Possible camshaft ID 360 street build

[Michael Nelson]

I bought a Dart Sport 360 with a hot little motor in it. I was only given this info; Duration is 250, and Lift is 488. It has a lot of work done to it. I know it's an older build. I pulled the intake off and don't know where to look for part numbers. Though at the back of the shaft, it has an orange paint stripe.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Duration is 250, by itself means almost nothing. It needs to be accompanied by a spec, like "@.008 tappet rise"; or "@.050" , and if it is the intake or the exhaust duration.
Now in your case, you also provided the lift of .488
Together, these two numbers can point us to a possible cam, but it would just be a guess, into a family of cams.
My guess is that, if a solid lifter cam then she is about 284 Intake advertised duration.
if a hydro, then possible closer to a 292@ advertised.

But if that 250* you mentioned is the advertised, then it is about the same size as a 360 2bbl cam.
So then to tell the difference, you gotta hear it slow-idle at around 700/750. The 2bbl cam will make big vacuum and idle dead smooth with no lope.
The 250@ advertised will have a pronounced idle-lope, have vacuum closer to 10/11inches, and be a lil rough depending on how well it was tuned.

if a 292 hydro cam, that's a pretty big streetcam for a car with an automatic......

 

[RustyRatRod]

Normally, camshafts with lifts close to but under .500" have durations that range from 220-240 @.050". Pretty mild street grinds but they can have some chop, depending on how tight the LSA is. If it's on say a 106-108, you'll definitely notice a decent chop. Not so much ground on say a 112-114.

 

[Bakerlite]

Unles you have some actual numbers, not just "I was told" then it's pointless talking about it. You're either going to have to pull the cam, or dial gauge and degree wheel it to get the specs.

 

[Michael Nelson]

Duration is 250, by itself means almost nothing. It needs to be accompanied by a spec, like "@.008 tappet rise"; or "@.050" , and if it is the intake or the exhaust duration.
Now in your case, you also provided the lift of .488
Together, these two numbers can point us to a possible cam, but it would just be a guess, into a family of cams.
My guess is that, if a solid lifter cam then she is about 284 Intake advertised duration.
if a hydro, then possible closer to a 292@ advertised.

But if that 250* you mentioned is the advertised, then it is about the same size as a 360 2bbl cam.
So then to tell the difference, you gotta hear it slow-idle at around 700/750. The 2bbl cam will make big vacuum and idle dead smooth with no lope.
The 250@ advertised will have a pronounced idle-lope, have vacuum closer to 10/11inches, and be a lil rough depending on how well it was tuned.

if a 292 hydro cam, that's a pretty big streetcam for a car with an automatic......

It has hydraulic lifters, at idle vacuum bounces in the 10inch range it bounces a bit, the cam is choppy, and idles good at like 650, I'm a young guy with minimal experience and tools so my knowledge is minimal

It's a 4-speed car

 

[RustyRatRod]

It has hydraulic lifters, at idle vacuum bounces in the 10inch range it bounces a bit, the cam is choppy, and idles good at like 650, I'm a young guy with minimal experience and tools so my knowledge is minimal

It's a 4-speed car

Sounds like it's tuned pretty close if it idles happily at 650. Where is initial timing set?

 

[Michael Nelson]

Sounds like it's tuned pretty close if it idles happily at 650. Where is initial timing set?

Going to be honest, I have no clue. I have yet to purchase a timing light. I'm doing a lot of bodywork, just got a six-pack intake, so I'm trying to start looking for some parts to refresh it. It has a vacuum advanced distributor.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Going to be honest, I have no clue. I have yet to purchase a timing light. I'm doing a lot of bodywork, just got a six-pack intake, so I'm trying to start looking for some parts to refresh it. It has a vacuum advanced distributor.

Yeah, you're going to want to retain the vacuum advance for the street.

 

[TT5.9mag]

If it runs good and it does what you want it to do, don’t worry about what cam is in it. Leave it alone and enjoy it. Tune it to run good. When you get to the point of upgrading, or building another engine for the car, then start thinking about cam numbers.

 

[Michael Nelson]

If it runs good and it does what you want it to do, don’t worry about what cam is in it. Leave it alone and enjoy it. Tune it to run good. When you get to the point of upgrading, or building another engine for the car, then start thinking about cam numbers.

