This is the story of the cam swap

OK guys, I don't need a whole new 318 poly engine. It has a solid bottom end with the Eagle rods, ARP fasteners, Ross custom forged aluminum pistons that are ceramic and moly coated. It was of course bored .040" over using a deck plate, balanced, etc, etc.. I have a windage tray, some mild oiling mods, a new oil pump, the Clevite 77 bushings, a double roller timing chain, a chain tensioner, etc, etc, etc.. The TTi headers will stay for now but the heads and intake are being changed. I no longer need the highly modified heads so my almost stock heads will be freshened and made compatible for the new cam. They have hardened seats and are gasket matched. My CR will be about 8.7/1.

The new intake is the 7503 that was modified by Kevin Mignosa to accept EFI. He did a magnificent job! Currently the new bungs are sealed so that I can run a 4 bbl as I acquire the rest of the system. I have a 600 Eddy electric choke and a 750 Eddy, manual choke. Since I currently have the 284 cam and heads I am trying the 750 so that I can compare the performance with the 2x4's. I haven't had it out much yet but I think the 2x4's would cream the single in this set-up. I do believe the single carb would be the winner with the smaller 264 cam. I have to say I really love the 284 cam! It's the way to go with 2x4's and it's more street friendly than the 264 cam with the 2x4's. I do believe my mpg's were better as the combo was right. I know the rpm's were the most I ever had in any car. My Super Bee 383 ran 7200rpm's and this poly was running 7500rpm's. (Don't try 8K though!)

So far in my cam query most of the locals vote for the stock cam. Most of the chatroom folks vote for the 256. It's about a dead heat. When I do decide I can always switch it later if I want to see which I like best. Yes I will be switching back to a stock converter and probably the 2:76 gears. My electrical system is all new and I have a good ign system in the Mopar electronic.

It's likely that I won't be saving enough money on gas to pay for this experiment but that isn't the point. The other side of mpg's besides gas price is miles per tank. It can be very important when traveling to be able to travel long distances without filling when you are in the "boonies". My original goal was to try to test the upper limits of performance with the poly. Of course there was much more I could do but time and money are a limitation. I am satisfied with my quest. Now I want to seek the other side of the spectrum by searching for max mpg's. If I have to stick my leg out and give it a boost now and then that's OK. Maybe a sail?

The point is that there's a good solid base to build on now and all that is needed are the peripherals, intake/EFI, heads, convertor and gearing. It's my science project I never finished in high school :-)

Rich Kinsley '64 Dodge Polara 4dr LeRoar 324 poly w/goodies