Building a motor for my daily driver '67 383 Barracuda.

Car has a 727 & 4.10 gears with 28" tires & torque converter is a factory style high stall Dacco 764.

Engine is getting the basic clean up/machining now.
I bought 0.030 over forged flat top aluminum pistons w/ 1.920" compression distance.
I bought an Eddelbrock Performer RPM intake
I bought a pair of TTI 1 3/4" shorty headers
Planning to get the E-Street 75cc heads, thought about 440 Source Stealth heads, leaning towards the Edelbrocks.
Planning on the thin gaskets(not steel) & from what I can tell compression should be a little over 10:1.

Looking for a cam for a car that spends 95% of its time on the street & lots of driving-15k a year. Planning on running stock rockers & stock style push rods. Just don't want to oversize the cam & give up useable power on the street. I have a set of 516 heads that could be built but think for the money it's probably better running aluminium.

Any tips on cam selection for this combo?

The only real possible "issue" I see is the stock rockers. What can happen with those when you start running high lift cams with elevated spring pressures, they can fail in the pushrod cup area. Especially ones that already have lots of miles on them.
Since you'll be putting a lot of mikes on it, I'd stick with cams that have some more moderate lobe designs and limit the lift to .500 or less.
You could look at the cam grinder of your choices catalog and pick something out pretty easily.

Most of the cams mentioned in the 440 smogger cam thread would also apply here, although an lsa of 112 would be as wide as I would suggest for your build, preferably 108-110.

I think I'd use something like the smallest Howard's Rattler.
281/289 adv, 227/235 @ .050, .480/.488, 109lsa.

Fast,

I was thinking of the old Crower 271HDP but cut on 108, as I remember it was something like 222/234 @.050 .496/.486 (ish) lift.

Hank, (Mopork) had one in his 71 Coronet Cop car and he loved it, real similar build but would be enhanced by the Eddy heads and the shorty headers. That's a really sweet cam. The Howards looks really close to it too.

The Mopar 284/484 hydraulic will work well in that engine.

If you are in the process of machining make sure you have the block square deck and set the pistons at zero deck , 383's need all the help in the compression dept. they can get.

If the pistons don't have valve reliefs make sure you pay attention to piston to valve clearance.

I never seen any 383 motor run well with one of those dang Mopar 284/484 cam, even when they are degreed in as compared to any decent after market cam with similar lift and duration. I do know of several Mopar car owners that thought there motors ran okay, even 440 pmp gas motors, with that cam until they got a better cam with similar numbers
They are cheap to buy like a lot of the Mopar cam kits are, but do you really want a cheap cam and kit in your motor or a good one
OP, I have heard a lot of people on this forum say the Mopar "509" hydrualic kit is a really good cam for the street

The voodoo cam worked nice in my 383, was very surprised with the mid range power and torque! Forgot the PN but it was 220/226 @ .050 and lift was 475/494 at 112 lsa. I do like that crower one listed above with your 4.10 and headers.

Cab, I suggested the Mopar cam because I've used it in my own 383 and it worked very well. "Cheap cam"?? That cheap cam went 11.60's in my Demon on pump gas.

Does the 108 make it take advantage of the compression in the mid range & give it a more responsive low to mid?

It'll be just a bit choppier and sound more aggressive and (more importantly) with a short stroke motor like a 383 it'll kick in a bit quicker and harder so the roll-on power (upper bottom through mid range) will be quicker. The standard off the shelf 271HDP is cut on a 112 and in at 107, this cam on the 108 spread 105ICL just works really nice in 383's and 400's. On 112 it's an awesome stock replacement cam for a 440 Six pack or 440 with bolt-ons. Crower Hydraulic lobes just always work great in mopars from my experience.

Your build sounds exactly like a friend of mine. He has a 400 with stock heads, KB pistons and runs a purple shaft 509/292 duration cam. Car sound great is super responsive and turns heads everywhere he goes.

Well, now we have the .509 cam post out of the way...............

Anyone for the .474?

R.

I agree. If you are using the flat top pistons with no valve reliefs, you can't run a large duration cam because of the piston to valve clearance. My old 383 did use the Crower 271HDP cam, and had good mid/upper power to 6,000 RPM. I had a stock converter so it was lazy off the line, I really needs a higher stall converter.
I do like the Lunati Voodoo cams. Had good results with the 262/268 cam in a 400 street engine.

