Performance cam swap experiences

[Will_OT]

I'm considering a cam swap and was wondering what performance cams you guys went with and what was your experience? How did your truck feel after the cam swap?

I watched a youtube video where the guy said swapping out a came would make it less responsive down low, did anyone experience this after the swap?

Also, how much did it set you back for the install?

 

[Wild one]

We had my truck with a 1.5HL Greene cam , and my buddies truck with the new Texas Speed (TSP) Stage 2 cam on the dyno last week.Both trucks are virtually identical as far as long tube headers/exhaust /throttle body go.His truck is a 15 with the 6 speed,mine is a 14 with the 8 speed,he has heavy 22 inch tires,i have the lighter 20 inch tires ,both have roughly the same final drive ratio when you factor in his 3.92's to my 3.55's with shorter tires,and his truck out horsepowered mine by 10 hp and out torqued mine by 5 lb-ft.If you haven't looked at TSP's cams,they're definitely a player in the aftermarket cam field now.If they'd been around a couple years ago,when I did my cam,i'd of went with one of their cams instead,and probably saved a bunch of money.I was a bit surprised when his 6 speed out powered my 8 speed,lol.With my 1.5HL I did lose a bit of bottem end torque,but not enough to really notice.My best 60ft with the stock cam was a 1.68,my best 60ft after the cam is a 1.70,so I didn't lose much in torque.Truck is still totally usable and fun on the street.
I sprung for the Hellcat lifters/Trend pushrods/ Ma Mopars high performance valve springs plus the Mopar rocker shaft tie bars/ ARP head bolts,with gaskets and fluids etc. I was just under 4G Canuck,with-out install,did it with Charonblk and another Chryo Tech buddy,took the 3 of us close to 8 hours to do it in Charonblks shop.If you're not installing it yourself,i'd expect to add at least another 1500 to that bill.If you were in Alberta,my Chryo Tech buddy does cam installs on the side and charges a Grand for the job,but being as you're in Ottawa I have no connections to anybody doing it over there.I already told you about Chris Zelinsky and Player 3 Performance tuning in Edmonton,as your connection for a TSP cam in Canada.You can probably do a TSP cam for close to a thousand less then you can do a Greene cam in Canada,as Chris is selling the TSP cams right now at his dealer cost.Says he'll keep the sale going for another month or 2,so if you're really interested in a cam,i'd get ahold of him soon.I did tell him there might be a guy get ahold of him from Ottawa,and he has a remote tuner in your area that will be able to tune it for you afterwards.
Rick

 

[Wild one]

Doing a cam on the Hemi isn't really that hard,it's just time consuming.Read through Kurtis/Charonblks excellent how-to on cam swapping the later VVT Hemi's if you haven't already.

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/how-to-4th-gen-hemi-cam-installation.82531/

 

[tidefan1967]

We had my truck with a 1.5HL Greene cam , and my buddies truck with the new Texas Speed (TSP) Stage 2 cam on the dyno last week.Both trucks are virtually identical as far as long tube headers/exhaust /throttle body go.His truck is a 15 with the 6 speed,mine is a 14 with the 8 speed,he has heavy 22 inch tires,i have the lighter 20 inch tires ,both have roughly the same final drive ratio when you factor in his 3.92's to my 3.55's with shorter tires,and his truck out horsepowered mine by 10 hp and out torqued mine by 5 lb-ft.If you haven't looked at TSP's cams,they're definitely a player in the aftermarket cam field now.If they'd been around a couple years ago,when I did my cam,i'd of went with one of their cams instead,and probably saved a bunch of money.I was a bit surprised when his 6 speed out powered my 8 speed,lol.With my 1.5HL I did lose a bit of bottem end torque,but not enough to really notice.My best 60ft with the stock cam was a 1.68,my best 60ft after the cam is a 1.70,so I didn't lose much in torque.Truck is still totally usable and fun on the street.
I sprung for the Hellcat lifters/Trend pushrods/ Ma Mopars high performance valve springs plus the Mopar rocker shaft tie bars/ ARP head bolts,with gaskets and fluids etc. I was just under 4G Canuck,with-out install,did it with Charonblk and another Chryo Tech buddy,took the 3 of us close to 8 hours to do it in Charonblks shop.If you're not installing it yourself,i'd expect to add at least another 1500 to that bill.If you were in Alberta,my Chryo Tech buddy does cam installs on the side and charges a Grand for the job,but being as you're in Ottawa I have no connections to anybody doing it over there.I already told you about Chris Zelinsky and Player 3 Performance tuning in Edmonton,as your connection for a TSP cam in Canada.You can probably do a TSP cam for close to a thousand less then you can do a Greene cam in Canada,as Chris is selling the TSP cams right now at his dealer cost.Says he'll keep the sale going for another month or 2,so if you're really interested in a cam,i'd get ahold of him soon.I did tell him there might be a guy get ahold of him from Ottawa,and he has a remote tuner in your area that will be able to tune it for you afterwards.
Rick

This guy is an expert. I would take everything he says as gospel, he knows his ****!

 

[Will_OT]

I already told you about Chris Zelinsky and Player 3 Performance tuning in Edmonton

I actually did contact him but he hasn't given me a price yet. I'm still talking to him.

 

[RLJ10X]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. W1, aren't you the same guy who was blowing me **** about how a 3.21/8 was going to kick to the curb, my 6/4.10? And you got your ass handed to you and your 3.55s by a guy with 3.92s AND heavy tires?

Real expert.

