bigger cam in it, nothing crazy just an up grade from stock. Also do ya'll have any recommendations what i can do to a 383 to give it a little more hp, is bigger cams even a good idea? Which carb works best on a 383? I should say its a number matching car so should i just rebuild it stock and keep everything original like the carb?
thanks, as you can tell I'm new to mopar :toothy6:

 

[70rr-brian]

Well, and this is not a knock on the 383 mine came stock with one too, but the fact is a stock 383 (unless a 4sp/air grabber car ) is just never going to be worth what a 440/6 or hemi car will be. That's just a fact. But I am by no mean suggesting trashing the numbers matching 383 by boring it .060 or anything silly.

What kinda budget we talking about here? If you want something with some serious grunt and money is no object then perhaps pickup another block and stroke it out for a fun engine. And store your numbers engine away somewhere for another day or sale of the car. That's what I did and frankly I LOVE it! I love driving mine. And since I do, I like having 560hp and 620lbs of torque under my right foot when I feel like using it. That is using a 383 block stroked to a 496. Of course you aren't married to the 383 block if you are going to go that route. Go with a 400 or 440 block and then you can really up the power if that's what you want.

If you don't have the money or want to keep it reasonably stock then others can make suggestions as to which way to go as far as cam selection. Yeah a bigger cam can't hurt as long as you match everything with it. A stock 383 can get by nicely with a 650cfm carb. Depends on how big a cam and how much engine work you do could dictate a step up to something like a 750 or 850.

Lots of guys on here probably know great combinations for you and I am sure they will eventually respond with recommendations. But knowing your budget would be a great place to start.

 

[Jcharger]

I think you will need to see what other say, and this will probably depend on the gears you have, transmission, etc...
You will also want to check to see how your compression looks (I think).

I swapped the HP cam for a Lunati 60302 for a 383 with a manual trans and 323 gears and was happy with the result. I then swapped for lower gear ratio and that did a lot more to the way the car behaved than the cam. I have since done a lot more and opted to have it rebuilt with a different stroke. Don't yet know what it will be like in its new incarnation.

I like the 383 engines.

 

[Michael789]

The 383 is just as stout as a 440,don't let anyone fool you about that! And that is a fact.

 

[Meep-Meep]

If you want to really boost the power on a 383 put a 108 deg lobe separation cam in it. I ran the Isky .465" / 280 and that combo put my 68 RR solidly in the 13's with street tires. This is typically pretty hot for the street and has all the associated tuning problems like wanting a lot of initial timing, low vacuum, etc...but....it will make some great power. If you want to drive the car in a trouble free manner, and have the carb and distributor pretty much work out of the box, then go with a 110 - 112 lobe separation cam with the duration in the 270 deg range (advertized).

A 625 AFB or a 600 - 650 Holley vac secondary will work great for daily street driving. For more top end power with a slightly aggressive cam use a 700 Holley. The stock intake or some aftermarket dual plane will be perfect for the street. For upper RPM power use a single plane like a Torker or a very free flowing dual plane like the Performer RPM.

With the mild cam the stock manifolds with 2.5" pipes will work fine but if you want to maximize the exhaust efficiency get a set of 1-3/4" - 1-7/8" headers.

 

[akers63]

thanks this helped a lot.