Help with custom cam for 418 LA stroker

Search here on moparts, lots of dyno specs on builds, Jessie from Rev search posted a stout hyd roller camed stroker last year close to your specs, lots of good stuff from Ryan J and others

I've done numerous searches and that is how i've come up with what i've got so far. Just looking for something a little more specific for my build and intended use.
Thanks

I run a very similar combo. It's a 408 magnum 10.0 :1 compr, .ported magnum eddies, ported M1, 950HP carb, 1 3/4 headers.My hyd. roller is an XFI lobe 236/242 with .579 lift on a 108. It gives me 10" of vacuum. It's run a best of 10.90@ 121 I have a lean condition with my fuel system so I'm expecting a little more out of it this year.

Thanks onebad...Do you have any dyno #s for that engine? Do you know where your peak torque and hp are? When do you shift?
Thanks again.

There was a guy who posted on here in another similar thread not too long ago.

he was using the same 236/242 cam with 10:1ish compression and rhs heads. Made something in the area of 570hp which is no slouch all things considered.

Pretty close to my 414 build I have on the stand, just patiently waitng for Ryan at Shady Dell to work his Magic on my Eddies.

For a mostly street motor to maximize your cam choice you really need to see the flow curve of the heads you are working with, you can 'ballpark' a cam but to really get it right we need the flow curve. I pay most attention to the mid (.200-.400) lifts as well as some of the ratios between the mid and peak lifts to set the ideal Intake centerlines and Intake closing events.

With a 4 speed I'd be looking at a ported Victor 340 over an RPM, bottom end torque is not going to be an issue for you, not with those gears and a 4 speed. Also with a 4 speed in a port limited motor you MAY want to consider spreading out the lobe seperation (you have less rpm drop between gears than an automatic so you should want more gap between peak tq and peak HP rpm). I would say 108 would be minimum for your case, Tight centers and under ported equals limited RPM potential with a fast rising (but fast falling) torquer peak.

Bottom line head flow determines your HP potential (assuming you have the induction to match)...and to some extent it also determines your max HP RPM so this is what you use to dial-in your intake duration. Both Tim and Dwayne are great choices for advise. If your motor is under-ported (let's say your heads only flow ~.265 @ .550) for 418 cubes you can go a little bigger on the lobe but spread the centers out to help the upper RPM breathing....but you see in this case the better flowing (up high), shorter runner Victor 340 is also going to help that out.

Based on the 265 cfm ( which we'll assume pretty average for well worked home ported eddies) I would look at something around 248/252 @.050 on 108 and around .575 lift but put it in around 105, you could go bigger with more compression. Wih a Bullet cam you could go bigger and still have good torque but with Eddies and the RPM intake I doubt it would make any more power. Bullet has some very impressive HR lobes that rev a LOT quicker than the HR's of the past, great .200 up numbers that get fairly close (but not quite) to some of the more mild solid roller race grinds.

I like to build the stroker shortblock for the broadest bottom to top torque and then put the best heads I'm willing to afford for the build on it, from there I use the cam specs to TUNE WHERE I want the torque and power peaks based on the gears, weight and stall I want to run.

I'd call Hughes Engines for a cam. IMHO your intake will hold you back, I have a street/strip 408 with a Hughes 260/264 flat solid, ported Edelbrocks, 10.9-1 compression with a Victor 340. It pulls hard everywhere, bottom or top, it's gone 6.57 on pump 93 in a 3260# 69 Dart with a 4.10 gear.

Wize, you should have no problems going 6.90 with the 414 . I'd see if I could borrow some 3.91s to try. At 2900# it should go 6.30s without breathing hard .

Hmmm, perhaps my question would have been better suited on the Q&A forum. This build will be mainly for the street with the occasional blast down the strip. Maybe a few times a year. I just figured that most of the knowledgeable, professional engine builders were on here.
I'm not looking for a max effort here just a well thought out, reliable, streetable engine that can hold its own.
On a related note, here is the dyno results of a similar build from Dulcich. One point more compression, an M1 and a 1050 quickfuel.

RPM TORQUE HORSEPOWER
3200 491 299
3400 495 321
3600 496 340
3800 508 368
4000 509 388
4200 517 414
4400 522 438
4600 529 463
4800 532 486
4900 533 497
5000 532 506
5200 528 523
5400 522 537
5600 513 547
5800 501 553
6000 484 553
6100 477 554
6200 468 552


This is with a custom XFI hydraulic roller 236/236 @ .050 .576/.576 lift. Very stout numbers if you ask me and more than enough for a stock 2 bolt main block. I don't want to rev this thing to 7000 and as I said, it will see more street than strip.
Please, don't get me wrong, I really appreciate everyone's input. My goal here is 500hp/500ftlbs. If I get 525/525 great, I would be very happy! Basically, I want to know if I should add duration on the exhaust, and what LSA would work best for my intended use.

I was just on the Hughes site and wondering why all of their HR grinds are on 114?
Their BB HR's are on the 'correct' 108

Bottom line fish is either cam you have should work well enough to hit 500/500, but I've run the Comp XE HRs and the Bullets and I like the Bullets better BY A BUNCH, I'll stand on my 248/252 call and I'm pretty sure Tim Goolsby's pick would be very close.

FWIW...when you undercam a serious torque street stroker with a 4 speed you will have a very hard time getting and keeping it hooked on street tires...that's why I say it's important to get the torque curve where it'll do you the most good (ie, propelling the car) . Steve's 236/236 example would be perfect for a 3200-3400 stall automatic car but I'm thinking a 4 speed cuda with 4.10's would spin and spin and give up maybe 30-40hp up top once it did get hooked up.

Guys that dyno all the time on here pretty much all say take the Westech HP/tq 'magazine' numbers with a big grain of salt, not taking anything away from ANYTHING my buddy Steve does. He's one of the few guys left in the Mag business that actually includes the USEABLE TECHNICAL INFORMATION in his articles.

Thanks streetwise, before I pull the trigger I probably will give bullet a call. Just want to ingest as much info as I can first.

Make that call for a custom grind , takes all the guess work out of it................while were all bench racing here's my two cents

Int lobe 3018/Ex lobe 3038/110 lobe sep..........12:1 & over then maybe consider the 3039 lobe.

Go make that call.

My cam is the identical one Steve used in his build. I believe that 236 exh dur. is a typo. It should be 242. I don't have any dyno numbers. I do shift at 6400. I'm assuming my peak is around 6000. The XFI is one of comps most aggressive grinds. It was designed for the long stroke of stroker motors. They also claim it is easier on the valvetrain-especially with valve closing. I wish I had gone with their bigger 242/248 cam. I forget the total specs on it, but it seemed to be much more aggressive when I plugged it into the calculator. I would have liked to have another point of compression to run it.
That 236 is a decent cam. I have run a 6.80 1/8 mile with it and a 1.44 60 ft. This indicates I'm falling off on the top end given my 10.91 best. I'm assuming this is due to my fuel issues and not the cam. I do think wize is right about the duration. I think a 24x cam is right on the money for a 418 street/strip cam.