Hey Rat, Since I posted originaly, Chet Herbert's Speed Shop moved to Corona. I have not talked to them since I posted this thread. I posted this original thread to see if there was some interest, Also, I sold my Desoto 330 to Dog Patch here on the Hamb. I think he may have bought a cam somewhere. I don't think that Phone number for Chet's is any good any more since they are in a diff. area code. I can see if I can come up with a current one if you need it. hammeredabone
Thanx HAB..... Yeah Im really after a juice roller stick for this blown Desoto.....gotta make some noise and I want the right stick ground up to do it. Rat
Hammered is correct - my first cam was wiped on about 5 lobes. I found another one and had Chris Nielsen re-grind it after I talked to Old Kid about it. I would love to go roller, but I have all the stuff to run this re-grind already. Next time around I'd like to go roller. My re-grind came out to .435 lift, 224 @ .050 and 112 LSA. We'll see if its bumpy in a few months.
In the 'old' days it was possible to get cast rollers for most engines, but then the 'new/modern' engine designs caused the Hemi to fall into disfavour and the suppliers quit supplying... Now, of course, you can get a billet roller for any engine you want (that you can afford...) A billet cam is nothing more than a piece of round bar stock (in simple terms) that has been whittled on until it looks like a camshaft. Ya gotta love those fancy nachining centers!! And yes, you can graft on a cast gear at the back so in operation it is then just like a cast core. All it takes is money, and a willing cam manufacturer. If someone wants a new project, talk with some of the cam company sales reps and find out what the prices would look like for production runs of 20-50-100 sticks and then start taking some deposits. In actuality, any production machine shop could produce the blanks and by grafting on a cast tail then the h***le of hobbing the gear is eliminated. Mechanical engineering 101. my $0.02 .
I went through this with a well know cam grinder (not Herbert) back when I was looking for a new cam for the MEL engine. They said for them to produce "new" blank forgings they would need at least 75 to 100 orders to make it cost effective. Otherwise a "one off" or a "few off" would be very expensive. Thye would have to start with a billet piece and grind everything including the part bewteen the lobes,,,very time consuming and expensive. Luckily I found a few NOS Isky cams.
Chrysler vs. DeSoto vs. Dodge: differ by length, no interchange Chrysler 331/354 vs. 392: differ by bank angle (61.5° vs. 59°) DeSoto 276/291 vs. 330/341/345: differ by bank angle (64° vs. 60°) Dodge 259/270 vs. 315/325: differ by bank angle (65° vs. 58°) 1951-54? vs. 1955-58 differ by nose drive, swapping works if you use all the right parts.
Minor point, but in a technological discussion, correct terminology is important to be understood. Camshafts are either from iron castings, or steel billets or powdered metal. There may be camshaft forgings out there but not for the purposes of this discussion. 1. Most OEM and aftermarket flat tappet and some OEM roller cams are cast iron billets. Aftermarket mild street rollers can also be machined from iron castings. 2. Some OEM roller cams and most all aftermarket compe***ion roller cams are CNC machined from solid steel round stock. Some steel billet cams have a cast iron distributor drive gear doweled on to drive the distributor. Those with steel gears require plastic, bronze or specially treated distributor driven gears. 3. Some OEM OHCs use powdered metal lobes on a tube shaft. thnx, jack vines
Any new news on cams lately? I had a line on a blank through Chet Herbert, but I guess that fell through. I'm not putting this 276/291 hybrid together until I have a hot cam in my hands. Steven.
A solid roller!! now we are talking... Most people on here are street rodders and solid roller cams scare them...
info for a good 315/325 cam would be great....thinking about blowin Lil Beast.....but need a good bump stick.....and if i go blown, well it still has to be street freindly....and hiway freindly....my goal is a coast to coast cruiser.........
by the way pals, what duz FNG stand for ? or just leave it to my imagination ? you guys still mad at me for not filling out my intro ? you know what the problem is, im clumsy on the keyboard and by the time i get it all typed in its lost and asks me to sign in again
Freeks, my first reaction is to say if you have to ask waht FNG means, maybe you don't wanna know, buddy. Suffice it to say it's an acronym from the military (Vietnam era), similar to SNAFU in WWII. And the "f" means the same thing in both acronyms. When I was an FNG, I posted as often as reasonable to get the hell out of that label! LOL
Good exchange, but I honestly am not encouraged that anybody is actually expressing confidence in newly produced cams (much less availability). And people like RatBastad need good cams to run all-out. Heck, if the cam fails, you go back to square one. Sorry, just my two pennies, but the cam is like the human heart; if it takes a dump, game over. I think I am leaning back toward finding a decent orig. cam and getting it reground right. If this makes me anybody's enemy for expressing my opinion, shoot me now.
Call Donny Johanssen!!! He will grind you a new cam for your DeSoto...or for that matter, just about anything else...
Post up his contact info so we Can call him !! I am Thinking REAL hard on a Solid Roller that will Rattle your Teeth loose for the 291 i am about to build for my '54 Ford.
Guess im slow but I thought read some post by 345 and b*** about hydralic rollers for my 345 desoto im putting in my 33 3 window chevy now is it available or not .just starting the ch***is but no bump bump and the fresh hemi will get made into a coffee table 2 4s and all !! I will buy 2 if that helps .my old shovel head was the recipent of 4 diffrent cams untill it sounded right one potatoe 2 potatoe its got to thump no stock stuff here !!
Donnie works for Herbert Cams - doing all the custom, roller and non-SBC type stuff. He is hard to get in touch with, so you'll have to be patient. He is a great guy, but don't be in too much of a hurry . . . it will take some time. He can do a custom roller cam for the Desoto - either solid or hydraulic (he needs to know which one) and can even graft a cast-iron back-end on them (for extra $$$) - do you can run a stock dist drive gear. Contact Information Chet Herbert Inland Empire 15298 El Prado Road Chino, CA 91710 Telephone: 909.393.4597 Fax: 909.393.4267 Business Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5:30PM PST Saturday 9AM-2PM PST Chet Herbert Orange County 2525 N.Grand Avenue Unit T Santa Ana, CA 92705 Telephone: 714.289.1441 Fax: 714.289.1551 Business Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5:30PM PST For Specific Questions, and Support Issues: Please contact us at 909.597.2310 *Chet Herbert does not provide support via email, please use the above number if you have any questions.
Man, thanks George for weighing in with the voice of reason, so somebody doesn't sink a bunch of money into any parts (not just cams) that won't fit their particular whale Hemi. When I posted my first question on the HAMB-net back in January, I got a TON of GREAT (AND free) good advice from guys who know early Hemis. I soon got some wild ideas out of my head. For example, you, Scooter, 345 and others ALL said, don't over-bore thinking immense hp will automatically happen. Lots more to it than bore (simple version). Cam, yes, but make it the right cam for how you will use the car when done. Super-hi compression? Again, go for how you're gonna use the car. And cams are one thing, but they run the rockers & push rods, so a guy has to make those right for the application, too. On and on. The bottom line all you guys told me back then (and I took it as gospel, 'cause guys said they knew from bad experiences, as well as good!) WAS: STUDY UP before you start the build! That way, you don't wind up with something that just doesn't run right at all. But, I wish everybody could just realize what you said (in effect): Dodge, DeSoto & Chrysler had some autonomy as MoPar divisions and designed their OWN Hemi enignes -- three different, if you will, "families" of early Hemis. A few parts interchange, but not many. As costly as they are to build, a guy just needs to be SURE before proceeding (Davy Crockett saod, "Be sure you're right, THEN go ahead.").
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