This is my first time, so please be gentle. I've got an '82 D-150 4X4 225 that needs some grunt added to pull my last project, an '82 4Winns cuddy cabin and trailer. Boat and trailer weigh in at 3500lbs. I want to shave the head .100, install headers and a torque cam. There is a bewildering array of two and four barrel intake manifolds out there and I'm wondering, for my application, whether there would be a significant perfomance benefit in going 4bbl over 2bbl. Or just more headache and lower fuel economy?

a 2bbl carb has been know to give you better gas milage then the stock 1bbl. the 2bbl carb, and 2.25 exhaust has been known to give slanters an extra 10hp, and with your cam that will only help(right) as for the carb bigger isnt normally better but i'm unsure cause you are looking into towing things and such sorry

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Cuda Progress
The dart as it sits now

The 2bbl is your better bet for the low-RPM grunt you're trying to make for hauling that trailer, and if you pick your carburetor and manifold thoughtfully, will make a very large improvement over the present 1bbl setup. 4bbl will just be a waste of money, gas, effort and time in a low-RPM application.

Headers, none for me thanks, I'm driving. Get Dutra Duals instead: Better torque, better fit, no leaking or rusting problems, better compatibility with such niceties as chokes and such realities as cold mornings.

A head mill of 0.100 is pretty severe; watch out for pinging (the SL6 combustion chamber, sadly, is rather stone-age). If you're pulling the engine, I'd rather see that meat come off the block instead, or at least some of it, to reduce the negative deck height.

Pick your camshaft carefully; the factory '82 item is pretty weak, but it's easy to overcook that choice and wind up with something that doesn't do what you want. I am personally of the opinion that avoiding Comp cams is a good idea. I know what I like in mechanical cams for '80-down engines, but don't have a specific recommendation for you on the '81-up hydraulic-lifter engines.

The ignition system is another place where you can pick up some pretty serious torque with thoughtful modification. A distributor recurve (and conversion to a vacuum advance type unit, if you've presently got the no-vacuum-advance Lean Burn setup), a different ignition module (I like GM HEI) and strategically-selected secondary components can win you some nice gains.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

i have a stock replacement for my ignition module. should i change it out now or wait for it to fail?

do these parts fall off over time or do they work at the same output until they fail?

and what kind of gains do you see from the gm hei?

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God took you away, then brought you back to me.

No real reason to change it until it fails.
They don't tend to get weak, they tend to get problematic if they don't die completely. Random stalling or poor running, that kind of thing.
Mostly driveability gains. Easier starting, less cold-bloodedness on those frosty mornings, better idling.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Why not Comp Cams, and what DO you like for a mechanical cam?

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Too many problems! Poor top-end oiling due to improperly-drilled oil passages in the rearmost cam journal, nonsensical lash specs on the cam card, "just won't run right". Don't misunderstand me; plenty of people have made plenty of engines run well with Comp cams. They are not all junk, by any stretch. It's just that there've been enough problems (reported in this and other forums, and seen with my own eyes) that I have made the decision to avoid them. That's reason number one. Reason number two, I strongly suspect their slant-6 cam offerings are little more than Chevy lobe profiles on a slant-6 cam blank. Amongst other reasons that's not optimal: the slant has nice, large-diameter lifters that can handle a steeper ramp rate without digging in; the Chev engines don't. Here again, that doesn't necessarily mean the cam is junk, but it does mean the profile was developed on an engine other than a slant. No thanks.
For a daily driver or torquey-truck application? MP P4120243, 244°-244°-28°-0.436" cam. Discontinued awhile back; I like it so much I sent my last new-in-box example to Doctor Dodge for his capable cam grinder to "profile". Now new ones can be made upon order. This is not the only cam that works well, by any stretch. There are off-the-shelf and custom-ground cams that work well, and some of them probably work better than the MP 244° cam in some applications. I'm just reporting my experiences and preferences.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

That's fair enough. I had not heard of any problems with Comp Cams but until recently I was only looking at Magnum small block applications, not for a slant.

From whom would one order the reproduction cam you mentioned and what is the cost? I'm getting ready to build a motor and the cam is one thing I want to improve.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

First I haven't bought anything from Comp Cams....

From looking at the cams spec info, the slant 6 cam (and just about every cam they have) the lobes are chevy lobes. Very few cams take into consideration the larger lifter sizes available for fords (a bit larger), and even fewer for the mopar (largest).......

But with comp cams, you can design your own cam, with the lobe profile you want, duration you want, and lobe spacing you want........ (they have a section in their catalog on available lobes)


And Dan what needs to be done with the rear cam journal?
Is that a Hydraulic (vs Mechanical) problem only?

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Sure, but most any good cam grinder lets you do that. I guess my feeling on the topic is that if Comp can't be bothered to get off-the-shelf cams right, what assurance do I have that they'll follow my specs correctly?


They need to be drilled properly to feed oil to the top end. Some of the Comp cams are coming through with improperly-drilled passages such that either the alignment of the passages with the cam bearing holes is poor (passages too far forward or rearward on the journal) or the passages aren't clocked correctly so as to connect the upstream cam bearing passage to the downstream one. I guess a badly-drilled one could be redrilled, but it would be kind of sloppy/messy and I don't think I'd want such a double-drilled cam.
Other way round, the problem described has been found in the mechanical cams.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Good question; let me get back to you on that.

Reminds me, somebody wanted to buy my new original unit, and I think I might've let that slide. It was someone on here, hope I can figure out whom!

Cost on the repro cam should be very manageable indeed.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Headers, none for me thanks, I'm driving. Get Dutra Duals instead: Better torque, better fit, no leaking or rusting problems, better compatibility with such niceties as chokes and such realities as cold mornings.

... I have bought a new set of Hooker headers, ceramic coated, six into one, at a very good price. The Dutras are a little expensive for me. I'm going to hook up a manual choke. I'm used to them, after years with my XKE.

Ah, if you've driven an XKE or any other English car on anything but a sunny 70° day, then no driveability fault you could possibly experience with a slant-6 truck will bother you.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.