Single or Dual Pattern Cam

The first thing to consider are your performance goals. Do you want to run 14s in the quarter? 13s ? 12s ? 11s ? Even if you never intend on taking your car to the track , it should be a consideration. If you rode in a friends performance car and decided that was fast enough for you, then find out what that particular car runs and work towards that goal. Examples: If a late eighties 5.0 Mustang is fast enough for you, then you might be satisfied with a 14 second car. If a Hellcat Challenger is not fast enough for you , then you are going to need a 10 second car. I'm pretty sure you are not looking for 10 second performance , but you may get bored with 14 second performance very quickly. 14s are cheap and easy with a 318. My Duster has a stock 75,000 mile 318. It ran fine and had good oil pressure. I added a 272 454 Summit cam, Comp 901 springs, LD4B intake , 650 DP and headers. I did a quick bowl port on the heads. The car has a stock converter and a 3.23 sure grip. I took it to the track last month for the first time and ran 14.39 at 96. Not especially impressive , but probably pretty typical results for a budget combo. The intake and carb I bought used years ago and the cam/lifters were $99 on a black Friday sale. Plans for next spring are more seat time, some tuning and a converter change. Your question about choosing a cam for torque: Even if you are able to build a great deal of torque relative to its displacement , it's still just a 318. It's not a 440 . It's not going to have neck snapping torque at 2000 rpm no matter what you do. To go fast with a small displacement engine without boost or N2O , you need RPM. You are going to have to consider how much converter you are willing to go with before you choose a cam. If you are married to your stock 1800-2000 stall converter , any cam much beyond 215 at .050 is probably going to feel soggy on the bottom. Throw a 3500 stall in it and you can install a cam that will really take advantage of the SM heads.