Best cam for the street both power & sound

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junkyardhero said:
it's when "perfect" becomes the enemy of "good enough" and honestly, most all of these engines are just fine and dandy at "good enough" and most owners will be more than happy with that outcome.

i want a little more pep in my 318 2bbl: oh, well, sonny boy lemme tell ya something you're gonna need a 360 with a mountain of cranking compression and aluminum heads otherwise it ain't **** and you shouldn't bother!

well, i don't have that kinda money: that's not a problem, just get yourself some 4.10's and a 3500 stall converter. that'll put some tabaccy in your pipe! wake up that ol' wheeze bag 318 like nobody's business!

but won't that make my car turn a whole bunch of RPM on the freeway and give me an extremely narrow band of power to work with? i mean, i'm sure it's a kick in the pants around town but what if i wanna get on the highway and go see my sweetie? she's a ways away at university. and what about fuel economy? my utoob channel is just starting out and i'm not an influencer just yet, i don't have the followers so gas money is kinda tight.

pish posh! you said you wanted to go fast. everything's a compromise, so either spend the money or make do!
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Plus it's seem like gears and definitely stall is the last mod that people are generally willing to do and usually not by much especially for a mild applications.
 
273 said:
Plus it's seem like gears and definitely stall is the last mod that people are generally willing to do and usually not by much especially for a mild applications.
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a cam or intake & carb swap is wholly within the wheelhouse of the general hotrodding public or shade tree hobby types. whereas gears, unless you're talking about swapping a pig on an 8.75 is a little more involved on a number of different levels: skill, specialty tools, cost or even availability (say you've got a 7.25? what then?).

same for a converter. a lot of people have a fair amount of trepidation about transmission work, don't care for the under car action that takes or have reluctance about laying down $400+ for something that you can't really quantify and "well, it seems to work just fine now".
 
junkyardhero said:
a cam or intake & carb swap is wholly within the wheelhouse of the general hotrodding public or shade tree hobby types. whereas gears, unless you're talking about swapping a pig on an 8.75 is a little more involved on a number of different levels: skill, specialty tools, cost or even availability (say you've got a 7.25? what then?).

same for a converter. a lot of people have a fair amount of trepidation about transmission work, don't care for the under car action that takes or have reluctance about laying down $400+ for something that you can't really quantify and "well, it seems to work just fine now".
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Agree on both parts, but the rear gears are very rewarding…when you get them right. The Torque converter is probably the best performance upgrade you can make with an automatic car. Night and day difference.
 
Darter6 said:
Damn,,,Gotta clean my glasses....:(
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I might need to start posting photos to grab more attention?

IMG_7759.jpeg
 
MidnightSwinger said:
Agree on both parts, but the rear gears are very rewarding…when you get them right. The Torque converter is probably the best performance upgrade you can make with an automatic car. Night and day difference.
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indeed.

when everybody wants a car that "sounds cool at idle" and is reluctant to spend <500 on that, it's kinda hard to sell 'em on 2K of converter and gears with a whole: "trust me, it's a game changer" line...
 
Here's my favorite 318 video. Cool car and sound. A 318 with a Hughes Whiplash. It sounds good but it must not have preformed all that well. The guy built a 360 for it.
 
junkyardhero said:
indeed.

when everybody wants a car that "sounds cool at idle" and is reluctant to spend <500 on that, it's kinda hard to sell 'em on 2K of converter and gears with a whole: "trust me, it's a game changer" line...
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That’s why I do it one piece at a time like my Uncle Johhny told me to.
 
junkyardhero said:
indeed.

when everybody wants a car that "sounds cool at idle" and is reluctant to spend <500 on that, it's kinda hard to sell 'em on 2K of converter and gears with a whole: "trust me, it's a game changer" line...
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Not everyone, I want mine to sound cool as it is bouncing off of rev limiter at 6K+….
 
273 said:
I was being sarcastic towards AJ book :) 318willrun's car is exactly what AJ says not to do or it will be a slug compared to stock, which obviously it isn't.
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I thought maybe that was the case. lol
 
273 said:
I was being sarcastic towards AJ book :) 318willrun's car is exactly what AJ says not to do or it will be a slug compared to stock, which obviously it isn't.
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Well, I've come to the realization AJ has no direct experience (nothing in the last 30 years) and relies on dated printed data, formulas and slide rules. So I just read his posts and laugh. I mean.....and not blowing my own horn here, but it's the truth, I can provide pictures. I'm in the middle of helping people with two different engine builds and it's fixin to be three, plus I just got done putting my headers on Vixen. Even though I'm retired, I try to stay somewhat busy helping others and with my own stuff. I prefer experience over internet myth and forum guru.
 
michiganpat said:
XE262 with those gears
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I think I would agree with that. I have the XE 268 in my 340, and I LOVE it. It has a nice choppy idle, and plenty of power. It might be a bit much for the average 318, so the XE 262 would probably be a good choice.
 
junkyardhero said:
it's when "perfect" becomes the enemy of "good enough" and honestly, most all of these engines are just fine and dandy at "good enough" and most owners will be more than happy with that outcome.

