Cam match to intake
Sorry, I forgot to add that in my second engine, I had six pack pistons and Edelbrock aluminum heads. The new pistons should have raised the compression to 9.3-9.4. instead of the 9.2 I previously wrote.
The heads should have helped out too.
My point was also that while the engine idled a bit rougher, it didn't perform much better.
I think the summary on this is that the 484/284 cam is not a low RPM power cam, especially with the E-brock Performer intake and 750 carb. Since it is a street only car, no strip racing a stall converter doesn't seem worthwhile. Also, lots of you will hate this, ,but I want to put a 2.96 gear in over the current 3.55. I like to take distance cruises and I like the mellow sound of 2500 over 4000 RPM on the road. I realize some of you are going to wonder why I am talking about slow take off when I have a 2.96 gear in mind. Crazy, right? What I am referring to is that I don't get the feel of big block torque when I step into the accelerator say from a slow rolling start like in traffic. The car does seem to get going once it gets going it just doesn't have that sudden response till the tach moves up. Seems the cam needs to either be less aggressive, or the top end of the engine needs to breath better. I am going to try and fit Schumacher headers around this engine without drastically altering the fender wells. I will also look at fitting a Performer RPM manifold under the hood. The hood currently has original equipment hood scoop/ram air set up. I think I can make the higher manifold work, possibly ditching the iconic "Super Commando 440" intake and replacing it with a much tighter Ram air that really forces outside air into the carb. No reason to ditch the original hood scoop, the hood is already cut up anyway. I may have to change out the Edelbrock 1411, 750cfm but I will check with Edelbrock's tech wizards first. End result should be a more breathable engine that should be a monster going into passing gear. Wheels and tires are already at 27" so I don't think there is much I could do with those that would be of much significance. The previous owner did change out the Flow Master mufflers in favor of lower decibel Dura Max. I have the Flow Masters, and I will likely put them back on. The rear end gear will probably solve, for me anyway, the highway "decibel" issue. If it doesn't, open the windows. I only drive on clear warm days and I like Mopar music.
I failed to mention that I acquired this car from an older gentleman who was the son of the original owner. The car spent its entire life in Florida under the ownership of the same family. The body is near perfect original. An extensive bare metal paint/body restoration was recently done to the car, including re-welding inner fender panels back in place. They had been cut out for header fit. I can't bring myself to undo all that nice resto work to fit a cheaper set of pipes to the car. Let's hope that Schumacher's claim to fit a-body 440's without fender modification is true. The other thing I have going for me in that area is this is not a power steering car.
I am still hoping to hear feedback on these plans. Shoot straight, I'm asking for feedback to everything I have laid out. Also, if anyone has experience sliding headers into this package, or with the Schumacher, $800 headers, I'm all ears.
Thanks
