Question on the 392 cam profile

[T Jones]

Just a question. I noticed that the 392 hemis in Ram trucks are lower in horsepower and torque than the 392s in Challengers and Chargers. I know there's probably a few reasons why that is since those Rams are oriented more for work than for performance. My question, though, are the 392 cam profiles different in those Rams than they are for Challengers and Chargers, and would anyone have specs on each if that's the case?

 

[tidefan1967]

Just a question. I noticed that the 392 hemis in Ram trucks are lower in horsepower and torque than the 392s in Challengers and Chargers. I know there's probably a few reasons why that is since those Rams are oriented more for work than for performance. My question, though, are the 392 cam profiles different in those Rams than they are for Challengers and Chargers, and would anyone have specs on each if that's the case?

I don't have the specs but I have read more than once on both here and the Challenger/Charger forums that it was worth a roughly 40 hp gain in the 5.7. If you needed to replace a chewed up cam it would be a no brainer for sure.

 

[T Jones]

I don't have the specs but I have read more than once on both here and the Challenger/Charger forums that it was worth a roughly 40 hp gain in the 5.7. If you needed to replace a chewed up cam it would be a no brainer for sure.

Thank you buddy. I've been reading the same thing over on those forums as well. I'm just trying to gather a little more information to see whether or not the 392 cam profiles are different in the Rams as opposed to the ones in the Challengers and Chargers. But yeah, like you said, 40 more hp would be a good bump for a 5.7. I wouldn't have expected that without other mods.

 

[Wild one]

Thank you buddy. I've been reading the same thing over on those forums as well. I'm just trying to gather a little more information to see whether or not the 392 cam profiles are different in the Rams as opposed to the ones in the Challengers and Chargers. But yeah, like you said, 40 more hp would be a good bump for a 5.7. I wouldn't have expected that without other mods.

The stock 6.4 cam has the same issues as the stock 5.7 cam does,soft as ****,if you're swapping the cam for more power,spring for a decent aftermarket cam with decent hardening and use good lifters.

 

[T Jones]

The stock 6.4 cam has the same issues as the stock 5.7 cam does,soft as ****,if you're swapping the cam for more power,spring for a decent aftermarket cam with decent hardening and use good lifters.

What would you suggest? I'm looking to do some modifications for the street. Something that will give me a quicker light to light truck that will have decent low to mid range power, (of course I'd like to have power through the whole low to high range).

 

[Wild one]

What would you suggest? I'm looking to do some modifications for the street. Something that will give me a quicker light to light truck that will have decent low to mid range power, (of course I'd like to have power through the whole low to high range).

I don't reconmend cams much,as i don't know you or your truck ,that's for the cam manufacture'rs to do,lol.Get ahold of a couple cam outfits and tell them what you want out of the truck and your planned future mods,and be honest with them. Don't expect a cam swap to turn it into a tire smoking wheel standing monster though,if you do,you'll be disappointed . The stock cams aren't all that bad as far as making power in a basically stock truck. Read through Kurtis's excellent how to on cam swapping your truck,he pretty well covers all the basics of a cam swap.

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

 

[Wild one]

What would you suggest? I'm looking to do some modifications for the street. Something that will give me a quicker light to light truck that will have decent low to mid range power, (of course I'd like to have power through the whole low to high range).

Your best bang for buck is throw a small 75 shot of nitrous on it,cheaper then a cam swap ,and it'll blow your mind on how quick it'll be.Hemi's love nitrous and if you keep the shot small,it'll live forever,just don't be stupid and get greedy with nitrous and jet it up to 175 or bigger shot.A 75 shot will take damn near a second off your 1/4 mile times, if you run a set of decent drag radials to utilize the torque nitrous creates.Nitrous creates instant cylinder pressure, in laymans terms cylinder pressure = torque, while rpm =horsepower.

 

[T Jones]

Your best bang for buck is throw a small 75 shot of nitrous on it,cheaper then a cam swap ,and it'll blow your mind on how quick it'll be.Hemi's love nitrous and if you keep the shot small,it'll live forever,just don't be stupid and get greedy with nitrous and jet it up to 175 or bigger shot.A 75 shot will take damn near a second off your 1/4 mile times, if you run a set of decent drag radials to utilize the torque nitrous creates.Nitrous creates instant cylinder pressure, in laymans terms cylinder pressure = torque, while rpm =horsepower.

I'm not looking to take it to the track. I'm more interested in gathering information on a modest build that will net me more hp and torque for the street, something that will give me a decent jump off the line at a green traffic light to the next traffic light. That's why I was interested in the cam profiles of a 392 in the Rams vs the ones in Challengers and Chargers. I was also looking at the 392 truck intakes and a set of long tube headers, in addition to a throttle booster of some sort. Here's my RAM. It's a 2014 Express, 2door, 2wd, regular cab, 6ft bed. It has the 5.7 and 3:55s in the rear.

 

[Tim Garceau]

Yeah if you’re spending the time to pull the heads, put in a cam developed by one of the aftermarket tuners for the 6000 lb truck.

They’re going to have a base tune dialed in to get you up and running with better performance immediately. While you may save money initially on the base cam going with a 6.4 option off the shelf, the overall performance result will be leaps and bounds better along with minimal tune revision for decent drivability.

The 392 car cams are soft(big loss in torque/power) in the trucks from idle to Short runner opening (~4500 rpm), the apache truck 6.4 cams are weak on the top end. Look for a 206/222 and you'll gain power from idle to 6500 RPM after a set of longtube headers.

 

[Wild one]

I'm not looking to take it to the track. I'm more interested in gathering information on a modest build that will net me more hp and torque for the street, something that will give me a decent jump off the line at a green traffic light to the next traffic light. That's why I was interested in the cam profiles of a 392 in the Rams vs the ones in Challengers and Chargers. I was also looking at the 392 truck intakes and a set of long tube headers, in addition to a throttle booster of some sort. Here's my RAM. It's a 2014 Express, 2door, 2wd, regular cab, 6ft bed. It has the 5.7 and 3:55s in the rear.

If it has factory installed 3.55's it has the 6 speed RFE tranny,you might want to look into a set of 4.10's and a bit higher stall torque convertor before you throw a cam in it,they'll give you the "jump" across an intersection that you're looking for,more then a cam will

 

[Wild one]

I don't see you saying anything about having it custom tuned,you'll need at the very least either a custom e-mail tune or dyno tune to get the most out of a set of long tube headers and a cam

 

[T Jones]

If it has factory installed 3.55's it has the 6 speed RFE tranny,you might want to look into a set of 4.10's and a bit higher stall torque convertor before you throw a cam in it,they'll give you the "jump" across an intersection that you're looking for,more then a cam will

Yeah , I thought about that one too. It's a stock 395 horse HEMI so it has plenty of power, (once you get past the factory computer settings), and it's a lighter weight base model RAM. I just wonder how those 4.10s will work out with highway driving. It's definitely an option to consider. I'm still under an extended warranty so I'm trying to buy a few performance mods here and there and hold them back until my warranty runs out, then I'll have them installed. There's a place down the street from me called Babbitt's Bearings who does that work on differentials. Maybe I'll stop by there and see what he thinks.

 

[T Jones]

I don't see you saying anything about having it custom tuned,you'll need at the very least either a custom e-mail tune or dyno tune to get the most out of a set of long tube headers and a cam

Yeah, that was definitely going to be part of the plan.