5.2L Magnum cam question

[ChallengerGary]

Okay - I am picking up a set of barely used magnum heads to replace the cracked one on my '92 Ram 5.2L. In the process, I am also picking up some barely used parts from a MP 360/380 hp crate engine including the crank, rods, pistons, camshaft and lifters. The previous owner of these parts decided he wanted more power and built an edelbrock head'd stroker. All parts have less about 100 miles on them (mostly 1/4 mile at a time I am sure).

My question is, will this camshaft work on my 318 or will it be too much for it? I don't know the status of my cam but was thinking that since I am getting it and will have the top half of my engine off, maybe I should just drop in the new cam & lifters. Or should I just save the cam & lifters to go into my 360 I will be building for my '73 Duster (which will then get it's own set of Magnum heads of course)?

[Chryco Psycho]

well the 92 engine will have the roller cam , is the cam out of the 380/360 a roller or flat tappet ??
 the roller cam should provide more power then the flat tappet & the 380 hp cam could mess with the computer for the EFI if there is not enough vacuum

[UKcuda]

The MP 360/380 crate motor will have a roller cam, and it will swap right into a 5.2 Magnum without too much bother.  It is a better cam than the stock cam but not too wild so I think it shoudn't cause problems with the computer.  I seem to remember it even has a lift of under 0.5" so you can get away using the stock springs etc. if you want to; but check that first.

You should really ask these guys:

http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/

scroll down to the 5.2L/5.9L/6.7L V8 Engines section of the forum

[UKcuda]

Oh yeah, and if you are talking about doing your Duster with Magnum heads on an LA 360 block then you have issues with this cam because:

(1)  it doesn't have the extra snout for the fuel pump eccentric, and

(2)  it doesn't have the oiling holes in the bearing to allow oiling up through the head.

But if, as you say, you are going to put magnum heads on your Duster (with hollow push rods etc. blah blah) then you would be OK with this cam as the magnum heads don't need that oiling through the cam bearing, but you would still need to use an electic fuel pump and have a roller lifter set up installed to work with the LA block.

Even if you did all that, this is still probably not the best cam you could use in that engine.