Ok, little background info to get everyone up to speed. I just recently picked up a 77 440 out of a truck. Nothing special, low mileage that sat outside. Guy threw in a brand new .474 purple shaft and some 1.6ration PRW roller rockers. All for 100. Couldnt pass it up.

Well, I got the motor apart and everything looks great....except a hole in a piston. So a quick trip to summit...46 dollar piston, timing set, lifters and gaskets im almost ready to re-assemble this thing.

The timing set I boug has notches for either retarding or advancing the cam from 2-8 degrees.

Should I install the cam by lining up the dots? Advance it? Im lost as to what to do.

Its gonna be an 8-1 906 headed motor since this is what ive pieced together for very little money.

8-1 compression, .474 purple shaft, undecided on stock rockers or the 1.6 ratio (may just sell them) rpm air gap, 750 holley DP. Not looking to make huge numbers, its a budget motor that I have no idea what im going to do with.

So any advice on where to install the cam, which rockers I should use and any guesses on what kind of power this pig will make? Thanks in advance guys.

Myself, I'd set it all up stock (well, perhaps close to a pre-1973 spec). Make it a driver, have some fun with it, THEN think about a build to make that 440 a screamer!

And most importantly- have fun!

Advancing it will help crutch the low compression. I would make sure I degreed it though. In at 106-108
Doug

if thats the 280-.474 cam it's on 110lsa and has 4 degrees of advance ground into it. it should install at 106cl and thats were i'd put it in.

I went with the Hughes whiplash in my 440. it is great daily driver made to work with the low comp ratio.

once I got the dist recurved and initial of 18* with 18* of mech it turned into a beast.

sounds like a funny car at idle but drives like a stock BB with attitude on the street in my truck.

LSA 107*
IC 102*
dur@.050 232*/245*
lift 516/516 with 1.5 ratio
550/550 with 1.6 ratio

installed straight up running a stock low stall TC and 2.76 gears turning 29x15x15 M/Ts LOL! 12.5 mpgs 55=2000 rpm

Unless you check it with a degree wheel its just a guess. I'd use the 2 or 4 degree advanced keyway if just guessing. But I'd try to buy or borrow the tools to degree it. When it doesn't run that impressive the first thing everyone will tell you to do is degree the cam.

Sell the PRW rockers, use the money to buy correct length pushrods if needed and/or valve springs (definitely needed), and use the stock rockers.

With an RPM intake and 1.75 inch headers I'd guess that it would make about 350 horsepower tuned up nice. In an A body with sticky tires, 4.10s, and 3000 stall it would be a good runner.

use the 4 deg slot & that is 4 crank degrees even tho the squares/triangles & their reference descrip are on the cam gear (which as you know turns at 1/2 the crank amt) cuz all crank degreeing/anything related to that is done/measured in crank degrees on the dampener. when done dial in the dist subsystems: initial/total/springs/the can (if used & I would) IN ORDER. I had a low comp 440/509 MP cam (not a good combo but I was young and learning) & I milled the 906 heads 60 & adv it 4 deg and it woke it up

Those Mopar purple shaft 484, both grinds, are absolute junk, sell it and buy a good cam If you do decide to try it make sure you degree it in, it will perform better for your deal installed at 4 degrees advance on the intake lobe center so make sure and check it Don't ASS U ME it iwll be correct by using the marks on the crankshaft gear I just went through degreeing a big solid lifter bracket cam this weekend and the cam dot on that gear would not align perfectly with the crankshaft gear,(very common on the Cloyes three bolt Mopar BB True Roller sets ) when I degreed it with the cam dot to the drivers side of the crank gear it was in at 118 intake lobe seperation, moving it one tooth on the cam gear towards the passenger side put it in at 107 intake lobe seperation

I agree with Cab, I would not purchase a purple shaft cam & if you can degree or learn how to, it is highly recommended.

Well the cam was given to me with the purchase of the motor so I figured id run it, its new in the box still. I have a degree wheel and tools to degree it, just lacking the knowledge. The car already has a bs 440 in it that will be going the boosted route so this motor wont be going in the car and I need another project like I need a bullet to the head honestly. Kinda working with what I got deal. I will degree the cam and install it at 106. Not trying to break any records on power but I have access to do it on the cheap and possibly have a decent running motor for very cheap. Ill sell the rockers (theyre already listed on here anyways) and run the stock ones. Thanks to everyone that replied. I was kinda aiming in the dark on this one.

