Looking for a little help selecting a new cam.

Heres what I've got.

62 Dart
426 max wedge 12.5:1 comp
Stage 3 heads and stock crossram/3705 carbs
3600lb car, with an auto (J converter) and 4.30 gears.

Right now the car has a MP .533 hydraulic P4529318. From what I gather, its not very well liked...

This setup ran 12.00's at sea level, but up here at 6000ft elevation, I'd like to see if I can squeeze a little more out of the car.

Leaning towards a solid cam this time, but am open to suggestions.

Im no cam Guru but we just put this solid cam in a 440 11.5-1 with indy heads and 1.6 rocker, it hauls ass . Someone smarter than me will chime in.
All the best.

I've owned and raced a lot of different M.W. motors and cars over the years at variuos altitudes,NHRA stock to S/G, none above 5500 Ft elevation though. I would look at a solid lifter or solid roller lifter cam that had between 250 to 270 degrees duration at .050 lifter rise and as much lift as you can get Have it ground on 106 to 110 lobe seperation angle, more duration wider LSA, and install it with between 3 to 6 degrees advance on the intake lobes.
I use to use a lot of Isky cams, my favoriite solid lifter grind is not in thier catalog anymore, it was thier old .590/616(EDITED) grind, they would probally make you one as a custom grind now. It was ground on a 104 LSA and it had a bunch of bottom end and would usually quit pulling hard around 7000 RPM with the bigger Stage 3 heads, intake and carbs like you have IHTHs
There are a lot better cams out there now, I like and use Comp Cams and Bullet Cams for most of my builds now starting back around twenty yrs ago

Excellent info, Thanks!

Do you know what your valve to piston is,if that will limit you in any way?A roller would be nice if in the budget.What rpm do you want to go to?How are the rods?What rpm are you doing in the traps now?

Do you have the room on the valve guides for more lift like a .590 or .620 lift?

I don't know how much clearance I've got. I'll have to pull a couple springs and find out. This engine did have a MP .590 in it years ago. I'm guessing there has to be something a little more modern available now?

Its got good rods, and crane gold rockers.

RPM? Can't remember, lol, the car has been hibernating for years. I don't think the car has been down the track since 2001-ish.

Sounds like you will be able to do better.

Really depends on how the car is going to be driven. Are you going to be racing it only or driving on the street? If it is a drag race only car with open headers then you can go ahead and put something a little ratty in there but if you are going to be driving it on the street I'd stay with something fairly mild.

At 12.5 cr I think it is a drag car is safe to say.

I'd suggest a fast rate solid cam that doesn't have lots of duration.
Lsa somewhat dependant on the exhaust system being used for track use.

I have a few cams on the shelf that might work. A Racer Brown STX-19M which is 257 duration and .527 lift. Or a Comp XTQ/XTX cam that is 252/258 with .540/.539 lift. Or a Scott Brown custom which is 248/258 with .563/.555 lift. The lobes on the Scotty Brown cam are pretty aggressive.

Thanks guys.

Yeah, it's not really going to see a ton of street miles, so friendliness isn't much of a concern. With the cost of good gas, I keep the trips short. lol

Oh, and the car has 2" primary headers on it, not max wedge exhaust manifolds.

Are they 286 or 518 heads?
Ported or not?
2.08 intake valve?
Car is raced with headers open or closed?
If closed, what's the exhaust system from the headers back?

518, unported.
2.08 1.88 valves

It's got max wedge style exhaust dumps on the headers. Opened up at the track.

watch how much lift you have as anything over .600 get hard to fit the exhaust valve in the cylinder. if your a 4.350" or bigger bore you should be ok.


Max Weg

It's a 4.25" bore, so I might not be able to go crazy on the lift.

Do your heads flow much above .550 lift?You may get results from more lift sooner like .100 more by .250/.300 lift from what you have,IDK if other than a roller can do that.

Is your block a 426 street wedge or race wedge block? If it is a race block it will have the exhaust valve reliefs already cut in the cylinder walls so the max lift shouldn't be a real problem with most solid lifter race cams. That is one of the things that always need checking when changing cams just like valve to piston clearances I have cut those exhaust valve reliefs in 426 Street Wedge blocks also for max wedge heads and valve to block clearances

It does already have the reliefs cut in the top of the bores.