I cammed my Ram

Just posting about my experience with the process of putting a cam in these trucks, figured it would be a great thread to read for those thinking of this mod.

So, earlier in the summer my ram was getting a new engine under warranty, and I have been wanting to put a cam in something for some time now. I was going to do it with my Chevy, but I traded that in for my Ram. just so happened I would get to do it with my Ram.

Truck went in to the dealer and I know a lot of the mechanics over there and we were talking about cams, next thing I know I ordered all the parts. I went with the Comp 270 cam. I know a custom grind or the 266 would have been better suited for a truck, but haven't seen much with the 270 so I figured why not? Some one has to try it right? Figured it would be an opportune moment to have the chance to do it. Also had to install new valve springs, lifters, wide band O2, and such.

Been holding off on posting about it until we had most the tuning and issues resolved that come along with putting a cam in these trucks, and I believe most all the kinks have been worked out. Just last week we got the drivability down and just some fine tuning left. There is only one Dyno that I know of in Alaska and it's about an 8hr drive away so I have no before or after Dyno numbers for it. But when it's all dialed in I will drive it down and get some numbers.

Overall, I am happy with the truck and how it runs. It's a truck, not a race car, but it will get up go a lot easier and better than it did before. I am doing all my tuning through High Horse Performance. Josh has been great to work with over there and they are another option for custom tunes. For those thinking of this mod, my advice is to be patient with tuning. I have to admit I got a little frustrated with it, but it just takes time.

This mod did cost quite a bit of $$ and not being able to drive the truck and be reliable on the street but I don't regret any of it. Now that the hard part is done I can save up and continue to buy supporting mods for the truck. I'm sure the modding will never stop .

Anyways, just thought it would good to hear of another successful cam install on these new Rams.

Always good to see others taking the plunge with the VVT engine cam swap. Did you use the limiter or did you lock the cam's phaser? What stall converter are you using, or planning, to take advantage of the cam?

I used the limiter that you purchase from comp. I plan on getting the edge racing 11" billet converter from Moes. I have already been talking with my tranny guy about building up the tranny. He has built tranny's for me in the past and he does excellent work. I would have done it when the engine was pulled, but I am building a house currently and I just couldn't bring myself to pulling the trigger on it at that time.

The 270 is a pretty big cam for a truck, but with the correct gears and converter, you can make it work. My cam is smaller than the Comp 270, and it still needs a very aggressive converter and 4.56's to match the tq output I was seeing with the stock cam and bolt ons.

Do you guys have any dragstrips in AK?

I do agree, 270 is pretty big. I know a smaller cam would have been better, but I'll make due with the 270. 4.56 gears will be the gears I swap to once I get to that point.

There is one in Palmer, about 350 miles away or so. The local car club just bought some land to build a strip, but that will be a few years yet in sure before its up and going.

Great post. Can you elaborate more on the tuning issues, etc. that you encountered? I'm very interested in this mod.

Saltillo Express said:

Great post. Can you elaborate more on the tuning issues, etc. that you encountered? I'm very interested in this mod.

Click to expand...

The biggest issue we had to deal with was keeping the truck running when driving down the road. The first start up tune was exactly that, it started up the truck, but would not go into gear without dying. Truck was running extremely rich about 60% rich. That was a simple fix, just took some fuel out, but then the truck was wanting more air, so we kept adding air until the truck was satisfied. During all of these smaller glitches, the bigger issue was the truck would die when you let off the gas pedal. Doesn't matter if you were doing 65 down the highway or 3mph in a parking lot, if you weren't on the gas, it died. So we began messing with the fuel injector fuel curves and found out that the injectors just stopped putting out fuel when i let off the gas. we toyed with this a bit, but still didn't fix the issue. Finally we turned something called "adaptive fuel learning" or something like that, on in the computer and after that the truck runs like a top. we are still dialing in the fuel curves, but all the issues we were having went away. I've driven the truck everyday since then and have had zero issues. Its still running a little rich on WOT, but we are still doing some fine tuning.

Hope that helps you out a little

That is great information for the few of us that want to do this mod or similar. I've been on the fence on the 6.1 or 6.4 and then you come along with the 270. Nice. That's got something like a 222 intake duration at .50. I bet it winds up nice. Glad for you man.

Saltillo Express said:

That is great information for the few of us that want to do this mod or similar. I've been on the fence on the 6.1 or 6.4 and then you come along with the 270. Nice. That's got something like a 222 intake duration at .50. I bet it winds up nice. Glad for you man.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I couldn't be happier with it.
I first asked about swapping the whole motor to the newer 6.4 when I found out the engine was getting replaced, but that seemed to require a lot more than it would have to put a cam in. Thus why I went with a cam.

Interesting read. Any sound clip?

besthaticouldo said:

Interesting read. Any sound clip?

Click to expand...

I only have the one video right now from my phone. Don't know how the quality will be.

https://youtu.be/jLiKKBlTi58

That's some ear candy right there.

sounds real nice

kg93 said:

sounds real nice

Click to expand...

Thank you, i could listen to it idle all day, but it drinks some fuel when it idles thats for sure.