Not hard to degree them at all, instructions all over the net and always help here. Just need the wheel and a dial indicator. And once you do it once and have it down you'll do it all the time.

I dont mind learning new things too. Figure itll come in handy if I ever do another motor. I have a wheel and dial indicator just laying around that I never used (always intended to learn)

Now to decide if I need another car or not to put it in

You have the cam, use it. It's the best f the three because it doesn't have a ton of duration. Use the 4* advance slot. I don't believe those cams were ground with 4* built in. I'd use the 4* slot anyway. I'd use stock ropcker arms, easy and fail-safe with that cam.

Here are some "of course"s
Of Course you can buy a better cam, however the 474 is close to the Street Hemi grind that was popular back in the day.
Of Course you should degree in the cam, yet millions of cams have been installed dot-to-dot. You just won't get optimum performance, but you probably won't notice it either.

You got quite a deal, so enjoy it without making it into a Taj Mahal build that never actually runs as you follow everyone else's attempt to spend you broke.

R.

Budget is the name of the game with anything I build. Hence why I told everyone its getting used in the first post. Im a broke kid that wants to have fun at the end of the day. Well, at 24 I consider myself a kid still.

If I put it in a car and itll fry the tires and hold its own at a stoplight, well im more than happy.

If it has a 110 lobe separation angle, I'd install it at 102-103 range to help the low static compression of your engine. It will make it run MUCH better at low end. Give it the initial timing it wants, dial in the curve and it will be a strong runner.

I've put the 108 LSA 484 cam in at 98-100 ICL on low comp engines. Some think it's crazy, IT WORKS!

ALWAYS degree a camshaft if you have the tools to do it.

I have to agree with GTX Matt.... cams can be advanced or retarded from the manufacturer. My purple 292/509 turned out to be 5-degrees retarded out of the box. Just degree it and set it up as designed (or very close) IMO.

If you do degree the cam start at the intake lifter first, once you get that down then move up to the valve retainer and check the LSA on both the intake first and once you have the cam where you want the intake lobe center then check the exhaust lobe center the reason I'm advocating that is to verify that the cam is ground on the LSA the cam card says it is I've had more than one cam ground wrong on the LSA, once you fight that war you will always verify the LSA on both If the cam is ground on a 108 LSA then when the intake lobe is advanced to 4 degrees advance and is at 104 max lift after top dead center the exhaust lobe should be in at 112 before top dead center for max lift If it, the exhaust lobe, is at 114 then the cam is not ground on 108 LSA IHTHs
BTW, back in the days of the Direct Connection program Mopar sold the Purple Shaft 484 Street Hemi grinds for all their V8, after hearing many street people complaining about its lack of vacume at idle and the very choppy idle, lack of bottom end and so on they ended up adding the later "484 grind" non Street Hemi grind for the B and RB wedges I've never ran one of them but I do hear good things about that cam

If you have the tools, you're 75% there already!

Watch this: Yea, it's a chevvvvy but the same logic applies,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cNoVRLb73c

If you have the tools but are lacking the knowledge, go to youtube. There are some videos showing how it is done. Look at a couple of them because some of them are junk.

Whatever you do with the cam, suggest you stick with the stock rockers. Budget performance rockers are not budget friendly when adjusters back out or they fatigue and crack. Stockers, if in halfway decent shape, will hang in great with a mild cam. Also low cost to replace them if needed.

Am I the only one that thinks having those heads milled for a compression boost is worthwhile? Is there enough squish/quench if milled .020 with a .039 gasket? 906 heads already have 0.100 in the shallow end, correct? Since it already apart... every little bit helps.

C'mon now. Nitrous or boost fixes lack of compression.

I'd have to see how much that would set me back to have the heads milled if it were worth it. Also would the intake have to be milled also?

don't waste time milling heads. if your going to do, go about .06 off the bottom and have them fix the intake side as well. you'll find that will cost about $300 for the pair. at that point i'd buy the sidewinder heads or something else. for the slight bump in compression you'll never feel it. not worth the money

Doesnt sound like it would be worth the money then. That would almost double how much im into the whole motor

300 to mill a set of heads is steep, but I know alot of shops charge more if you have them milled alot. Realistically you can get a set of 906s down to 74 CC without going crazy milling. If a shop will do it for $100 bucks thats worth it, as it'd bump compression around 3/4 of a point.

