SludgeWizard
New Member
Dig some digging on my new engine, this appears to be a purple cam if I’m not mistaken? Could someone else chime in? I almost choked when I saw it lol
Purple cam?
- Thread starter SludgeWizard
- Start date
Yes it is purple. They made many different cams so it needs to be measured to know what it is.
You may want to remove the crud that fell inside your engine. It looks very clean otherwise.
Remove the big glob of it on the edge of the distributor opening with a shop vac
You may want to remove the crud that fell inside your engine. It looks very clean otherwise.
Remove the big glob of it on the edge of the distributor opening with a shop vac
SludgeWizard
New Member
Yessir I’m in the process of cleaning it up, it’s VERY greasy. I took the valve covers off as well, all very clean. I just got a new valley pan and an edelbrock performer intake to throw on it, gonna degrease and vacuum as I go!
There are "Purple Shaft" cams and Purple Shaft Cams.
The orig Purple Shaft cams were the "Street HEMI" 284/284 cams and a bigger one at abt more advertised duration, which really needed a looser converter to work right.
If the measured-at-the valve-retainer lift is .484", that's the Street HEMI version (for B/RB engines). If a bit over .500" lift, the wilder one.
The 284/284 was the first cam upgrade from the stock HP cams. It usually needed to be paired with the Chrysler part numbered Edelbrock high-rise aluminum intake and 3310 780cfm Holley 4bbl. Headers suggested. A 3.91 gear helped, too, with a 4-speed. With that combination, a 440 GTX would be deep into 426HEMI performance territory. CAR LIFE tested such a car from Chrysler's press fleet in 1968 or so.
Enjoy!
CBODY67
The orig Purple Shaft cams were the "Street HEMI" 284/284 cams and a bigger one at abt more advertised duration, which really needed a looser converter to work right.
If the measured-at-the valve-retainer lift is .484", that's the Street HEMI version (for B/RB engines). If a bit over .500" lift, the wilder one.
The 284/284 was the first cam upgrade from the stock HP cams. It usually needed to be paired with the Chrysler part numbered Edelbrock high-rise aluminum intake and 3310 780cfm Holley 4bbl. Headers suggested. A 3.91 gear helped, too, with a 4-speed. With that combination, a 440 GTX would be deep into 426HEMI performance territory. CAR LIFE tested such a car from Chrysler's press fleet in 1968 or so.
Enjoy!
CBODY67
The "other" Purple Shaft cams are in the current MP catalog. A whole family of them! Tame to less-tame. Obviously co-opted from another cam manufacturer. NOT the same deal. More of a "marketing situation" than not. NO 284/284 Street HEMI grind, like the orig Purple Shaft cams were.
CBODY67
CBODY67
SludgeWizard
New Member
The wealth of information on this website never ceases to amaze me. I’m a lowly pipe fitter and have no idea how to measure a camshaft, but I guess now’s the time to learn lol
Start with a magnetic base dial indicator. The magnet in the base is directional, so it can e easily removed. Harbor Freight or similar can be the best place to get one, price wise.
The mechanism should have some tubes the indicator is mounted on that will allow for a good bit of adjustment to get a good reading. Start with the plunger compressed about .600", zero the indicator at that point. As the engine turns over, the valve will open and un-compress the plunger, which will be "valve lift". The plunger will need to be parallel to the valve stem.
You can also remove the lh cyl head so you can check for timing pointer accuracy for TDC. Add a Mr. Gasket degree wheel to the front of the crankshaft and you can write down the degrees of duration and valve open/close events for even more data. In this case, you can use a pushrod in a valve lifter as the "pusher" for the dial indicator plunger. Then multiply that lift by 1.5 (rocker arm ratio) to get valve lift. With all of that information, you can confidently know what cam the motor has in it AND the accuracy of the timing tab on the motor, too.
Not hard to do, just takes a bit of time one night in the shop. BTDT
CBODY67
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