I get that, but I'm looking to rebuild my head and need to order new springs, and I know they are cam specific.

 

[AJ/FormS]

I'm looking to rebuild my head and need to order new springs,

Oh, I was wondering why you were so interested in that cam.
Next question is, why do you want to change the springs?
Hell, why do you want to pull the heads? Did they have a leaky Leak-Down test?
............ what's going on?

 

[Michael Nelson]

Oh, I was wondering why you were so interested in that cam.
Next question is, why do you want to change the springs?
Hell, why do you want to pull the heads? Did they have a leaky Leak-Down test?
............ what's going on?

Its a really long story, so two pistons are not looking too hot, I found that out after blowing a head gasket. I'm currently rebuilding the whole car so I'm looking at re-building the whole motor because its an old-school rebuild. I don't want a new cam because this one is still good and I've heard horror stories about the new crap from china town. The heads are heavily modified and Im almost positive need some work. I just want to guarantee when its up and running that she wont blow on me.

 

[1MeanA]

Its pretty much a guessing game for us. Perhaps there are numbers on the front face of the cam. You'll have to pull the cam plate to see.

 

[TT5.9mag]

You can order some springs based on lift. And you can measure that. Easy peasy. You’re not building a top fuel engine.

 

[Michael Nelson]

You can order some springs based on lift. And you can measure that. Easy peasy. You’re not building a top fuel engine.

I don't know a whole lot about motors. So if I measure my lift. I can just get springs that match? The brand doesn't mater?

 

[RustyRatRod]

I get that, but I'm looking to rebuild my head and need to order new springs, and I know they are cam specific.

Oh so now it's head building time. How bout this? How bout you tell us the WHOLE damn picture instead of a piece at a time? That way we won't waste our time and yours. We're not mind readers and my cats knocked my crystal ball off and broke it a few years back.

 

[jimmer]

If you are rebuilding the motor.
I would change cams.
You can always have the cam reground
Get new lifters as well.
Then you can match springs with the new cam , as well as pushrods.
In the end you will know exactly what you have.

 

[AJ/FormS]

If that cam of yours is around the size of the 284/292/108 Mopar cam;
that's a great cam for a manual-trans weekend warrior with performance rear gears. I'd be tempted, 20 years ago, when gas was cheap(er), to keep it. But in today's world, it's a lot more than a 360 needs, and the powerstroke valve duration is really short, so she will be pretty hard on gas. Not to mention that the overlap will, at low rpm, also waste fuel.
A long time ago, I ran a Mopar 292/292/108 cam. The intake duration I measured at 249*@.050.. Great cam for my 4-Speed car, but not for 3.55s. She was in my DailyDriver, but not for long. That cam was out of there by midsummer. She was just too hard on gas, and a racer-friend made me an offer I couldn't refuse. That was year 2000, when 87E10 was around $3.60Canadian per USg . Two weeks ago it was just about double that, and now, I'm retired and pinching pennies for groceries. lol.
Btw
That first engine of mine, after I swapped in a new smaller cam, ran at 11.3 Scr.( with alloy heads) When I tore it down for it's first freshening a few months later, She was also pushing the .028 gasket towards the valley. But I caught it . I switched to the FellPro .039s and roughed up the decks a lil. It seems the .028s didn't much like 11.3 Scr/ 9.23Dcr/ 190psiCCP; but daymn that engine, now with the smaller cam, was killer on the street, and made awesome fuel-mileage. In the new configuration with the .039s, The Scr dropped to 10.7, and yes I missed the 11.3; but I got used to it.
A few years later, that cam went flat on me. That winter, I decked the block some more and brought the pistons up a few thou, to restore the Q down to .032. With the new one-size bigger cam, this all worked out to 10.95Scr/8.75Dcr/178psi...... but this cam sucks gas again, lol.
I freshened that engine every winter, 5 or 6 in a row, and during 4 of those freshenings, every time I caught something that was about to destroy the engine. But on subsequent freshenings, all was good so I quit doing that. The last time was 2005 I think.
Every winter, I dropped a 318 into the car in it's place. With studded winter tires, those winters were nearly as much fun as the summers, lol. Almost every winter, she got a different transmission and a different rear gear; what a blast.
Finally, I was making good money, the kids had all flown the coop, and the wife was working too, so I bought a winter-car and quit thatchit, lol. The Barracuda became a weekend warrior.
But that First winter car was a 95 Pontiac Sunfire m/t . What a gutless wonder, but it got 32 mpg/USg pretty regularly. And man did it plow, even with 4 studded winter tires, steering was often an adventure. It didn't stop very well either. I missed my Barracuda.......
Ok, sorry for the ramble, I guess I'm up a lil late......

