I was wondering if someone could help me out a little...My pops races and stuff like that but I signed up here for a second opinion...What Brand and Edition CAM can I get for my '74 DART SWINGER without it ****ing it up driving on the street. I wanna make it so sick that it will be like 1 step away from not being street legal. What is the best and furthest I can go with a CAM and lobe size before the car will be DRAG and stuff. Can someone please help me out because I am new and this is my first muscle car. I'm usually a BIMMER racer and so I need help. The beefiest I can go, but to where I can still drive the car on the streets without the car messing up.....PLEASE HELP? THANK YOU

 

What's in teh car. 340? What compression ratio? Heads? Stick or automatic? Whats the stall speed? Rear gears? There are more things that go into picking a cam then just getting a big one. Does the car have to pass emissions in your state?

And streetable is in teh eye of the beholds. Some may think that the cam in my car isn't a good street cam as it's not happy below about 2000 rpm. On the flip side, a buddy of mine has a .700"+ solid roller, and drives it weekly. It really depends on what you find to be streetable. There is no line that seperates streetable from race only.

Chris

P.S. I just read your post about the 440+6. The last post where you ask about the cams I enjoyed. You're dad used a term that is very old school. "3/4 race cam". That term was used to say the cam was "3/4 race, 1/4 street". Cam streetability depends on the person and the combo. A smaller cam in a better matched combo will outperform a big cam in a mis-matched combo across teh board. Post your combo, and even though I am no MoPar guru, I can give you all teh advice I have if it helps.

 

well a cam set for a 340...like not a stall of 2,000 but like one i can use as a driveable car like 3 days out of the week. Like a weekend car. Oh and mines is an AUTOMATIC tranny as for the rest of the specs, GOD KNOWS!

 

Purchasing the 'right' cam is probably one of the most important things you can do when it comes to a strong engine or an engine that falls flat on its face.

Getting recommendations about what cam to run should be set by a good tech person involved in cam sales or manufacturer. Like was stated above there are many variables that need to be addressed to pick the right cam. Probably the most important are Compression, heads, stall converter, rear gear. There are others but those would get you in a good ballpark selection.

Picking a cam that sounds the meanest will only get you in trouble and will probably be too much for your combination. You'd be surprised on how well some of these 'smaller' street cams work with split duration and wider Lobe seperation angles. They are very strong, sound good and still have street manners.

With a stock 340, a fairly stock converter and stock gears I wouldn't recommend a can over 215-220 duration @.050, and lift can be in the .460-.480 range and a Lobe seteration angle of around 110-112. The MP .474 cam is even too much for a stock 340. Sure you can install it but its too much for that combo. Duration is up around 230@.050 and that will effect driveablity. Lift doesn't effect driveability as much as duration.

You need to call places like Lunati, Comp Cams, etc and give them your specs. They can lead you in a direction that will be best for your combo. You may not want to hear this advise and you may want somebody to recommend a big nasty thumping cam but its just not the way to go. Remember without prepped heads, a custom converter, a good set of rear gears. a good ignition and a nice intake/carb combo, along with a good exhaust a wicked cam will do you no good. Ask me how I know. We've all been there and sometimes advise doesn't mean anything. You have to learn it on your own.

Also with a stock converter you are very limited on cam selection.

And don't forget that a radical cam tends to reduce the vacuum signal to power brakes if you have any.

In my GTX I was running a Scott Brown cam .500/.503 226/238@.050 and LSA 112. Edelbrock aluminum heads 9.5 cr, a Dynamic 9.5" 4000 stall converter and a Dana 3.54 gear rearend TTI Headers and exhaust and of coarse a six barrel induction. That was a great combo and very streetable even with that converter. Its all in the combo. That cam had a nice little lope to it but boy did it have a strong bottom end and still pulled up thru the entire RPM range.

Start small, take one step at a time and enjoy the results!!!

Chris

 

Did you do an engine swap? '73 was the last year for 340s in Darts. Unless you or a previous owner did a motor swap (check the numbers) it's a 318. In the '60s there was an optional factoryhi-po 273 that included a .500" lift cam. It really depends on what you want. My cam's specs are .204/.212 duration @ .050 (260/270 advertised) and .420/.443 lift and a 112 degree LSA and the car idles like stock, just passed emissions BETTER than stock, and gives a slight yet noticeable increase in power. What really kills your low rpm driveability in a street cam is the LSA, or lobe separation angle. Street cams don't have enough lift or duration to kill your bottom end, but the LSA will. A .450" lift cam with a 106 or 108 degree LSA could kill your bottom end grunt, and a .550 lift cam with .220-.225 duration @ .050 with a 112 or 114 LSA could still give you decent street driveability. Your bottom end only gets shot down with lift and duration when you start getting past .230 duration @ .050 and .600 lift. A cam will help, but not a ton. A good saying to go by is "Build the heads for power, then cam it for driveability." A cam by itself is not going to do more than make a slightly noticeable difference. Gears also change things. With 2.76 gears, I can hardly feel my cam, but with 3.93s, it was MUCH more noticeable. If you want a nice extra kick without changing converters or gears, go with a cam with a 112 LSA and no more than about .480 lift and .220 duration @ .050. Another good option is to call Comp Cams' tech line and ask them lol.