318 cam

Dartswinger70 said

I have heard in my travels that, with a LA 318 the stock cam is best in terms of economy reliability and power. Stock lift on an LA 318 cam is below .400" I know most wont want to accept that but , I'd bet there is something to it. Without heads, ( and I don't mean ported stock 318 heads, I mean upgrading to a 340 style head with the large ports. ) there really is no need to cam a 318 but that's just my $.02.

Click to expand...

Emissions OEM small block cams for the smaller displacements wer short on intake lift. Valve was in the way of vacuum up to the carb resulting in low power and fuel economy.
A fairly stockish short duration but high lift cam will aid performance immensely. Do like the factory 5 liter displacement high output engines and use the 5.7/5.9l cam. Going to higher ratio rockers will also benefit performance, but clearances between the retainer and guide and the PTV clearance must be accomodated during the build.