440 cam choice

[nigel]

This is the only photo I have of the engine. I have the motor apart for paint and changing the rod bearings so I can't check the deck height on all four corners for a few weeks. The joys of having to wait for parts to be shipped and wait for them to clear customs

 

[Curiousyellow71]

You might want to share a picture of your converter and harmonic balancer to help sort out what you have and make sure things are balanced. I may not be able to tell if its correct..but I would bet several members would. I understand you may be switching converter anyway. But I am curious at this point as to what someone put together. Are you going to do any things to the heads? Or are they going back on stock? 516 heads have been talked about in several threads recently.

 

[nigel]

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of them and I’m away from my workshop for a day or two. Like I said in an earlier post the flex plate looked like it was chewed on by a dog so I’d say the whole thing was thrown together

 

[Curiousyellow71]

It still sounds like a excellent find. Finding a nice 440 .005 below the deck is a dang good start...and relatively unheard of. It would be interesting to measure your piston compression height and give us a report when you get back to your shop.

 

[nigel]

I’m shocked with it. It’s very low miles but it had a tough time with one owner. I cannot wait to get it built and in the car. I haven’t driven my car in a year and it’s killing me but hopefully soon I will have it running

 

[Curiousyellow71]

It will be worth the wait! There will be several cam companies that would have a cam that would work for you...
We spend some time figuring our cam combinations and then run it by Tim Goolsby at bullet cams. We have been very much impressed with his advice and Bullet has a very impressive master catalog. They have quick turnarounds and have been very affordable. I have to do a little more research to suggest a cam. I am not sure if the octane rating you gave translates into our 91 or 93 octane. Knowing which would help a lot.

 

[BSB67]

Sunoco 93 has a RON of 98. Generally speaking, European fuels have about the same octane as US fuels, when its apples to apples measurement. Ours might be a little better.

 

[nigel]

Sunoco 93 has a RON of 98. Generally speaking, European fuels have about the same octane as US fuels, when its apples to apples measurement. Ours might be a little better.

Well let's say it is 95 ron. That's still 90.7 octane. Not the best but not the worse. I may research Irish fuel a bit better.

At least our Guinness is better LOL

 

[wyrmrider]

back to the question
the thumper cm is aabsolutely the wrong choice- it is desighend to put a big cam in a low compression engine'
actually the stock 440 Magnum is closer to what you need
it has a 115 LCA which closes the intake late to bleed down the dynamic compressionl

lift dur .050

447 302 213 440 83 Magnum Intake @.004
459 324 225 440 Magnum exhaust @.004
BradH measured an original 440 HP cam: 292/309 @ .006 lifter In/EX @.006
edit NOTE how it takes 10 degrees to rise from .004 to .006 on the intake but 15 on the exhaust
(thats for both the opening and closing sides, seperatly the close would take longer than the opening
get down to .002 the close is realllly long
this cam is the 268-276 at 008 s you can compare those durations with the .004 and .006 posted above
intake [email protected], 292 @.006, [email protected]
exhaust [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
I do not like this cam especially in the 73 -78 low compression motor
It was designed for high compression which you have
see if you can find a free one and try it

aftermarket you are looking for maybe a "computer" cam or one with 112LCA

 

[nigel]

So here is a few snaps I took in my workshop today. Haven't been able to get over for the last few days due to heavy rain and floods. Check out the flex plate. Someone went crazy burning the holes into slots to make it fit the torque converter

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Dampner looks right to me for forged crank. If the torque converter has weights for a cast crank engine they would be on the front side. The weight you can see in the picture is probably for balancing the converter itself. It looks like a 10.5 converter for a truck or a aftermarket one. Probably a 2200 stall would be my guess...doesn't matter if your switching it anway.
Impressive hack job on the flex plate. Lol

 

[nigel]

I couldn't believe it that someone spent all that money on a new torque converter and then butchered the flex plate. It's for that reason that I stripped the motor knowing that someone else had already been inside.
I'm looking at the summit 6401 cam. Has anyone any info on this cam? When it comes to camshaft I don't know a whole lot about them but when it comes to building transmissions and the rest of a motor I have zero issue

 

[Curiousyellow71]

I would prefer to use a cam with more duration on the intake for your compression. The 6401 is a good cam with your compression as far as making hp. As far as detonation imho it's marginal. You are probably going to have too put the best gas in it you can... and watch your timing.
Imho 6401 is a respectable 9:1- 10:1 cam on pump gas with cast iron heads. From your description of wanting a rough idle and wanting a stall...my suggestion is a bigger cam yet. But don't get carried away with lift...no valve releifs and and a bunch off the deck...being my concern.