i want a little more pep in my 318 2bbl: oh, well, sonny boy lemme tell ya something you're gonna need a 360 with a mountain of cranking compression and aluminum heads otherwise it ain't **** and you shouldn't bother!

well, i don't have that kinda money: that's not a problem, just get yourself some 4.10's and a 3500 stall converter. that'll put some tabaccy in your pipe! wake up that ol' wheeze bag 318 like nobody's business!

but won't that make my car turn a whole bunch of RPM on the freeway and give me an extremely narrow band of power to work with? i mean, i'm sure it's a kick in the pants around town but what if i wanna get on the highway and go see my sweetie? she's a ways away at university. and what about fuel economy? my utoob channel is just starting out and i'm not an influencer just yet, i don't have the followers so gas money is kinda tight.

pish posh! you said you wanted to go fast. everything's a compromise, so either spend the money or make do!
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Yeaaaaa, that about sums it up.
The 318 of this thread will do well with just a small cam, 4bbl. & headers. A little gear helps, but not realllllly needed. Nor extra converter stall. I’d install a cam of 218@050 and call it good, run high 13’s with 3.55’s. Yep! Done that. It was good. I also did that at 20 years old.
MidnightSwinger said:
What am I, chopped liver?!?!
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RustyRatRod said:
Well, I've come to the realization AJ has no direct experience (nothing in the last 30 years) and relies on dated printed data, formulas and slide rules. So I just read his posts and laugh. I mean.....and not blowing my own horn here, but it's the truth, I can provide pictures. I'm in the middle of helping people with two different engine builds and it's fixin to be three, plus I just got done putting my headers on Vixen. Even though I'm retired, I try to stay somewhat busy helping others and with my own stuff. I prefer experience over internet myth and forum guru.
Click to expand...
 
RustyRatRod said:
Well, I've come to the realization AJ has no direct experience (nothing in the last 30 years) and relies on dated printed data, formulas and slide rules. So I just read his posts and laugh. I mean.....and not blowing my own horn here, but it's the truth, I can provide pictures. I'm in the middle of helping people with two different engine builds and it's fixin to be three, plus I just got done putting my headers on Vixen. Even though I'm retired, I try to stay somewhat busy helping others and with my own stuff. I prefer experience over internet myth and forum guru.
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And for some reason he's dead against hopping up a 318 beside duals and tune, he says you can't put a cam in cause of under 3,000 rpm performance with stock stall and gears fine but then he recommends a aftermarket stall and deeper gears but even after installing those stall and gears your still not allowed to run a cam or even a 4bbl according to him. And I've tried to even work within his formulas to come up with a reasonable cam upgrade and he won't, even if it works within his formulas, to him it's impossible to improve upon stock 318 cam even though he thinks that a 318 sucks in the 1st place.

I believe that everyone should be able to express their own opinions but it bothers me cause most of these 318 guy are generally New here and New to performance and generally just want a 4bbl and mild cam and him and the rest of the anti 318ers and cr and velocity police come in and confuse the hell out of these OPs.
 
273 said:
And for some reason he's dead against hopping up a 318 beside duals and tune, he says you can't put a cam in cause of under 3,000 rpm performance with stock stall and gears fine but then he recommends a aftermarket stall and deeper gears but even after installing those stall and gears your still not allowed to run a cam or even a 4bbl according to him. And I've tried to even work within his formulas to come up with a reasonable cam upgrade and he won't, even if it works within his formulas, to him it's impossible to improve upon stock 318 cam even though he thinks that a 318 sucks in the 1st place.

I believe that everyone should be able to express their own opinions but it bothers me cause most of these 318 guy are generally New here and New to performance and generally just want a 4bbl and mild cam and him and the rest of the anti 318ers and cr and velocity police come in and confuse the hell out of these OPs.
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Yup and a lot of them will believe his bullshit simply because there's so much of it.
 
advice around here can be like the shitty diner around the corner: the food's not real great but they sure give you a whole lot of it.
 
Thing I don't get he doesn't like or even think 318 can even be made to perform (torque) why is he's really given advice on them. I'd rather him just say they suck get a 360 and move on.

Most don't think /6 is the wises performance platform but most don't go down there and pester them and generally don't see the big block guys bother the small block guys.
 
273 said:
Thing I don't get he doesn't like or even think 318 can even be made to perform (torque) why is he's really given advice on them. I'd rather him just say they suck get a 360 and move on.

Most don't think /6 is the wises performance platform but most don't go down there and pester them and generally don't see the big block guys bother the small block guys.
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I find that most people who talk trash about another engine probably never had one, had one and didn't know how to build and tune it or are just talkin to hear and see themselves talk.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I find that most people who talk trash about another engine probably never had one, had one and didn't know how to build and tune it or are just talkin to hear and see themselves talk.
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Especially now days with the parts and tech and knowledge available to us you can almost make any engine work and it don't take much to make an A Body fun/fast.
 
273 said:
Especially now days with the parts and tech and knowledge available to us you can almost make any engine work and it don't take much to make an A Body fun/fast.
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Well, all I know is, I've had cars as quick as high nines, but I am slap happy with this slant 6 Valiant. That's all that matters. Do what makes you happy.
 
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