My old Newport is needing a little more pep in its step.
The 400 is in need of a timing chain, and i figured I'd pick up the small summit cam, k6400, to put in while I'm in there.

What do you guys think, would advancing this cam a few degrees help the low compression 400 get this 4,300 lb C body moving?

Advancing it will give it more low end pep or bump up the rear gears?

In all reality, the new timing set is probably all it needs. I can rock the crank 10° before the rotor moves, so i figure that's the main issue. The plastic coated cam gear teeth are probably falling off.

Don't really want to change the gears, got 2.94s in it with an OD A833 for cruising on the highway. This car will barely break the tires loose dumping the clutch in first gear though.

You might get the 3 keyway set & adv the cam that is in there now 4 deg then work with the dist subsystems in order: set initial with vac gauge method. set total (initial+slots) to 38 with the $22 FBO plate. toss the heavy spring & sub in a lighter one (mr gasket/MP/transdapt). plug in the can & adj it with a 3/32 allen wrench. You want to be a bit under the pinging point with the spring choice & can adjustment. more later if needed.

When I honed and re ringed my 400 I used that cam and some steel shim head gaskets. Seems to work fine. I thought it would have been a little faster but it has no problem with burnouts.

Maybe this will help. This is the dyno result of a K6400 in a 400.

Lo-compression 400/K6400 build.

I put a 6400 in a 383 last summer. satisfactory results. no issues.

i built a low-budget 440 for a neighbor, and we put a summit cam in it (not sure if it was the 6400 though), and ran REALLY good. barely detectable lope. a tire burner, for sure!

Well, i got this thing tore apart the other day. The chain was sloppy, and the plastic cam gear teeth were pretty worn and cracked, but all still there.

Decided while im in there, i may as well pull the heads off and put new gaskets in. The original head gaskets ended up looking perfect, but the valve seals were hard and falling apart.

Of course we got hammered with snow, so i had to take the heads in the house and tear em apart in the kitchen. Half way thru, my big beefy "made in USA" valve spring compressor broke, so i had to weld it up.

Thanks for the replies guys. Hopefully i can get this thing together and broke in this weekend.

That was a very interesting thread about the low comp. 400....he got
really good #'s with ONLY 7:5 to 1 compression...great!

With numbers like that in a low comp engine,I would think the same cam should work well in my 440 with 9.3 compression, 452 heads, headers and a Performer RPM. Should be nice in my street truck.

Crappy weather slowed me down on this since i gotta work on it outside, but i got it together and broke the cam in on Friday. Changed the oil and took it for a ride yesterday. Runs alot better now, got that low end i was looking for.

Gonna drive it around today and probably drive it to work tomorrow and see how it likes cruising on the turnpike.

sounds good. really curious how this cam will run. I've got a low comp 383 i'm looking to throw it into that I think the previous owner over cammed