Big Block Dart Forums banner

440 engine rough idle cam

20K views 22 replies 16 participants last post by  ksdartguy 
#1 ·
hey,

i am getting ready to assemble my 440 engine to put in my valiant i was just wondering what you guys thought would be the best cam?? i am looking for a cam that will give me a descent rough idle, but would also do good on the street.

would probably be 50/50 street strip

looking for a rough idle without major engine mods
 
#2 ·
MP 509
Crane 467/494
 
#3 ·
440valiant said:
hey,

i am getting ready to assemble my 440 engine to put in my valiant i was just wondering what you guys thought would be the best cam?? i am looking for a cam that will give me a descent rough idle, but would also do good on the street.

would probably be 50/50 street strip

looking for a rough idle without major engine mods
509s idle pretty rough, but i hear they can be a turkey without decent compression, gearing etc. but that holds for any big lumpy cam. the .484 mopar cam has a nice sounding idle too and should be better on the street on a lower compresision engine with fewer mods.

I went with an isky 292 megacam, .505 lift, 244 duration @.050, 108 lobe center. Should be better on the street than a 509 but be lumpier and stronger than the 484.
 
#4 ·
ucdcrush said:
440valiant said:
hey,

i am getting ready to assemble my 440 engine to put in my valiant i was just wondering what you guys thought would be the best cam?? i am looking for a cam that will give me a descent rough idle, but would also do good on the street.

would probably be 50/50 street strip

looking for a rough idle without major engine mods


509s idle pretty rough, but i hear they can be a turkey without decent compression, gearing etc. but that holds for any big lumpy cam. the .484 mopar cam has a nice sounding idle too and should be better on the street on a lower compresision engine with fewer mods.

I went with an isky 292 megacam, .505 lift, 244 duration @.050, 108 lobe center. Should be better on the street than a 509 but be lumpier and stronger than the 484.
I've directly compared the Crane .467/.494 cam against the MP484 - the crane is quicker.
 
#5 ·
Speedy strikes again: I agree with Sir Speedy; 509
ucdcrush said:
440valiant said:
509s idle pretty rough, but i hear they can be a turkey without decent compression, gearing etc.
I ran a .509 with a low comp 383 without any difficulties. Consistant 13.3's in a B body w/4 spd. Same engine now sports a .525 solid Isky running 12.6's... on regular unleaded. Yes, compression helps, but it isn't eveything. De-tune your 10:1CR to run garbage gas or build it to run on garbage gas and full tune it. Simple choice.
 
#7 ·
[]{} Same here. Except it was a 383...

I've run the Isky 660 solid roller on a daily driver, a .509 is no big deal...
 
#8 ·
speedymopars said:
ucdcrush said:
440valiant said:
hey,

i am getting ready to assemble my 440 engine to put in my valiant i was just wondering what you guys thought would be the best cam?? i am looking for a cam that will give me a descent rough idle, but would also do good on the street.

would probably be 50/50 street strip

looking for a rough idle without major engine mods


509s idle pretty rough, but i hear they can be a turkey without decent compression, gearing etc. but that holds for any big lumpy cam. the .484 mopar cam has a nice sounding idle too and should be better on the street on a lower compresision engine with fewer mods.

I went with an isky 292 megacam, .505 lift, 244 duration @.050, 108 lobe center. Should be better on the street than a 509 but be lumpier and stronger than the 484.
I've directly compared the Crane .467/.494 cam against the MP484 - the crane is quicker.
Speedy, I'm interested in your direct comparison of the crane and the MP 484. I am running the crane in my 400 right now. By the way, it has a little lope to the idle, but has great vacuum, and nice street manners. I was considering removing the crane and sticking in the 484, but wasn't sure how much I would gain. What combo were you running it in?
 
#9 ·
The crane I had only pulled 10 inches at idle, so maybe not the same cam?

I had it in my Van's 440, and after many miles, it broke right behind the #4 cam journal. No damage other than the cam broke and stopped the 2 rear cylinders from running. Very strange.

Anyway, I upgraded to the 484, and noticed I was a little down on power everywhere.
 
#11 ·
I'm running a Lunati solid lifter .577/.585 with lots of duration... it's lumpier than my wife's turkey gravy!! 10 inches of vacuum at idle in neutral. I consider it streetable (with a 3800 converter).
 
#13 ·
I just went onto the Mopar website to see what cams they have nowadays - what a POS website!
2005 catalog is the "new" item there (it even says so!) and the camshaft listings are, well, a bunch of part numbers with a price. No lift, no duration, it does tell me they are purple shafts though! Thanks Mopar!
 
#16 ·
I have the .509 in my low comp 440. I like it, has a nice sound to it. I even bought some new pistons to get the comp into the 10's, but I'm not sure if I really want to go to the trouble since it runs so nice. Instant throttle response, and there is plenty of power at low rpm's. I'm sure decent compression would really wake it up, but I don't think it's the pig it's been made out to be.

I used to use the .484 cam, there wasn't much of lope to it.
 
#18 ·
We are running the mopar .590 solid cam with 1.6 ratio rockers with compression in the 11.1 to 1 range, we are also running 4.30 gears, so it pulls real good once it gets pass 2900 rpm.

This cam has gotten us in to the deep 12.02 @ 112 on street tires.

Check out my videos, we ran a 12.06 and a 12.08 back to back. Both at 112mph
 
#19 ·
OK,i'm old and maybe im missing the point here. What excatly are we looking for? A well build easy to drive street engine that sees a few trips down the strip each year? Or do you want a loud rough running engine that shakes the car and sounds half dead?

I certainly do not mean to be picking on anyone, but i would much perfer the easy running street engine. Unfortunley it appears as if your building the car around the camshaft.

Maynard
 
#20 ·
I pulled my last cam, a .670 solid roller with 280 degrees of duration @ .050, out of my 528 becuase it idled too smooth. Had insane power, but sounded as powerful as a UPS truck. If someone is asking for a lope I can completely understand....
 
#21 ·
I built my engine around the cam. I wanted that sound. My 440 needed rebuilt anyhow. I got the cam and rebuilt the engine to meet the cams specs. Pople say that building around the cam is stupid. They say sound doesn't make it fast. Well, that is true. My car is a street driven car. It sounds means! All bark and no bite? Maybe, but it still makes you wonder if you should screw with the dog!!!! fullmoon
 
#23 ·
Never picked a cam by the idle before *POP*
I guess whatever. ::) duration and short seperation angle will give you
a chopier idle if thats what you want. ::)
Rick
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top