Seeing if this cam is good and if it will work

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Yes it will work. Any cam you choose will need the correct springs, too.
 
A cam can be 'good'......or it can be 'bad'.....
It depends what you want from the engine, so you should enlighten us as to what you are trying to achieve.
 
Plus the condition of the motor is important. Throwing performance mods at a high milage, highly worn engine may not work well. Then again, if it blows up, you can get the 408 stroker you really want. LOL
 
Thats a decent cam. But for stock long block 318 I would chose a cam with a faster ramp. The difference between the duration @50 and the advertised duration. The larger that number the lower the cylinder pressure will be. With a stock 318 your compression is already low. Any of the new cams like the comp extreme energy or the voodoo series luniti cams help with dynamic compression. I would recommend a luniti voodoo 700. It has more lift than the summit cam (.454) with a shorter duration. It won't kill your bottom end like a large duration cam. For a stock comparison engine I wouldn't go over 250 duration.
 
1st, welcome to the site! 2nd, I'm just going to throw this out there.......
"All the carb/intake/and cam that can be thrown at an engine can be thrown out the window if you have a bunch of leaky valves". Before doing ANYTHING, I'd give it a compression test, verify the valves are sealing and compression is pretty even across all 8. Then, and ONLY then, yes, a nice 4bbl/mild cam with a good dual exhaust will help it perform!
 
318willrun said:
1st, welcome to the site! 2nd, I'm just going to throw this out there.......
"All the carb/intake/and cam that can be thrown at an engine can be thrown out the window if you have a bunch of leaky valves". Before doing ANYTHING, I'd give it a compression test, verify the valves are sealing and compression is pretty even across all 8. Then, and ONLY then, yes, a nice 4bbl/mild cam with a good dual exhaust will help it perform!
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Yep this is 100 percent correct! This is where you start.
 
Personally, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and install HP parts into a 40-50 year old engine of unknown condition.

Especially if the motor has high mileage and has never been apart before.
Since a cam swap requires the front being removed, the intake, and the valvetrain....... you’re not that far from pulling the heads off.
Then a more thorough assessment of the condition of the engine can be done.

I’d actually do a leak down test to try and determine if there are any ring sealing issues before I took anything apart.

To put almost any performance cam into a 100% stock 318 will require at a minimum a spring change.

Be nice to be able to clean everything up(valves, bowls, chambers) before putting the new parts in.
Also gives you a chance to assess the condition of the seats and guides.

If the heads have never been gone through before, it’s likely they’ll need some guide and seat work.
 
Welcome to FABO. Another young gun! I'm so glad when another young guy works on these old girls.

Cam questions are like this, lol.

But seriously, some great advice from @318willrun and others.

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Best luck he would have doing this...is to recon the heads seats and spring setup.

Then it's all on the rings..of which viewing during the head recon should show either some existing crosshatch...or shine and scuff. A leak down is usually kind of a wash this case. Just look to see if the bores are in good shape.. cause leak down will tell you it's all of the above when it comes to a old used stock where the head exhausts are usually all sunk/leaking and of course you'll find some past the rings too... but it just may scare you away 'not realizing the heads will take care of a lot of that' once fixed.

Cam and head recon is my vote based on the op description so far.
 
IMO
The 6901 is not the best choice for hi-compression 318 street combo, never mind a low-compression one.
276/288/114, 218/228 @.050, lifts of .441/[email protected] ratio
At 8/1 Scr it will be a huge slouch getting off the start line, unless
you give it a high-stall and decent street gears.
With a stock stall (1800 to 2000), it will take off like a slanty.
That cam wants over 10/1Scr and in a 318, it will still be lazy off the line.
IMO
leave the stock cam in it, (at least until you are ready to boost the Scr) and;
Stall and gears is where it's at. I like a 2800 and at least 3.23s,
but 3.91s are what a 318 needs. 4.30s will wake the chit out of even an oil-burning pig of a 318.
 
Bewy said:
A cam can be 'good'......or it can be 'bad'.....
It depends what you want from the engine, so you should enlighten us as to what you are trying to achieve.
Click to expand...
I’m just trying to get more power out of it for the street for a little more fun. The engine has 50000 original miles and hasn’t been bagged around. It has no problems with it. It’s a solid engine. I’m just stuck on what to do to begin the build
 
Spencerwithadart18 said:
I’m just trying to get more power out of it for the street for a little more fun. The engine has 50000 original miles and hasn’t been bagged around. It has no problems with it. It’s a solid engine. I’m just stuck on what to do to begin the build
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Do the heads.