 

[TT5.9mag]

I don't know a whole lot about motors. So if I measure my lift. I can just get springs that match? The brand doesn't mater?

You can. But they need to be correct for your heads. Best advice I can give you is find a good machine shop in your area and work with them to get you set up. Ask for help and tell him you’d like to learn.

 

[Michael Nelson]

If that cam of yours is around the size of the 284/292/108 Mopar cam;
that's a great cam for a manual-trans weekend warrior with performance rear gears. I'd be tempted, 20 years ago, when gas was cheap(er), to keep it. But in today's world, it's a lot more than a 360 needs, and the powerstroke valve duration is really short, so she will be pretty hard on gas. Not to mention that the overlap will, at low rpm, also waste fuel.
A long time ago, I ran a Mopar 292/292/108 cam. The intake duration I measured at 249*@.050.. Great cam for my 4-Speed car, but not for 3.55s. She was in my DailyDriver, but not for long. That cam was out of there by midsummer. She was just too hard on gas, and a racer-friend made me an offer I couldn't refuse. That was year 2000, when 87E10 was around $3.60Canadian per USg . Two weeks ago it was just about double that, and now, I'm retired and pinching pennies for groceries. lol.
Btw
That first engine of mine, after I swapped in a new smaller cam, ran at 11.3 Scr.( with alloy heads) When I tore it down for it's first freshening a few months later, She was also pushing the .028 gasket towards the valley. But I caught it . I switched to the FellPro .039s and roughed up the decks a lil. It seems the .028s didn't much like 11.3 Scr/ 9.23Dcr/ 190psiCCP; but daymn that engine, now with the smaller cam, was killer on the street, and made awesome fuel-mileage. In the new configuration with the .039s, The Scr dropped to 10.7, and yes I missed the 11.3; but I got used to it.
A few years later, that cam went flat on me. That winter, I decked the block some more and brought the pistons up a few thou, to restore the Q down to .032. With the new one-size bigger cam, this all worked out to 10.95Scr/8.75Dcr/178psi...... but this cam sucks gas again, lol.
I freshened that engine every winter, 5 or 6 in a row, and during 4 of those freshenings, every time I caught something that was about to destroy the engine. But on subsequent freshenings, all was good so I quit doing that. The last time was 2005 I think.
Every winter, I dropped a 318 into the car in it's place. With studded winter tires, those winters were nearly as much fun as the summers, lol. Almost every winter, she got a different transmission and a different rear gear; what a blast.
Finally, I was making good money, the kids had all flown the coop, and the wife was working too, so I bought a winter-car and quit thatchit, lol. The Barracuda became a weekend warrior.
But that First winter car was a 95 Pontiac Sunfire m/t . What a gutless wonder, but it got 32 mpg/USg pretty regularly. And man did it plow, even with 4 studded winter tires, steering was often an adventure. It didn't stop very well either. I missed my Barracuda.......
Ok, sorry for the ramble, I guess I'm up a lil late......

The dart is really bad on gas, but I enjoy the loud rumble. I see the gas gauge drop on my way home after filling up
If you have any recommendations Id like to hear them, but from the things I read the new cams are junk.

 

[crackedback]

The dart is really bad on gas, but I enjoy the loud rumble. I see the gas gauge drop on my way home after filling up
If you have any recommendations Id like to hear them, but from the things I read a lot of the new stuff is junk.

The tune up plays a HUGE part in this. Carb being set up properly is more than jets and power valve to get the curve correct. Ignition timing as well.

Had 350hp 360's getting 20mpg on the highway and mid teens around town.