 

[tidefan1967]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. W1, aren't you the same guy who was blowing me **** about how a 3.21/8 was going to kick to the curb, my 6/4.10? And you got your ass handed to you and your 3.55s by a guy with 3.92s AND heavy tires?

Real expert.

What are you going on about?

 

[Wild one]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. W1, aren't you the same guy who was blowing me **** about how a 3.21/8 was going to kick to the curb, my 6/4.10? And you got your ass handed to you and your 3.55s by a guy with 3.92s AND heavy tires?

Real expert.

That was on the dyno,where you run the trucks in the 1:1 gear,4th for a 6speed and 6th for an 8 speed.At the track last night I was a tenth quicker with the 8 speed,sure blows your theory out the window doesn't it ,lol.The 8 speed will eat the 6 speed on the street or track,if both have comparable mods,lol.I've yet to see a pair of dyno's actually make a 1/4 mile pass,lol.Plus my 4X4 Sport out weighes his 2X4 Tradesmen by about 500lbs,i ran mine in full street trim,while the other truck was stripped to the max,he'd even pulled his console,lol.Mine still had everything on it including tonnue cover / tailgate and full interior,including the pass seat,which was missing from the other truck,lol..Bring your 6 speed up and try on my 8 speed,lol.Throw a set of 5.00:1 gears behind your 6 speed and you're close to having the same torque multiplication as the 8 speed and 3.21's have in first gear,4.10's and a 6 speed isn't even close to the same torque multiplication in first gear.Do the math or is that beyond your abilities,lol

 

[Wild one]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. W1, aren't you the same guy who was blowing me **** about how a 3.21/8 was going to kick to the curb, my 6/4.10? And you got your ass handed to you and your 3.55s by a guy with 3.92s AND heavy tires?

Real expert.

BTW you can discount the tires at the track,i loaned him my spare set of drag radials,and my spare set of 17" front runners,he actually had lighter front tires then I did,as I drive 155 miles one way to the track,so my heavy 20 inch front street tires don't get swapped,and the rear drag radials are identical,both on 17 inch Mickey rims and both 295/40/17 ET street drag radials.So you can also blow your tire theory in the weeds,as his effective final drive ratio with the little 28" drag radials goes to roughly 4.63:1,lol.But keep trying with your idea a 6 speed and 4.10's will match a 8 speed and 3.21's

 

[RLJ10X]

Out powered your 8 speed.....isn't that your exact words?

 

[Ratket]

Everyone I have seen who has done a cam has been happy with it.

 

[Wild one]

Out powered your 8 speed.....isn't that your exact words?

Out powered it,but it isn't anywhere near as fast on the street or track.Blows your theory about your 6 speed and 4.10's having any hope of catching a 3.21 geared 8 speed.The 8 speed is heads and tails above the 6 speed as far as efficiency goes,and getting the actual crank power to the wheels,but you seem to have a hard time grasping the concept of how efficient the 8 speed is.Mod for mod your 6 speed and 4.10's won't touch an 8 speed with 3.21's.Torque multiplication is what is needed when your trying to move 5,000+lbs of truck,with 345 cubes and a little under 400rwhp.
BTW I was running my nitrous tune,against his N/A rune,so I even left some on the table,as my nitrous tune is down right around 2 tenths from my N/A tune.You've managed to side track this post substantially haven't you,lol

Here I did the math for you

3.06 X 4.10 = 12.55:1 in first gear with the 6 speed

4.71 X 3.21 = 15.12:1 in first gear with the 8 speed.

Using my naturally aspirated torque numbers of 404 lb-ft to the tires 12.55 X 404= 5,070 lb-ft applied to the tires in first gear with the 6 speed.

15.12 X 404 = 6,108.5 lb-ft applied to the tires in first gear with the 8 speed.

Notice anything,the 3.21 /8 speed puts another 1,000 lb-ft to the tires then your 4.10 6 speed does when they're both in first gear.

Seeing's as how you don't seem to know how to do the math with final drive ratio's I figured i'd do it for you,lol

Even you RLJ should see the difference,do you still think your 6 speed and 4.10;'s have a chance up against an 8 speed and 3.21 geared combo.

BTW on a mid sized 125 shot of nitrous,my torque numbers jump to 572 lb-ft at 3200 rpm,punch that into the equation above and see the torque put to the tires in first gear,lol

 

[RLJ10X]

Well, it's one thing one day. The other thing the next. Who knows?

 

[Wild one]

Well, it's one thing one day. The other thing the next. Who knows?

Not really sure what your purpose on this thread is,but I sure as hell hope you're learning something.You seem to have missed the fact that TSP cams are a decent cam,as that's what my original post was about.So what is your purpose here RLJ,to look like an idiot,as you're being successful,lol

 

[Fast69Mopar]

The way your motor reacts after a cam swap depends on several factors like lift, centerline, lobe seperation angle, overlap and duration at .050" and the tune.

Other things can have a positive or negative effect on your performance and drivability after a cam swap. Do you have the budget to correct certain issues after the swap if you are unhappy with the results? Do you have other supporting modifications like a tuner that will flash custom programs or are you using HP Tuners to modify the PCM tune yourself?

There are plenty of articles and post on all of the HEMI forums about cam swaps that include dyno numbers and drag strip results.

 

[Lucy Girl]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. W1, aren't you the same guy who was blowing me **** about how a 3.21/8 was going to kick to the curb, my 6/4.10? And you got your ass handed to you and your 3.55s by a guy with 3.92s AND heavy tires?

Real expert.

Thanks man. Nice quote.