lets sweep the old dust off our brains, for the guys that are less than 60 what did you do to your Mopar to make it run. Cam, carb, headers, gears ect. to make it run back in the day?
Me personally, I was into Ford's in the 70s and kicked Mopar butt. .. I think I still can today. 3000lbs with 450hp and a great rear suspension it's just going to kick a$$.
But I have a Mopar in the works, my 76 Fbody 3200lbs 650hp I just need to make hook. And I need more top end.
thanks, Iowan

 

Hummmmmmmmmm, I'll start off with a fun car... 1970 Dodge Challenger
Started off as a 383 2-barrel A.T. 727 with a 2.73 open diff. It was a fun car. But it was not fast by any mean's.
Took out the 383 and sold it to a dude that needed a good running motor for his family wagon. used the money to build a 10.5.1 440 with 906 heads, put a nice roller cam and a Holley Strip Dominator with a 850CFM Holley Double Pumper and Hooker Headers. Stepped up to a 3000 stall continental converter, with a Dave Swee Built Transmission. Stuffed in a Dana with mini tubes, with some good old 4.30 gears. Stuffed it full of Malloy Ignition and off we went.... After a little Street racing, it was off to the track to see what this pig would do?
Well the best I could muster out of it was an 11.10... Well after spending my moneys, I didn't have enough to move up, So we just lugged it around and won some races running the TNN/Firestone series. That was fun. Did good for a few seasons. The car was a little slower, because we had to add the roll cage after getting tossed from running the 11.10 number..lol But that's just the way things went..
Anyway, after that we tried a little 100/175 shot of NOS plate unit... Long story short, we chased Gremlins in the main Bearing of the motor. And after about 3 crankshaft bearing sets found out the Convertor had Ballooned and wiped out the thrust bearings.
We did manage to get 10.XX with a bunch of changes cant even remember....Hahahahahaha

So while I was Scratching my head with this deal I went and raced Chevys and Fords, while I build the B1 Wedge Motor for this car. That was a nightmare in itself...

 

That F body needs a 440.. Had a 77 RR & Was going to do one but no $$$ put a 360 in her.. low 14's 99-100 mph.. Was more of streetcar and subject to smog Bull S at the time

 

What prompted me to ask the question was there is a thread on another forum about purple shafts being 70s junk, I personally think thay worked well.

 

By the way I had a 284/484 Purple shaft cam in the 360 but not enough converter or gear

 

I lIKED the hemi cam in a rb, I put it in a 77 Royal Monaco added dual exhaust and remove the leanburn, the 5000lbs pig went from 17.50s to 15.50 with wheel hop with stock converter.
That was from, if I drove to to the track I raced days, there is a story behind the 15.50, first round I had to race the brother-in-law of the guy I barowed the battery from in my car. We got to the strip and my battery was dead zip Nota nothing. So racers do what racers do, he pulled the battery from his pull truck. Cool guy right? First round I had his wife's brother to race, now he needs the the battery back, I told him to stuff it. I beat his bro and everyone till the final round, A new 911 turbo, black, every one said hill come around you on the big end. Now my Volare I sandbag big-time and use the breaks hard, so I was ready and he never showed up. In the pits latter I told him he got beat by a $100.00 Mopar, he said he new.😁

 

My 2 cents on these cams... They worked good back in the day, and if your building a period correct engine. But if folks are comparing them to today's cams and Spec's... That difference is like apples and oranges.. And I don't care if your talking Mopar, Ford, Or GM... Most of these keyboard commandos. They couldn't make a 390 or 427SOHC Ford Run Or a DZ 302 or 396 GM run, And I can guarantee that if they built a 331 Hemi it would blow up!
But with all that said. Their are much better combo's out on the market today and cams have come a long way.

 

Yup. Had a 484 and made my 11.697 with the 509.....next step was gonna be the 690 mech!

 

The old cams worked and still do but cam tech has moved forward just like everything else in the past fifty years. I’ve stood with old tech because it was cheaper to use for years but now it’s getting more expensive and hard to find flat tappet cams and lifters. Companies that make cam cores are not making flat tappet cams cores for anyone. So if you’re not running a heads up type of race or a turbo that flat tappet will work good enough but if you need all the power your engine can produce it will need a custom roller.

 

Absolutely, if I was bracket racing now I'd be running a roller. But back when I was racing, Mopar was seriously short on good parts and tech. World's changed for the better, but the old **** worked 👍

 

Your 76 F-body project with 650 horsepower promises to be a formidable machine !

 

Thirty five years ago 650 hp was something but now days that’s only where you start.