summit cam selection

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Patrick

Patrick

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Found some info in archives, but wanted a little more info...

Have a bone stock 318 with a performer 4 bbl intake, 600 cfm eddy, stock exhaust manifolds from a 273, dual exhaust.

Engine is going in a 65 valiant with a 4sp and 3.0x gears. Would like to replace the cam with something a little more than stock but not sure which summit cam I should use. 100% cruiser

K6900 : 204/214 duration at 0.050, 420/442 lift
K6901 : 218/228 duration at 0.050, 441/441 lift

Leaning towards the K6900 - what do you think?
 
Id go with the smaller one. The larger one is close to the stock 340.
 
Pat, I went with a Crane very similar to the larger Summit cam. The Crane has more lift. It works with the stock converter. I have 3.21 gears and 215-70/15's.
You will have no problem with this cam in a 100% cruiser car. (The larger Summit cam) It will have very good power on launch and very nice acceleration on the Hwy.
 
I would go with the larger one! I've run a stock 340 cam in a 318 with great results! and I actually have that K6901 in a low compression 360 currently. I believe it would be a good 318 cam. :thumbup:
 
For what it is worth, I ran the .420/.442 cam in my 318 with unported 302 heads, hedman headers and Stock Intake Q-Jet Carb in a heavy 5th Ave with a 2.2 geared 4dr. It even had a slight lope(you could tell there was a cam in the ole 318.). The low end suffered some, but the mid range was much improved.

It would be easy to say, go with the bigger one and it is very tempting. However, since it is going to be a 100% and if it is going to be driven alot I would suggest the smaller of the two. Even though I am comparing my Pineapple to your orange when it comes to the vehicle.
 
Are the Summit cams ground to take advantage of the Mopar lifter diameter or are they just Chevy grings on a Mopar Stick? If they do not take advantage of the Mopar .904 lifter diameter I would not run one.


Chuck
 
I have a Comp 260 cam with an edelbrock 4 bbl setup and stock manifolds. Can't say that it has much of a lope though. It is still very smooth. The key is not to ovecam a stock 318 block, as the 8:5:1 compression ratio does not support it. A more radical cam will sacrifice low end torque, which is too important of a comodity to give up. You need to make as much torque down low as possible, otherwise, your motor will be just plain doggy down low. Give it a fairly mild cam, and your 318 will run great with pretty good power. I love the power and reliabilty i get out of mine.

Side question: Does anyone have an idea of how close my comp 260 cam is to the specs of a stock 340 cam? like i said, its not lopey, but the motor sounds a lot stronger than with the stock cam. thanks.
 
340mopar said:
Are the Summit cams ground to take advantage of the Mopar lifter diameter or are they just Chevy grings on a Mopar Stick? If they do not take advantage of the Mopar .904 lifter diameter I would not run one.


Chuck
Click to expand...
There ground by Crane for Summit.
 
I ran a Hughes 218/228 cam with .528 lift in a 318 Magnum, it had tons of torque and power. Of course the magnum heads flow better, but it should work fine for you. it was mild enough at idle so that you knew it had a cam, but not too much lope, good vacuum, real good response. My only worry would be those 273 manifolds, might be little restictive. I think since you have the 4 speed, I would go with the bigger cam, which really isn't that big.
 
on the recomendations from Mancini racing, I bought their kit for around $300 with the 340 grind purple shaft, new MP lifters, springs and push rods with crane retainers and hardware and a double roller timing chain.

I told them I wanted some "Umpff" without a really radical idle.

I'm putting in the cam this week.
 
340mopar said:
Are the Summit cams ground to take advantage of the Mopar lifter diameter or are they just Chevy grings on a Mopar Stick? If they do not take advantage of the Mopar .904 lifter diameter I would not run one.


Chuck
Click to expand...


I think the Mopar .904 grinds are over rated for most street cars. Especially the real aggressive ones that kill valve springs. Flame away !
 
I'm with you on that Adam. I get flamed for NOT recomending the use of should I say full use of the larger lifter. On a street ride or even mild racer, it isn't something that should be a mandorty item. It's harder on the springs life span. Not really a big deal if you don't mind changing them out, but why bother on a car that you should be enjoying rather wrenching? Granted, you'll not be changing them out on a yearly basis.

But far be it from me to say squat if thats what you really want to run. There a good stick to use.

flyboy01; I think the combo is good. Headers would release more power, but then again, the exhaust manifolds are totalllly problem free. The 10* of speration are good with the stock heads and even better with the Magnum heads. I think it's not worth the worry of thought on swapping the manifolds out for headers.
I know it runs good.
 
Fellas,
Great discussion and some good info... I figured I'd get recommendations for both cams!

Given that I am relying on low end torque for a 100% around town cruiser and i'm stuck with stock manifolds (btw, i'd install spitfires in a heartbeat but i don't want to give up the power steering!) and stock compression, still can't decide - I just don't want to have ANY loss on the low end...

thanks again for the great feedback!
 
I just don't want to have ANY loss on the low end...
Click to expand...

Then go for the smaller cam. I recomended the larger one because of the 4spd manual trans. There is a ever so slight drop at the lowest point with the larger cam that IMO the 4spd. manual will cut across. The rpm range of the larger cam starts slighty higher than the off idle of the smaller cam.

This is from a 4spd. owner of 20 years. I have had the Crane cam I listed above in a '73, 4spd Cuda that was then powered by a 318. I just installed the same cam again in a auto (904) trans duster with a 318.
 
rumblefish and others,

Again, thanks for the great feedback. I guess most of you recommend the 'larger' one since I have a 4 sp, otherwise it sounds like I maybe would run the smaller one if i had an auto. I'll give it a try. Will try to let you guys know how it turns out but it won't be for another few months...

Picking up my rebuilt 833 from Passon soon! :) In the meantime will have to install the 4 sp hump, do the cam swap, rebuild my eddy 600... Spring it near!
 
So the cam will be the............Larger one?
(IMO I think you'll like it alot)
 
Rumble,
yeah, i'll take your advice and give the larger one a shot.
Appreciate the great info!
 
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