The cheapest thing to do is find a set of stock pistons from an earlier engine and swing them in. I've sold a couple sets from engines I've torn down.

One thing to keep in mind when surfacing Mopar BB Iron heads, alumunin heads also(differnt ratio for each brand ), is for each .010 you take off the cylinder head mating surfaces you need to remove .012 from the intake mating surface to keep the manifold aligned properly to the intake ports

and that's why the job costs about $300.00

First I would mockup first & see how far the intake bolt holes (or better yet the top/bottom alignment of the ports) are in the "V" above or below dead centered in the intake manifold bolt hole "tunnel". this way when they mill the deck(s) they can mill the intake face more or less than the prescribed (.012 for .010) amount (as needed) so you end up with dead on alignment. they'll do the math to effect the slope change amt & you're paying likely the same or close to it anyway. EDIT wouldn't hurt to mill the head intake face and the intake. You want NO vac leaks.

AT LAST someone else came in with the true costs of milling heads. Years ago I was quoted $180 to do a skim cut on a pair, but that did not include the intake faces. Now add the extra charges for the time to go 0.060, which is really a lot of passes at least on machines I know, and you may well be looking at $500 for the complete job.

BUT didn't the OP say way back in the thread that the heads have been milled a bunch? So isn't the whole "mill the heads" comment worthless?

The real way to increase power is to increase flow and the head swap is the best way to do that. We now have a sort of stairstep of heads, each with increasing cost and airflow. But as the Stealth heads are least or close to least cost and offer flows way above stock or pocket ported 906s or 452s or whatever, that's where I would start looking.

R.

Man, you guys just can't do this without spending a fortune, can you?

Degree in the cam, you have the stuff. Run the stock rockers. Bolt it together, bolt it in the car, have fun. Save your money for the big build you have planned.

A mild cam in a 440, in a dart, will be fun on the street. Your not drag racing, a couple of tenths of a second slower will not be noticed on the street, but the extra expense to save those extra tenths will be missed. It will buy a lot of gas! Gene

sell those parts and buy a whiplash for 165$, cheap and works with all the stock parts.

my 2 SB have never had the heads off, both whiplash rollers.

the 440 got a set of gaskets,hand lapped the valves,whiplash cam/springs/lifters under 400$

got 5000 miles on it now and it is nothing but fun with it in a daily driver.

just say'in

Boy, SFT, you sure got religion on those Whiplash cams!

R.

Isn't any magic in those whiplash cams. They have you wind it forward to close the intake valve early to make up for the low compression.

I'd use the mopar cam and advance it as far as you like as long as the exh lobe center isn't beyond 118. On a 110 LSA cam, that would be a 102 intake installed centerline.

I have degreed the last 3 cams I've put in my car, 1 Isky, 2 comps, and have always found them to be spot on where they should be when I start out "dot to dot".

The internet has a way of making the best way the ONLY way. Not degreeing a cam isn't the end of the world. If you have the tools and want to see what everyone's talking about, go for it, if not, you'll join with millions of others who have just lined the dots up with a ruler and everything has been fine.

You've been lucky three times, will you not check the next new cam you use? Bottom lines is there are hundreds of motors out there that are not running as best they could with after market cams do to the cam being retarded or advanced way more than it should because the owner either installed it straight up dot to dot and didn't want to check it or didn't know how to check the cam timing in the motor or who ever installed it( including a lot of regular automotive repair shops) didn't want to or didn't check the cam timing I've had a lot of motors that the cam timing would have been way off if I hadn't checked it. If I had aligned the dots and assumed that it was dead on I would have had a real dud OP always degree the cam in any of your motors I'm not the luckiest person here on Earth, I'm not the unluckiest either, so I check every cam I install I sleep a lot easier knowing exactly where the cam timing and valve to piston clearnces are

after yrs of cam swaps that do nothing but make a pig until 3500 rpm with a mix-matched of stock parts/intakes/carbs/headers.

it is nice to have a 165$ cam in a 300$ JY engine and have fun on the daily 100 mile grind too and from work.

I happy to have one work like they said it was going to. not a race cam for sure but in traffic and at the stop light I cant stop the ear to ear grin I have.