Favorite 440 "Hot Street" Cam

[Haney]

So what cams are you guys running in your carb'ed 440's? I have a 440 + .030, Forged flattops, ~10:1 static CR, OOTB Edelbrock heads, dual plane aluminum intake, Doug's headers, 4-speed, 3.91 gears (may go back to 3.55s), 275/60's (28") rear tires. This is in a street trim 1973 Cuda. I currently have a MP509 Cam in the motor. It seems to pull hard but has a pretty rough idle.

Are there other cams with better street manners that performs just as good? Am I loosing lots of bottom end with this cam? Thoughts?

Thanks,

 

[70sixpkrt]

I'm using a Scott Brown custom cam and love it. You might want to call Dwayne Porter. He makes custom cams also. Here is my motor specs:

440 bored .030=446
KB 237 pistons .003 deck height
Forged crank .010 under
Eagle 4340 H-beam rods
Comp is 10.25:1
Eddy heads 84cc with stage 1 and bowl blend
Straightline Cam 234/[email protected] 540/525 solid with 112 lsa (4* built in) installed straight up
6-pack aluminum manifold with stock carbs. (Using ProMax stuff)
Comp pro-magnum 1.5 rockers with 3/8 Smith Bros. pushrods
TTI 1 7/8 headers with 3" X cross-over exhaust to the tips
MSD 8546 dist.
MP MSD 6AL
Dana 60 with 3:54

It was dynoed at 491hp/535 torque
13.01 @107.93, 2.08 60', street tires spinning all the way down

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Depends what type of cam you want hyd or solid rooler or flat tappet
I really like the Lunati Voodoo series cams , for hyd the 703 or 704 work very well , I used to order a specific custom grind solid flat tappet which was very similar to a roller grind 245/250 duration with .565/ ,578 lift

 

[Haney]

So a little update. This motor was built and in the car when I got it. I thought it had the MP509 Hydraulic FT cam. Turns out, it is an XE285HL Comp Hyd FT cam. Looking at those specs, it is 241/[email protected] and 0.545 lift. About like the MP509 cam except dual pattern and more/faster lift. This cam has an advertised power band of 2500-6200 and a pretty intense idle. Sounds great, but I may want a more tame cam for this street car and get the power band lower. Thinking about the VooDoo 703 cam am may go back to a 3.55 gear. Thoughts? @Chryco Psycho

 

[Chryco Psycho]

As I have said many times specs are just a snapshot of 1 location on the cam lobe , using advertised & duration @ .050 you can get a bit of an idea on ramp speed .
I have always found Comp to be poor performers in Mopar engines & what the lobe shape is like for the rest of the cam profile is anyones guess but with the wider Mopar lifter & companies like Lunati taking advantage of the wider lifter I believe you would be far happier with the Lunati 703 cam . I have had good success with lunati grinds , in one case 2 identical engines built by 2 different people mine made over 50% more power . Cam choice has a great deal to do with that .

 

[Haney]

As I have said many times specs are just a snapshot of 1 location on the cam lobe , using advertised & duration @ .050 you can get a bit of an idea on ramp speed .
I have always found Comp to be poor performers in Mopar engines & what the lobe shape is like for the rest of the cam profile is anyones guess but with the wider Mopar lifter & companies like Lunati taking advantage of the wider lifter I believe you would be far happier with the Lunati 703 cam . I have had good success with lunati grinds , in one case 2 identical engines built by 2 different people mine made over 50% more power . Cam choice has a great deal to do with that .

Thanks for your insights.....

 

[Montclaire]

Traditional 509s are a fun cam but they are limited and only like a specific setup. If you don’t like 3.91s or manual brakes you should look at a different grind.

Don’t forget, most or all of the purple shaft cams were reworked a few years ago. Today’s 509 is not yesterday’s 509. I don’t know if any real testing has been done to illustrate the difference.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

My Favorite 440 Grind is a T57 / T60 Lunati flat tappet solid grind ground on 112* CL with Manifolds or 110* for Headers
Lunati never listed this cam I created it from the list of possible lobes you could use but you know they still have the old specs & should be able to still grind it , it is similar to a roller grind in lift & duration .562 / .574 lift with 246/254* duration approx this is a 904 max cam based on the .904 lifter diameter with the fastest possible ramp speed , I used this cam in at least 20 builds & a few more with minor tweaks to the design to make it work exactly in the needed powerband , it is a fantastic grind !