383 cam selection
 

Hey Everyone,

I have a 383 that my flat tappet cam is trashed. Going to go to a roller rocker retrofit. I have a friend that set me up with a great set of lifters and now i need to choose a cam. I have been running a comp 23-223-4 and liked the sound and the performance was alright. Obviously I am hoping for a little more. The car is 99.9% street driven. If you could let me know what you have run before, or make a recommendation based on the following specs that would be great. The more low end torque I can make, the better. Typical rpm i cant imagine would go past 5500 outside of maybe 1-2 track nights a year.

383 bored 30 over
E-street aluminum heads (78.8cc)
9.9:1 compression
Edelbrock performer intake (plus a 1" open carb spacer)
TTI long tube headers
stock crank and rods
KB162 pistons
727 trans (current torque converter will be changed appropriately to match the cam)
3.23 gears
Street avenger 670 carb (have a 770 sitting there if i need it)
the car weights about 4000 lbs

Thanks for your help!

Gary

You would make it easier if you gave cam specs instead of part numbers. I know I’m willing to help but looking up Comp Cams specs on their website sucks.

that’s totally fair.

the cam I had was:

110* lobe separation
224/230 @.050 lift
268/280 advertised duration
1600-5800 rpm operations range

i think that’s all someone would be looking for.

appreciate the help.

That’s a good street cam you had I don’t think you need anything larger. What I would suggest is calling the cam manufacturer of your choice and ask them for a recommendation because there is a difference between roller and flat tappet cam numbers, specs. You can have a roller and a flat tappet cam with the same specs and have two completely different characteristics. The one benefit of the roller is you can maximize your valve lift provided you have the clearance.

I used many different cams in street 383 engines over the years. Most people want to squeeze a bit more out of their engine and quite often make it less fun to drive. For whatever it's worth I found the 383-cam used in the 1969 Road Runner to be the best choice for street use. Specs are as follows.....the advertised spec is 268-284, lift.450-.464, 115 lobe separation. The duration at.050 lift is 214 intake-225 exhaust. This cam was a little hotter than the stock 383 cam used during the same era, it had a mild lope at idle. If you have power brakes this one worked well.

I think what you will run into with switching to the roller cam.... Is, that the RPM range starts around 2500-XXXX and greater.....
So when looking for a Solid Roller, Be Careful on the choice, Cams are not cheap anymore. Glad you got a hook up on the roller lifters....I like Isky and Howards stuff myself... But then again, I can drive over to Isky and get my stuff... :).. Cheers and keep us posted.

Thanks for the input guys! I think I have chosen a cam.

the Howard’s 723515-12


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...a49a8b1ea3.png


I know duration at 50 is lower than what I had but I think the overall profile is still a bit better power all around. Hoping it still has a bit of that “muscle car sound”

Should be nice for cruising around…

most of what I do is cruising. I run down the strip once or twice a year and like to do burnouts for my son. Your making me nervous that it’s too conservative…..

That kind of lift and duration should give you some noticeable torque around town. Enjoy!!

:thumbsup::nx:

:nx: isn’t dangerous
:nx::nx::nx:now this is dangerous!

Hahahahahaahaha.... :)

LOL... Well it can play havik on parts if your not careful, that's for sure... Hope you like the choice for the Hydraulic Roller? Should serv you well.
When or if you drive by Castrol Raceway, Wave a hand at her for me. Shes an old friend from back in the old traveling pit crew days..

Hey hotrods are for fix’n.

thanks, now I just need to figure out converter. Starting a new thread lol

I live about 15 minutes from there and go with my son once or twice a month to watch the drags and the sprint cars.

Cam and converter should be in the same conversation.

Alright I will keep this going in here. After hopefully coming to terms with this cam choice I reached out to TCS in BC to look at getting a converter done and they said that with 3.23 gears my car will basically always be a dog and that the rpm range of that cam is way too low for a 383....... thoughts. Side note, im not going to taller gears. I highway drive too much to be running a 4.10 or something until i win the lotto and do a 6 speed conversion somehow lol

I think I 2400 or 2800 rpm converter will wake up the 383.
I had a similar cam in a Ford 289 project and because of the spline count on the early C4 transmission I didn’t want to buy a new converter for the transmission. Eventually I built a new later transmission and bought a new converter. The stall speed was supposed to be 3200 but the 289 didn’t make enough power to make that happen and stalled in at 2900 rpm. My daughter had been running the car before and after the transmission swap, she went from 14.40 to 14.0X @ a little over 100 mph. She was thrilled and definitely noticed the difference.
that cam will give you a long flat torque curve from around 2000 rpm to 4500 rpm and peak hp about 5500 rpm maybe a little lower. It should be a fun driver.

Thanks for this! hoping this is the last "rebuild" for a while. Getting a little tired of chasing the feeling of this being a fun driving car. starting to wish I was happy with factory everything...... but then i remember i like doing this stuff..... most of the time.

Hey everyone, parts are starting to roll in and this thing is about to start going together. Seems to be a wide range of “cam buttons” for a roller cam….. are the more expensive ones worth it or just go with the el cheapo one…..

I’ve always used Cloyds, but then I use Cloyds timing sets. I’ve never looked into pricing of other brands it doesn’t matter. I’ve never had one go bad.

I dont think you need the button in this case.... " Just my opinion "

Depends on cam Company recommendations.

I know this is for a roller cam but I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that you don’t need a cam button for a flat tappet in a big mopar, I used to have a timing chain cover that was pushed out from the cam button pushing it, the cam goes from pushing back to forward on deceleration.
Believe the concern for a roller cam is movement allowing the lifter’s to hit the next lobe on the cam so for and aft movement is limited.

Thanks all. I will contact Howard’s and see what they say.