ok so this is the cam that they recomended me to go with my stroker kit. i dont quite understand what all this jargan means, but thats where u guys come in lol. the paper says:

intake exhaust
vavle adjustment hyd hyd
gross vavle lift .480 .480
duration @
.006 tappet lift 280 280

valve timing opern close
@ .006 int: 34 btdc 66 abdc
exh: 74 bbdc 26 atdc
these specs are for cam installed
@ 106.0 intake center line

intake exhaust
duration @ .050 231 231
lobe lift .3200 .3200
lobe separation 110.0

what does all this mean? and i was told that this was a moderate performance cam but still very streetable. i like to cruze around with my car but i do also like to hit the strip. is this a good cam for me?

thanks in advance
jimmy

Best bet would be to pick up the Mopar Performance Engine Book. It used to be just one, but a few years ago they broke it out into small block, hemi, and big block books, so just get the one you need. It will go a long way towards making sense of all the cam specs, and does so in an easy to read manner (probably WAY better than most of us could explain it). Basically, a BOOK could be written to encompass the questions you asked.

BUT...what engine are you building? How many cubes? Personally, I don't see a whole lot of benefit to building a stroker and then not putting a good set of heads/cam in it. The cam above, in my opinion, is way too small for any stroker motor in a muscle car application. I would take a look at the Comp Cams .525" solid cam if you want a very streetable cam in a stroked 340/440. It is basically a solid lifter .509" Purple shaft. Of course, ten people will give you ten different answers! That's the fun of the hobby!

Here's some help from my book:

Valve Adjustment:
The valve adjustment is the valve lash and is almost always the lash setting of a HOT engine. Hydraulic cams have zero lash.

Lift:
When ordering a cam you specify the lobe lift not the valve lift. After all, the lift at the valve is a function of the rocker arm ratio and the lash. The only constant in all this is the lift of the lobe. Since many people talk in gross valve lift terms, cam companies put the gross valve lift on the cam card, but I ignore it because that assumes a standard set of rocker ratios which may not be the case.

The lobe lift is usually given. Multiply that value by your rocker ratio to get your gross valve lift (minus lash of course).

Duration:
The camshaft durations determine the way an engine will run and sound more than anything else. Mopars like more duration for the exhaust than for the intake. This is often called a “split pattern cam”. Mopar Heads benefit by holding the exhaust valve open a little longer.

But the most confusing thing about durations is which number do you believe? There’s only one repeatable way to measure camshaft durations and that’s the numbers at .050 lift. As far as I am concerned the advertised numbers are almost useless. What duration would work best for you is a function of many other things such as displacement, idle quality, CR, etc.

Lobe Separation Angle (LSA):
The lobe separation angle is the physical distance in degrees between the lobes. This is ground into the cam and cannot be changed. It makes no difference how you degree the cam in the engine, the lobe separation angle will not change. This dimension specifies the distance or spread between the intake and exhaust centerlines. This is important because it establishes the amount of overlap between the intake and exhaust. Overlap is the amount of time (in degrees) that both the intake and exhaust valves are both open in the cylinder. A smaller LSA allows for more overlap and helps scavenge the chamber at higher RPMs. A larger LSA will increase vacuum, have a flatter torque curve, and help tame the idle.

Intake Centerline:
The intake centerline is the position of the centerline, or peak lift point, of the intake lobe in relation to top dead center of the piston. This can be changed by "degreeing" the cam into the engine. Most cams are designed for a recommended intake centerline and degreeing the cam merely means making sure the peak of the intake lobe occurs at the correct degree. If a cam is installed “straight up” that means you line up the intake centerline and don’t add any advance or retard. So a straight cut 114 LSA cam installed with 114 ATDC intake centerline would also have a 114 BTDC exhaust centerline. But if you advance that cam 4 degrees, the intake centerline becomes 110 ATDC and the exhaust centerline becomes 118 BTDC.

SO ...
intake exhaust
vavle adjustment hyd hyd (no valve lash adjustment. lash = 0)
gross vavle lift .480 .480 (.320 from below x an assumed 1.5 rocker = .480 lift)
duration @
.006 tappet lift 280 280 (ignore these)

valve timing opern close
@ .006 int: 34 btdc 66 abdc
exh: 74 bbdc 26 atdc
these specs are for cam installed
@ 106.0 intake center line (This is the recommended installed centerline)

intake exhaust
duration @ .050 231 231 (theses are you durations at .050)
lobe lift .3200 .3200
lobe separation 110.0 (110 is a typical lobe separation for a Mopar)

So this cam will work well in your engine and a split duration is not required. Since it has been stroked it can tolerate the 231 degrees of duration. You will have some engine lope at idle if that's what you want.

wow thanks a lot rich! its still a little confusing but that deffinatly helped me understend a bit more. my J heads should do the trick for now right?

Absolutely.

my mechanic says i should be running 425-450 hp does that sound about right? i jus got the block back from the machine shop. put the heads on water pump, altenator, ect. and then drop er in the hole. I cant wait!

That depends on the amount of the head work, which you didn't say. But a well built SB with that cam should produce between 1.0 and 1.1 HP/CI. Which means your mechanic is right on.

ok the guy at the machine shop told me that the heads had been ported a bit already. how much i dont know, but thanks for all ur help man! i dunno how some of u guys on here know so much about these cars and their parts...