Not saying you have to Chances Are you don't or only need a couple but you can buy brand new valves on e bay for 100 bucks
Have the guides replaced/ knurled or whatever the shop seems best and hard seats a must. Compare the price diff of good enough to best and let your wallet decide.
Figure out what head gasket you would like to use, find its thickness -.006 to find its rough compressed thickness ex fp8553 perma torque around .046 compressed
1008 are a stated .039, 541/519sd around .o52-.o54 and so on.
It's about .0053 per cc on the open chamber 318 heads.. so check a chamber on each head or tell us the casting # and sometimes we know.. ex. 675 casting=68cc
920/234 closed around 66cc +/- 'they seem to vary'..and later heads can be as big as 72cc, just like a 360 head.

So figure out what head you have if ya haven't..and go from there. My advice would be not to go much smaller than 62 cc. Just factor in the new gaskets thickness minus the originals .019-.021 thickness to know what you are ADDING to the thickness and need to compensate for when milling. ..and remember if you were to rebuild this engine...you would be pulling the heads anyways , so if you see damaged cylinder walls or a big Ridge... it's no big deal ...just continue pulling it apart.
 
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By your screen name you have some particular year Dart with a 318. Everybody always pops the hood and starts thinking about doing something for more performance. I say jack up the rear end, determine what gear ratio you have, and research what it takes to swap in a more performance oriented gear ratio, and Believe what some others here are saying.
Pop the hood only to tune what you have at the moment.
 
^^ agree with 12many

With a low-C 318, the fastest , cheapest, most funnest things to do are ;
up the stall, and up the gears. And up the rpm capability.
These first two will get you off the line with tires blazing. By second gear the stall is no longer helping much, but the gears sure are. Gears will allow the engine to spool up more quickly, and you will blast thru the gears quicker.
Next would be a free-flowing exhaust.
A cam with a later closing intake valve, and No other changes, is guaranteed to lose low speed power and then you gotta wait for it to come back, and finally, about 3 or 4 seconds later, it comes around. Good for passing ........ maybe...........
With 25.5" tire, in First gear, and 4000 rpm,
2.76s = 40mph
2.94s = 37.6
3.23s = 34.4
3.55s = 31.2
Do you really want to wait that long for the giddy-up to arrive?
3.91s are 28.3mph, still not that exciting (compared to 3.55s),with a Lo-Stall TC that might hit 1800/2000.
But with a 2800 and a 4bbl, those 3.91s will scream off the line. and keep right on screaming
Here's why;
At 1800/2000rpm your 318 might be making 50/60 hp.
At 2800 with a 4bbl, probably close to double that,
Add a cam to her, and lo stall is not gonna make even one horsepower more, and neither will the 4bbl.

Here's another way to see it;
Say your engine makes 60hp at 2000rpm; that is 158 ftlbs at the crank and by the time it gets to the axles with 2.76s, that will be about 1700ftlbs at WOT
Say at 2800 with a 4bbl, it makes 100hp; that is about 188ftlbs at the crank. and out the back door with 3.91s, is 3240ftlbs at WOT............. That is nearly double!
If you left the stall and gears the same (low and 2.76s) and added a cam and 4bbl, and the engine breaks even at 158 ftlbs, that will be about 1700ftlbs at WOT.... again. And you will be many dollars broker and sporting one loooong saaad face.
 
Spencerwithadart18 said:
I have a la 318 that is completely stock as of right now. I did some research and found a 6901 cam and was wondering if it will be good
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I have 2000 to spend as of right now. I have a 8 1/4 sure grip 323 rear end lined up already, intake and carb as well. What and where would be other places to spend the money on that would get me the performance I’m after?
 
I have that exact cam in an otherwise stock 78 318 long block. It has an Edelbrock Performer 318/360 intake and a Holley 750dp carb headers and 2.5" dual exhaust. I run it in a heavy full optioned Duster with an A-500 Transmission and a 4.10 gear. I am really happy with the motor. Your results may vary! Go for it!

Cley
 
I had that cam in a stock 318 in my 70 coronet in around 1995. Stock converter and 276 gears. I had a thermoquad on it for a while but switched back to the stock 2bbl. Also had headers and dual exhaust. The difference over the stock cam was night and day. It wasn’t the fastest off the line but the top end was awesome. The valves would float when it revved over 6000rpms with the stock springs. I was 19 at the time, didn’t have a lot of money, this cam swap put a big smile in my face at the time
 
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