So after I blew my motor up in Phoenix, I bought a motor from a friend, and used the short block with cam installed, and replaced heads, etc. with my parts. Didn't tear down the short block to inspect it, did a quick check on the cam and found the intake centerline to be 108, which is, in my experience a pretty normal number to see for a big block Mopar. Went to Great Bend for Div. 5 event, during T-N-T found that the car was just a TURD! I withdrew from the event and brought the car back home.

I researched the cam specs online, and an intake centerline number is not given, just opening and closing numbers @ .050. When checking those numbers it appears that my cam is 12 degrees retarded, meaning that the center point of the very top of my intake lobe will be at 96 degrees. That seems crazy, I've never run a cam with the intake centerline that far advanced. Any thoughts??

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That's the info I'm using, this gives a numerical center of the profile of 102 degrees. The center of the tip top of the intake lobe will be at 96 degrees. Unless I'm all messed up?

I don't know where the 96 number comes from. Looks to me like the cam is ground on 106 LSA and they want it installed so the intake center is at 102. That all seems normal. If you have it installed at 108 then you need to change it to 102 to match the factory recommendation. Double check valve to piston clearance when you do that since 6 degrees is a lot to change.

That cam is very radical so unless the engine is designed for a cam like that it will be a dog. Looks like a really old cam designed for cast iron heads. They used to run cams like that 40 years ago when heads didn't flow much.

I think I'm finding that if I degree the cam using their intake opening spec (.050 off the base circle @ 42 degrees BTDC) it will give me a 102 degree center on the intake lobe profile. However, if I take readings .050 on either side of the top of the lobe, it comes in at 96. I'm sure this is due to ramps not being the same on both sides of the intake lobe, but I never guessed it would be that big of a difference. I ran this same cam years ago before I changed to a roller about 10 years ago. I sent my roller cam back to Comp Cams to be checked out after my engine explosion in Phoenix.

I check the LSA angle on the intake lobe at 3 different places .050, .100 and at .200 before and after max lift on both sides of the lobe, once I get the intake exactly where I want it, I check the exhaust lobe the same 3 places to make sure the cam is ground on the LSA they say it is. If it is ground on 106 LSA and installed on a 102 ILC ATDC the exhaust lobe center (max lift) should be at 110 BTDC: scope
I've used Isky solid flat tappet cams that where ground on 104 ILC installed at 99 to 103 ILC, those work great in my old bracket motors :

Correct and thats the type of cam I ran in 1989>1991 in my low CR 6-pack 440 bottom end motor with ported (260cfm) 906's, this one>

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-23-630-5

We didn't degree it in back then but put it in straight up dot to dot. It ran real strong pulling to 7000, it had plenty of vtp with the 6pk pistons, thought it was quite mild actually. As for these old cam designs with modern heads being a dog, my mate ran a Dart with MCH ported Eddy heads (320cfm) on his 440 with 12.5:1 and it ran real good with the old DC. .590" 271@.050 sft making 600fwhp in at 103 with a 5000 stall.

Too bad that they don't show the duration at .050
Do you know how much it is?

That cam is bigger than any cam I've ran on the street, maybe even bigger than I've used in a bracket race motor for myself
The 108 LSA is good though

Mine is the 106 LSA. The duration at .050 is 288.

I'm going to" assume" the dash 6 on the end of the part number determines it was ground on a 106 LSA
I would like to see you install it at or near 101 to 103 intake lobe center and see how that works

Yes, thanks Cab, that is my plan.

I dyno tested an iron headed 440 with one of those cams in it many years ago........ when iron headed 440’s were still a thing.
That motor was down a solid 25hp compared to an extremely similar 440 with a slightly smaller(but probably still too big) cam.

I really can’t think of any combo where that would be my “go to” choice.

I see you’re in Colorado. If you’re racing at high elevation....... it’s got way too much duration for that.

Edit- my 2010 crane catalog has that cam as a 106lsa, which is how the one in the motor I dyno tested was.
That guy had been using the MP620 cam previously, but had one gone flat........ as did it’s replacement. Which led him to this Crane.
It survived, but the car(dragster) was slower with it.
I’ve measured the MP620 at 283/283-106.

The events in my catalog are 42/66, 74/34, which puts the C/L’s at 102/110.

Maybe a super stock grind where the internals are lightweight but the head is limited. Engines get spun to the moon trying to make power. I'd never use that cam in a 440, might work okay in a 540 or 572 but doesn't have enough lift to make really good power.

Some new info--the cam in the short block that I purchased is NOT the F-288/4134-6, but instead the F-280/430-10. That's why the open and closing intake specs did not match up with where the cam is degreed in at. I'm doing some test-n-tune next Sunday and will set this cam up with intake centerline at 104 if piston-to-valve clearance permits. Should be fine, not looking for max HP, just consistency and durability, my motor rarely goes over 6K RPM. It only takes 450 HP to run the Super Gas index. Also, these cams are not necessarily what I've chosen to be the best for my application, they just happen to be the ones that I have.

Does the F-280/430-10 have 280@.050 and .430 lobe lift? That seems like an awful lot of duration for an engine that "rarely goes over 6K"...

Yes, you are correct on those specs. These 2 Crane cams that I have were in motors that were assembled in the late 80s. One was a Super Stock engine, the other was built for Super Gas in 1988. There might be better engine combinations that would be better suited for Super Gas, but the low deck 451s have served me well over the years.

Not that you asked....... but...... I think about 10* less duration on a 106 would work better in that combo.
Something like the MP 590 cam(not that I’m suggesting one of those however).

Thanks for that advice. I may try something like that later this year. Will be testing this combo on Sunday, this motor is just kind of an interim solution so that I can continue to race this season. I have another block that I want to start building, probably for next season.