[Spartan040]

There's a lot of companies offering cams for the 392 Hemi, but it's hard to know who to choose. B Mason from YouTube has a cam that's offered through Peitz Performance. David Weber from MMX makes cams. HHP offers them. Comp Cams makes a stage 2 HRT kit that's supposed to be an excellent shelf grind that offers an 80hp gain from the cam alone. Texas Speed just started doing gen 3 Hemi cams. Jannetty Racing and Jay Greene do cams.

Who the hell do I go with??

I'm not looking so much for peak numbers, but for reduced 0-60's, more torque in the mid to high RPM range, minimal loss of low end torque and throttle response, and max possible gains throughout the entire power band, while maintaining good everyday drivability and not requiring a torque converter. I'm not even looking for an insane "chop." I don't care if its an NSR cam or not, I'm planning to pull the heads to upgrade the springs and delete the MDS hardware anyway.

It seems the two biggest companies in cams for the 392 are MMX and HHP. Anyone had experience with their cams?

 

[Spartan040]

I installed a MMX NSR cam in a friend's SRT 392 - I like the way the cam behaves - no loss of low or mid range and very good driveability. His rwhp is ~ 485 with the NSR cam.

this is in an M6 and you don't have to slip the clutch or go higher revs over what a stock M6 / 392 would drive like so it works great for daily driving

It has idle lope - MMX sells a version that is even more lope, but it sacrifices power.

I have a another friend that is looking at doing a cam swap for his 392, and probably will go with the Max Effort NA cam, which requires springs.

Any of the MMX cams require the phaser limiter which you're probably aware of.

If I were going to put a cam in my own 392, I'd go with the Max Effort NA cam.

I have no issues with swapping out springs so I'd happily go with the max effort cam, as long as it doesn't hurt drivability. What kind of changes to the power band and peak numbers could I expect from that?

 

[Spartan040]

I went with the comp cam 270. Most people going comp cam go 270 or 274. The 274 is a beast to tune. The 270 Offers mid range power gain whereas the 274 offers the gain at a tad bit higher RPMs. The folks above are correct, It was expensive to do with lifters, push rods, mds delete, phase limiter etc. however, it pays off when you think of it as staging. The final product will all add up. Hit me up if you want more info, I have sent a couple of guys my setup with everything you need on an 8 speed 392 cam swap. Part numbers and what it runs about around here in Chicago. If you can do yourself you will save a lot of money. As far as reliability etc it really comes down to the tuner. Again it’s a lot of money for the gain alone but if you think of it as staging it’ll be worth it at the end and the sound is amazing, def not like an old school muscle car but the lope is there.

I'm not too put off by the cost, because the gain in performance and extra reliability by strengthening the top end of the engine will be worth it (so long as the tune is good).

I've never torn apart and wrenched on an engine, let alone the Hemi, so while I'd love to do all the wrenching myself I just don't know what I'm doing. Don't know anyone around me who speaks Mopar that could help either. Doesn't seem like the type of thing that I should learn on the fly.

So far as the sound, I'm fine with a little bit of chop, but not to the point that it sounds like the engine is going to stall and the whole car is shaking me to pieces at idle.

MMX is looking real good to me right now, they have a shelf grind Max Effort cam (requires springs, but that's fine, I was replacing them anyway) that adds about 100hp to the crank without sacrificing driveability or low end torque and it comes with pre-determined tunes (2 tuning credits) for only $350.

 

[Spartan040]

That’s awesome man. I’ve read good things on the mmx cams. I’d double check the hp gain though just so your not disappointed. Most dyno numbers show around 35 to maybe 60hp to the wheels gain on a cam swap alone. There are several threads on here with numbers and some good videos on YouTube regarding actual gain from a cam swap. The range seems to come from tuning, and maximizing while maintaining safe function. Whoever you decide to go with I’m sure it will be awesome. Look forward to hearing what route you went. Best of luck.

That's about what MMX advertises for their NSR cams, although they do recommend a larger throttle body, a ported intake, and long tube headers for best results. I was planning on all of those things as well. Their dyno videos show a FBO and max effort cam setup making 500 wheel. I'd like to think that that isn't just hype!

I know the $ per horsepower isn't nearly as efficient as going supercharged, or even upgrading to a used Hellcat (which may still have a warranty, or an extended warranty), but I think it'd be cool to have something special and almost unseen these days: a large cube, naturally aspirated V8 with a cam making close to 600 crank horsepower. Of course, I also still have to think about driveability and how the power band is affected.

I wonder if it would be worth the extra 2 grand to get a head port and polish done? As far as I know these heads already flow extremely well from the factory, and too much flow could actually hurt power gains.

 

[Spartan040]

I’m with you on having something you put together. I love feeling the change in stages. First thing I did was long tubes catted midpipe and first tune. Which as you know that first tune is pricey, getting the pcm unlocked etc. then I went cam springs lifters push rods and second tune. It’s nice feeling the difference in between stages. At least I like it. Others like it all out the box and that’s totally cool as well. Whatever your preference is, is the way to go. You get to make it your own. Your right I’ve read a lot about the stock heads and many people say the stock ones are impressive.
I’m looking into a stroker kit, ran into a guy with a 426 and wow was that impressive. He also had a pro charger though. He said that was the last thing he did. Have to admit that 426 along with the winding from the sc was so nice. These cars are pretty well built from factory, tons of owners just add the sc and are done with it and it’s still pretty impressive. That’s why I like this forum, you have guys doing all sorts of stuff. Fun to read and keep up with.

