[Chrysler300] 300C/D cam

Hi all ,

Working with J-Y on 300D engine going into 300C,--- well, we are 95% sure it is a real 300D engine, was taken out of ski boat by largest West Coast Chevy Big Block boat engine guy , rebuilt many years ago by him, (20 years ?) on display in his shop in interim . Was on the ski boat by 1960, ?300D had a bad end only a few years old? Ski boat rotted away in storage, engine pulled years later .

Anyway , he had written “cam was perfect”, he had it “rehardened” (??) and reinstalled “with new Egge lifters” . When we got into engine for other reasons,( cleaning, broken off oil dipstick end fell into block , discovered it was .060 over) the lifters are hydraulic, with C clips . Yet correct D engine #, and adjustable rockers etc . But he had made homemade bumps in NYer valve covers, ----which did not work out . Maybe it had aluminum covers in boat, letter car covers lost? ? Interesting, the solid adjusting screws , in general, did not always hit where he made bumps in cover (looks like heated cover and then pressed outwards into die with a square steel bar end –distorting plug hole out of round—forget it) , but adjusters DID hit in stock flat part of cover . Are solid lifter covers higher than NYer in other flat areas, not just the bumps ? Maybe they are.....or cam has very high lift?

I cannot believe a pro would make a mistake like that , on the lifters, although I vaguely remember back in the day, talk of running “collapsed hydraulics” with valving out of them, holes in face to oil the cam , etc etc ; or maybe this is in fact an aftermarket hydraulic cam upgrade attempt , which maybe 20 years ago , were often claimed to “be better” than earlier hi po solids at torque, vacuum at idle etc . But a 300 letter car cam is a good piece, why would you change it? Just looking at the $. And why not reuse lifters if 300 solids..although maybe rusty (or something) at time of teardown?

Maybe he planned to run D cam with hydraulics at top of travel against C clip with a push rod gap/lash? ( that is scary)

1) Is there any way to ID a real 300 cam ?

2) Is there any sure way to differentiate a solid cam lift profile from a hydraulic one?

Not sure what we have here.....engine open , now is time to go at this.

Also working on big driveshaft upgrade for lettercars to 3.5” shaft with slip spline type truck front end, 4 bolt adapter to cast iron torqueflight, or 727 with brake hub, get rid of Detroit joint , vibration , fragility and hassle once and for all, on CDEFG at least . We found that 300C has smaller rear u joint than ~ mid year up D ,and later , but larger later (F at least) pinion yoke fits earlier 8 ¾ . So 3.5 “ shaft, larger rear yoke and u joint is a possible upgrade to C and maybe earlier. Also found that there is smaller version of our Detroit joint , earlier Plymouths or dodges? This caused confusion.

Comments welcome on all this..or any of it,

John