Getting back into this. My block should be done from the machinist this coming week & the heads will be here next week as well. Still undecided & not sure really what to go with.

Something off the shelf? With limited stall and shorty headers I'd think Hughes' 2024 on 111 LSA would be pretty drivable for your 95% street use.

I over-cammed a 383 4-speed B-body with 4.10s (MP .484" on 108 LSA) and it didn't run much better MPH on the track than the much smaller Isky it replaced.

Remember There Are Two Versions Now Of The Old School Mopar 284/484 Purple Cam Shaft

Most Didn't Have That Option Many Many Moons Ago

108 Centerline Lobe Seperation 284/484
114 Centerline Lobe Separation 284/484

I would stay away from the 108 CL in a 383. 68* overlap and 241@.050

I'm tellin' ya that 284/484 cam works great in a 383.

back in the day when i was beating on a 383 4spd road chicken i used an old crower 201hj, 284/ .480 lift, 228@.050, 110 lsa. i tried different cams and all i did was screw the torque up. very good 383 street cam. i'm pretty sure that crower grind is long gone but a simple comp cams 280mag would be a perfect substitute. i'd also think about a comp 268xs or 282/.495 if you can get yourself to try a small solid.

As for the Mopar cams I have run a few of them and they all ran well. I ran the old 108 LSA .484 MP cam in my old 383 Dart. It was a mild build with sock pistons and 9.5 comp using iron 452 heads. It had the RPM intake and a 750 DP. With a 727 and 3.91 gears it ran a best of 12.31 @110. And it had a Turbo Action 3000 tight 10" converter.
I ran the MP .474 cam in a very stock 340 Dart that ran 13.49 @ 105 capped up on slippery street tires many years ago. It really had great low end pick up with the .474 cam.
I also ran the MP .557 solid cam in a 383 Cuda that was an average build with ported 906 heads and 9.5 comp. It had the TM6 intake and a 700 DP with 4.56 gears and a Turbo Action 3800 converter. That Cuda ran 11.40's @ 117. I was very pleased how all of them cars ran as none were very stout builds.
With the converter you have I would not use the MP .484 as I feel you would need more converter for it. The MP .474 cam should work nicely in your combo.
You could also talk to Dwayne Porter and let him tell you what would work good for your combo as he is very good and knows what he is talking about. Good luck what ever you decide. Ron

Ok for starters the steel shim gasket probably is not going to fit unless after cutting you have the worlds tallest deck height "b" block produced - the min piston to head clearance should be in the 30-35 thou region, the steel shim is .020

Once you have your actual piston to deck height, use an online dynamic compression calculator - the static compression you need will be determined by the cam duration or vice versa - the dynamic ratio should not be more than 8.2ish for premium fuel (subject to debate for ally heads)

fast68's advice is pretty good

There are a few recent threads on squish and quench on here and plenty on the web otherwise, check out dcr vs scr too

An additional issue with stock rockers on any aftermarket head - the stock rockers are closer to 1.4 ratio, not the 1.5 ratio the cam specs are rated at - the ally heads flow much better at higher lift, Ideally some new rockers would help to achieve that lift - check out other Hughes and Howards cams grinds either side of the one mentioned too

For some combinations I'm sure it does. Maybe I built an underperforming one for other reasons, but if I was building a new engine today for the same car, I'd try something different.

I still like the Crower 271HDP the best or Fast's pick (which is pretty dead-nuts similar)

Another great hot 340 or 383 Hydraulic cam with at least 10:1 is the old Ultradyne 231/239 on a 108 spread, bullet can still grind it.

I had the "Old" .471/.474 Street Hemi grind Purple shaft in a 383 4 speed way back 35 yrs ago and it ran surprisingly well in a Big B body with 3.55 gears.

I would imagine the .484 would be ok with a decent 3000 stall and 3.91's, it ran good enough for high 11's (7.50's in the 1/8th) in a well built 440 in my buddy's E body cuda in late 80's and low 7s (mid 11's) in my 73 duster on a stock 69 short block with ported 906's.

383's are just kinda soft out of the hole (below about 2800-3000) but that actually used to be an advantage on street tires back in the day.

If I HAD to build a B motor with stock bore and stroke I know today I would build a 4.375" bore 400 but with the longer 6.76" 440 rods which would allow you to run a ~1.53" CH piston which is the same slug you would use for a 4.15" stroke RB using 7.100 rods. you would need to bush the little end "old school" style to .990 BBC pin to do that so it might be easier to just go aftermarket rods anyway. That would be nice revving 406" motor with a much lighter bob weight.

