360 Swap Cam Opinions?

Hey y'all,

The 304 in my 74 cj5 blew its seals, I opened it up and found light pitting in cylinder 5. Since the machine shops are backed up months out I went and bought a 360 that I can rering and run.

My question is is it worth it to put a different than stock cam in the 360 while I have it out? And also what cams do y'all recommend for off roading with some street use?

The Jeep is completely stock except for the engine now being a 360. I'm not worried about originally and will probably swap a 4 speed and lower gears in eventually.

Thanks!

 

Just a mild towing /rv cam will be fine. You want a good idle for control.

 

I agree, a mild RV cam I ran a cam dynamics RV cam 1000 - 5500 power range for just over 40 years in my 304, when a lobe started to flatten out I installed a no name brand, with an 800 - 4500 band, ....... worst decision I ever made.

I have a 360 waiting for rebuild, I've herd that Pro Comp bought Cam Dynamics, and their web site used to list the cam dynamics grinds but I don't know how expensive it would be to order a custom cam.

 

Comp 268H..

 

This is what my 360 has in my CJ7.

 

In my 360 I went with the comp cam 10-201-4
The low end in my 360 over the 304 greatly increased. I omitted a lot of downshifting to 2nd gear on the trails.

 

If you have the cash, I recommend a hydraulic roller ground for low end power. It will cost way more because a roller cam and lifters just do, and also you'll have to upgrade valve springs, rocker arms, get a thrust button, maybe a distributor gear, etc. They sure are worth it IMO. Way better performance and fewer break-in worries.

 

If you end up swapping a fresh RV cam in there, make sure to use new lifters, and run a proper break-in right after starting it. New cams seem have a lot shorter lift than one’s from 20 years back.
-Donny

 

Okay I'll be the oddball (nothing new there). I went with a stock cam on my 360. The biggest reason for me was availability and brand. I was trying to buy parts during the great China flu period and getting parts for some things was next to impossible. AMC's aren't the easiest to find parts for anyway. I had a lot of time to read and research different parts and the general trend (at that time) was to stay away from the mystery parts sold by a a lot of online stores. The durability just wasn't there. I ended up buying a Melling cam with stock specs and had to wait 6 months for that. Whether they are any better, I don't know but at least they have a track record of making parts. Maybe they outsource their cams also but the stuff from Summit and Jegs type places had some really interesting (not good) reviews.
The second reason for me was my 360 has a 2 barrel, stock manifolds and has a lot of miles. I put in new bearings, new rings, and cleaned up the valves and lapped them, timing chain set, just a garage refresh. I've only had this motor running a couple of times before I tore down the entire jeep. Even in top running condition I think these motors only put out something like 175 hp, or so. I just couldn't see how a cam other than stock would really make a difference. Maybe if I changed over to a 4 barrel and put the REALLY loud headers back on I might get 185 hp. Anyway just a few of my thoughts, good luck with your project.

 

Rollers make an almost night and day difference. You get a lot more lift in a much shorter duration cam, preserving the bottom end torque. That said, you cannot talk cam profiles without considering the CR. You gain only marginally more power from an RV cam in a low compression engine. Probably best to stay stock. As for Melling, I think they provide the cam cores for the majority of the US cam manufactures. And I don't think there is a problem ordering a cam on-line if it is from a reputable vendor and manufacturer. Amazon is the modern equivalent to JC Whitney-no telling what you are going to actually receive no matter what the box looks like.

 

Many years ago we took a stock 304.. Just added headers, dual plane intake, comp 268H and a holley vac secondary 600 cfm and it turned that CJ7 into a bit of a beast.. 4.10 gears and the venerable TH400 with a shift kit made it downright scary..

 

I looked long and hard at the torque curves before pulling a good but a little tired 304.

The way they choked down these motors the 360 only puts out around 7 hp more than the 304.
Look at the Ft lbs at 1500 rpm. This helped me make a decision.