I bet that was a fun ride! Yeah, those strokers are best suited to superchargers. I'm told that with the intake manifold being a limiting factor for NA cars, they tend to lose some low end torque and tip end throttle response.

 

[Spartan040]

Comp cams has some and I think Texas speed does as well. I’m looking into them but haven’t gathered much info yet either. One thing I’ve learned about this website is that any and every mod you can do is a waste of time and money and you should just stay stock. If you want it, do the homework and get it, lots of people on the internet have done cams with plenty of success.

Oh yeah it's absolutely a waste of time and money. Most people, if they want more power, should probably just upgrade to the next trim level. Which I've thought about as well. It's hard to say no to a factory package like the Hellcat. But cammed NA cars are rare, cool beasts these days. Might be fun to have one, even though it would wreck the trade-in value.

 

[Spartan040]

On a purely practical level, it's sort of a waste of time and money to mod your car, unless you have the disposable income and you're just having fun with it. Although, you could argue that you're making the car even more bulletproof and long-lasting by modding it with upgraded, tougher parts 😁 at least, that's what I tell the girlfriend 🤷‍♂️

 

[Spartan040]

I had great luck with a Jay Greene Cam. Awesome customer service and an all around great guy. Long tubes, cam+springs, phaser locker, and dyno tune my M6 Scat Pack put down a conservative 484 HP and 463 TQ on 93 pump gas. I have it set up for drivability since it is a daily driver and didn't chase numbers. I max HP at 6.25k RPMs. I do have some ignition timing pulled when the active runner engages in the intake manifold, so I am considering going E85 to neutralize this. Sunoco GT260 (100 Octane) helps significantly, but even then, I still have a tiny amount pulled. This car is an absolute monster on the freeway, especially from 3rd to 4th gear, 40-120 mph.

That sounds pretty awesome. Did you do anything to or replace your intake manifold?

 

[Spartan040]

Honestly, most of the off-the-shelf cams just aren't that big compared to the factory cam.

I'd probably go with Comp Cams stage 2, but I already have an MMX NSR cam here, so no point in switching it up if I ever get around to this.

It looks like MOST of the choices are going to net you around 480whp IF IT IS TUNED PROPERLY.

Getting the proper tune is going to matter like 5x more than which of the shelf cams you pick.

That's what it's sounding like. I've seen MMX's max effort cams make 500-520 wheel, which is pretty great, but I wonder how much if any bottom end torque is lost there, what they're doing in the tune, street manners and drivability, etc.

 

[Spartan040]

Im curious of the same thing. Mine is not a daily driver but I don’t drive it like I stole it when I’m in it either, at least not all the time. So I’d like comfortable drivability while having a little more get up and go for when I decide to hit the track as I’m looking to get into the 12’s N/A. I need the 0-120, I’m never going to go 150 or 180 in the thing. God knows the last thing this car needs is more low end torque, smoothing that out a bit would be ideal.

Lol, the low end torque is fun but it can easily overwhelm even 275's on the back, it needs at least 305's. Especially with how aggressive the first couple gears are in the A8 trans.

Our 392's should be able to do 12's from the factory. But if you have the M6 it may be harder to do.

 

[Spartan040]

It’s fun but leaving a stop sign and barely tapping the gas and having your head go back is hilariously too much lol, my wife thinks I do it on purpose. I’m like, I don’t, I swear, it’s just hard to have the right feel.

I’ll never see 12’s stock man, never. Colorado is a poo hole for many reasons and altitude is one of them. 13.6 on 245’s is my best, albeit I’ve only done 3 runs in the car and in my life lol. So for me to see 12’s at 5700’ I’m going to need some damn good air and some bolt-ons and at least 275 tires. I’d prefer not to change the rims, I really like them.

Gotcha. Yeah that DA is never going to be friendly to you unfortunately. Forced air might actually work better up there.

I like those rims too but you really need wider rims and tires to hook better. They make Hellcat replica rims at least

 

[Spartan040]

Beautiful thing with a custom cam is you won’t lose Torque down low. If anything, you’ll gain around 10 ft lbs below 3k RPM. You’ll also gain 20-30 ft lbs TQ around 4K RPM. I think the drastic increase in torque in the middle RPM range makes people feel they lost torque down low through their butt Dyno.

You might have a point, but some guys do put in way too big of a cam that does take too much power from down low and moves it up high.

 

[Spartan040]

Yeah, but I don’t want that headache. Everyone I’ve ever known who has supercharged or turboed anything just has issues. If I wanted that much power I would just trade the car in for a used Hellcat and be done with it.

I’ll think about the rims, I wanted to see what 275’s did for me first. If I can get to 12’s without changing rims, that would be ideal.

Fair. And 9 inch rims may be a tad small for 275's, the contact patch won't be fully engaged.

 

[Spartan040]

Lol seriously? If I try to buy rims my wife might murder me. 😂

Lol, makes me thankful I'm not married yet, all my girlfriend can do is scold or look at me disapprovingly.