Money vs Horsepower

I agree with going with a Hughes Cam if you're a guy on a budget. They produce the best power in a flat tappet and there's nothing wrong with a hyd cam if you don't plan to spend alot of time above 6500 rpm. You may need to make some mods to accomodate the additional lift, so if that's not in your scope either, then a mopar purple shaft also produces very good power. These cams are designed to get the most out of the large Mopar tappet, whereas most others are a copy of a Chevy grind. If you're going to change the cam, buy one specifically designed for a Mopar and you will get the best performance.

One note for those who think you can just look at duration @0.050....... That does give you a consistant number that can be compared directly but doesn't really give you a picture. Advertised duration is measured at different points on different types of cams and vary from manufacturer, that's why some say to disregard adverised duration, but you can have two cams with 226 duration at 0.050 and be two totally different animals. You can have one that is near 285 duration measured @.006 (as most hyd cams are) and another that's only 270 @.006. Both engines might make similar top end horsepower numbers but the 270 is going to have much more low end horsepower and torque as well as be much more streetable. Basically, the ramps are steeper on that cam allowing more efficient cylinder and the valves are closed longer allowing the engine to better utilize the power. I suggest reading up on the effects a cam has on dynamic compression prior to purchasing a cam.

General rule of thumb, the more duration at .050 with the same advertised duration will have steeper ramps with more gross lift and will have a much flatter power curve. Just make sure that you are comparing apples to apples when comparing one brand or lifter type to another. Large roller cams sometimes cap the lift, making the lobe look more square than egg shaped and gross lift is less of an indicator.