jloshotz

Hello all, currently have my motor torn down and am debating an LT4 Hotcam (cam and lifters only) install. Given the mods in my sig, would this cam be a good choice? I want to maintain drivability, with just a touch more umph. Aside from whats listed in the sig, the motor is all stock, just the bolt ons. Thanks in advance!

mrmint69

Here is a tread with some good info. There are better cam choices and it really is an out dated one.
https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/gen...opping-862184/
If all your looking for is a few more hp than you can't go wrong with it, there is just better choices that make more hp.

jloshotz

Thanks Mrmint, it is an outdated piece, but the price is right on the hotcam...I'll check out the link tho

96capricemgr

Why would you do lifters?
You don't have springs listed which ARE NECESSARY.

Looking at your current mods to check compatibility I have to ask why on earth would you do 1.5 rockers and 3.73s? Both of those were very poorly chosen.

Orr89rocz

Whats wrong with M6 and 3.73's for a driver?

Whats wrong with 1.5 rockers? He's upgraded to good rockers for future use, nothing wrong with that. Its not necessary for those mods but can come in handy down the road with a cam swap, which is being considered now.

LT4 cam if found cheap is a good budget cam for a little more umph and driveability. If you spend abit more you can have a bit better cam for few more ponies and torque across the rpm range but they all will be fairly close for a given rpm range.

96capricemgr

with stock tires 70mph is 1700rpm, with a HOT cam you would be getting aweful close to lugging the engine.
That is close to what the A4 turns with 2.73s. To put in perspective how low 1700rpm cruise is a 3.23 A4 car turns almost 2100rpm at 70mph. The M6 with 4.10s is going 78mph at 2100rpm
.50 OD let's you run a lot of rear gear before cruise rpm gets unreasonable.

Far as rockers the stock cam with 1.6s is something around .480/.490 the HOT cam with 1.5s is .494. Now granted there is a healthy duration increase there too but I fail to see the logic in a cam swap that doesn't bother to increase lift.
The stock head is happy north of .550 and there are springs that have no trouble with that on daily drivers. so there is no reason to stay so low lift.

jloshotz

Guess I should have clarified, I drive the car on the highway quite a bit, why I chose 3.73 over 4.10, and happy I did such The car never has or will see track time, so no worries there. I'm just putting this replacement motor in while i make a stout build on a different block at my leisure (when $ become avail), I appreciate the input guys!

Orr89rocz

Yeah the deep overdrive is nice and you can get away with alot more gear. Something like that motor with a hotcam could run 4.10's and be good to go at the strip but 3.73's is nice for more highway driving. Hotcam is mild enough it shouldnt have problems at 1500-1700 rpm cruise. I've had bigger cams drive very well at low rpms. 230/245 109lsa .600+" in a 383 auto 700r4 3.42's and a 360" 280xfi cam in a 700r4 stock stall 3.73 then 3.90 gears but 28" tall tires so they acted like less gear but at slow speeds/lower rpm locked up converter, no issue. 35mph locked up crawls up hill, 1083 rpm The tune will make a big difference.

True, he doesnt have to stay low lift but doesnt mean more lift is always better. Hot cam is nice for a budget cam thats soft on valvesprings. Long term useage, it will last longer if the intent is to put alot of miles on it. For alittle more umph on a budget, I fail to see how you can beat it unless you find another cam used for same price. 1.5's wouldnt be bad then going to a custom cam since you can get lobes to get you in the mid .550's with 1.5's but they will / could be abit harder on springs.

If your doing a build on the side, then do the hotcam for cheap and have fun while you build the other motor.

96capricemgr

IMO with 3.73s you are going to want to stay very conservative on the cam selection. Something like the HOT does compromise lowend.
As I demonstrated with the rpms for certain speeds though 3.73s over 4.10s still is not such a sound choice, 4.10s would just let you use 6th more without lugging the engine and lugging is NOT good.

I would look at the small end of the cam spectrum, the Lingenfelter 211/219 is (edited) .497/.525 with 1.5 rockers. A friend used this in a street racing Impala and it worked quite well on and off the bottle.

jloshotz

I'm starting to understand a bit more of what you're saying now Caprice, about the lugging in higher gears, might be better to cruise in lower gear to keep the RPM's over 2k with the hot....where 4.10's might have just done that automatically...good point. My other option is basically to just use the stock cam for this interim build, as I love the drivability, and obviously wouldn't need a retune. Sigh... I'm definitely on a tight budget for this interim build, hence why I'm just tossing around something inexpensive, and not too extreme. No supporting mods for extreme anyhow Everything said has been a big help so far, thank you guys!

Orr89rocz

The hotcam is mild, I dont think lugging would be a problem but ask around to see who's running it. hotcam will idle at 750 rpm, 1700 rpm at cruise should NOT be an issue.

bw_hunter

Try driving a hot cam equipped car up a parking lot ramp at idle. It lugs all over itself until you get above 2000 rpm.....

2QUIK6

I've got the LPE 211/219 Dwayne mentioned in both my LT4 powered 4800lb truck and my '95 ta and love it for the lower end torque. Never a prob for the truck and it has an A4 with 3.42 gears just like the ta. The .530-.560 lift is with 1.6 rr's

jloshotz

This concerns me a bit, how badly?

96capricemgr

I went back and edited my first post about the specs.