Why the shorty headers? Packaging concerns with the chassis?

My only "issue" with the crower 271 in this application is the large amount of split in duration.
It's good with nearly stock heads and the weaker exhaust flow, but edelbrock exhaust ports are much better than stock, and on a smaller displacement combo like a 383 I think there would be a possibility of over-scavanging, although it probably wouldn't be much of an issue with shorty headers and closed exhaust(however tightening that cam to a 108lsa along with the longer exhaust event does create even more overlap, which may not really be your best friend with a less than optimal exhaust system).
Also, the Crower 271 ground on a 108, which is a custom, I'm guessing will cost a bit more than the $127 Competition Products sells that Howard's Rattler for(and is shown as "in stock").

The car came with a set new in the box. I usually run full length but this car had these with it. Wish the guy would have bought full length TTI's I had good luck with those on a past '69 Dart. Guess I could sell them & pick up some full length headers, just don't know if it would affect the hp enough to justify the added cost.

i wouldn't be afraid of that howards cam, but might consider it close to the limit for decent driving and no tuning nightmares.

I agree Lew, it's on the big end of the spectrum IMO.
Another slightly friendlier option would be a comp xe268 or lunatis version of it. I'm just not a big fan of hydraulic and "fast rate". Some love em and have good luck with them but my experiences with fast rate hyd cams have always left me feeling like I would have been better off with something else.
Howard's also has a fast rate hyd grind that would be good for this application, 721141-08.
267/267, 220/220, .506/.506, 108lsa.
I'm sure it would work really well up to the limiting rpm of the lifters.

Edit: I went back and re-read the original post....... I still think the small Howard's rattler would be what I'd use.

Too bad Mopar doesn't make this cam anymore,as this is the one I would use easily. I still have it in my 70 383 Road Runner today. My Dad bought the cam new in 1972,and we ran as fast as 12.20 @109.88 with the usual bolt on's.

Looking at the old DC engine book, the old street hemi grind was 284 duration with a 108lsa and .471/.474 lift.
Not really all that different than the small Howard's Rattler.

I think the old .471/.474 cam was around 228 @.050, worked really well in my 383 for what it was.

Fast I agree on the 271HDP it's a great stock replacement cam in a 440 magnum and a great hot street cam with a 383 4 speed.

I'm with you on the 108 but the shorter stroke motors seem to benefit more from the tighter spreads in that the torque comes in faster and harder (which 340's and 383's really tend to need). The boost in the mid range seems to more than compensate ET wise to what the tighter spread costs them in terms of top end power, at least that was the case with smaller stock type heads. And a lot of the modern aluminum heads flow well enough on the exhaust that they might be as well (or better) with street exhaust to just run a single pattern cam where they would have the near same effective overlap with a tighter LSA than a longer exhaust with a wider spread.

I know Mopar also used to have a hyd cam that was 280 duration and .474 lift on both lobes and was 60 degrees overlap. They said to install it on a 106 ICL. It was for a big and smallblock as I used it once in a very stock 340 Dart and it ran very nice. Ron

I have the Comp XE 268 in my 68 road runner 383 engine. It has been in there for about 15 plus years, and 25K + miles.
The rest of the engine is completely original other than it has .030 dish pistons. I am sure the compression ratio is very low with the original 906 heads. I did not square deck the block.
I had a purple shaft in this combination and it was a total dog. No vacuum, poor in gear idle etc.
That cam was DC-280-110. Specs are 280* .474 106* with 60* overlap.
The road runner has a 727 with 3.23 gears.
I think this engine with the flat tops and other items the OP listed, along with the 4.10 gear would be a lot of fun!

Mark

On this HotRod article they picked a cam with a 110 sep. but they degreed it at 4 deg advance. I bought the 3 bolt so I could check the degree but should I be looking to advance when I do install? Ordering a can this week & looking at all the options.

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/mopp-0209-383-engine-restore/

Also, last week I got the heads, a set of Eddelbrock E-Street heads. Hoping to get the motor back from the machine shop this week.

Just bringing up an old thread

I am running the 284 - 484 cam with those E - Street Heads installed on my numbers matching 383

Should have it fired up this weekend

To much detailing along with work , slow project

Interested on what you went with and how everything turned out