what do you mean you just to much??? who makes those cams? headers will prolly be after all that unless i come across some more money...thanks

 

I'm going to assume you want N/A with this all the way, because forced induction cars like different cams. If you also plan on upgrading your heads, you might want to plan into the equation for that as well to make a good combo. But, I'll just assume you want stock heads..

Since you are on a budget I took the liberty of browsing the for sale forums on a ls1 site. Here are some of the things I found:

Tr224 - $240 shipped

F.S. Lgm (custom) Cam w/ 200 miles .
Specs-- 224/224 .581 /112 lsa . Asking $215.00 Shipped .

Comp cam 567/576 lift...224/228 dur. 112 LSA....
Right at 1k miles on it...
200 and its yours

All of these will outperform the Hotcam. Expect around 390rwhp with boltons on average. Although there have been folks pushing 400rwhp on the tr224, and bigger they are not the norm.

Considering you don't care about lope, I'd actually just go ahead and get a larger cam. No point in wanting to upgrade later. Drivability will be similar.. maybe a tad more surging in 6th and a little bit rougher idle. Usually surging and stuff can be tuned out. Funnily enough, several people still get well into the 20's on gas milage with these cams.

TR230 cam 320+shipping

This cam would make 400rwhp+ pretty easily on stock heads with tuning. Drivability would be fine, lope would sound downright mean.

Just some ideas. Definately alot more power than the hotcam when you get up to the bigger cams. Several tenths in the 1/4!! IMHO if you don't mind lope, the minor drivability issues between a hotcam and a tr230 will mean nothing to you The main thing to look at is if you go really big (LG5X-2), you have to look at tuning and an expensive valvesprings/seat/retainer setup. LG also recommends changing springs on his LG5X-2 cam like once a year. This might be too much for your budget.

I had the mac headers and loudmouth with no cats. Rasp was unbearable. You might want to think about putting a bullet muffler in there to clear things up, or getting a different exhaust.

BTW: Just for comparisons sake, most Hotcam cars make 375-380rwhp with boltons. Of course all these figures are just approximations.

 

that helps a lot...i was kinda looking forward to the LM but now i dunno...so you don't have to change the springs or anything with these cams??? i'll prolly go with the 230 or the 224 now...and yeah i'm on a real tight budget, college is a biotch thanks a lot

 

All those cams will need at least springs and maybe pushrods(not sure when exactly you should get hardend pushrods). Thats one thing that makes the hotcam popular. New for $400 you get the cam and springs and is intended to be used with stock pushrods. Or find a used hotcam with springs(a good idea to have them checked before install) for ~$200. The Z06 cam new still needs different springs also. Adding new springs, retainers, pushrods and gasket kit can cost over $450.

I've also noticed that those who run stock tuning with the hotcam say they have to either get a custom tune or at least a MAFT when they add LT's cause the A/F gets messed up.

I'm on a bit of a budget(just bought a 12 bolt) so I opted for a used hotcam($200 shipped). I also broke a pushrod so I just bought a set of hardend pushrods($110) and a cam gasket kit for $40. I'll run a stock tune until I get some coated pacesetter LT's w/ORY(~$530 +shipping) and then get a dyno tune. I'll do all the installs myself too. I think I'll make noticably more power with a hotcam and pacesetters as opposed to buying a cam kit new and using stock manifolds and cats or buying more expensive LT headers instead. I figure this should get me by until I can afford a turbo setup .

 

Very valid points. I assumed you already had planned on getting
valvesprings. I would recommend blue stripe 918's for any cam
that you would probably run up until you get into some of the newest
larger cams. I got my 918's used with 3k miles for $100 shipped,
my hardened pushrods off ebay for $50 new, and my cam new for
$325 on sale on ebay. I bought the TR gasket kit. This is the way I
look at it,however, If your going to spend the 6 hours to tear the car
down and do the cam, springs, etc. and buy gaskets, bolt, coolant, oil,
etc. you might as well fork out the extra $100-$200 do the cam you
want. Otherwise you'll spend more in the long run.

Heres an approximation of cost:

Gaskets/bolt/misc. - $50-$60
Comp 918 Springs - $150
Used Cam - $250 shipped
Hardened Pushrods - $110

vs.

Hotcam Kit Used - $200-$250
Gaskets/bolt/misc. - $50-$60
Hardened Pushrods - $110

As you can see the cost is not very different, taking into consideration
the horsepower. Another 30 hp for an extra $150 is a damn good
bargain. Also as the previous poster stated, hardened pushrods might
not be required with hotcam depending upon how you spin it. However,
after 15k miles of use on my pushrods with my previous setup revving
to 6300 I had several bent pushrods . So its good to go ahead and
get it out of the way.


Hidden costs:

Valvespring Tool, Pen Magnets, Coolant, Pulley Puller (can rent
from autozone), oil for oil change after 500 miles or so.

I used this writeup:

www.ls1howto.com

JMX did a good job. I would not recommend the cheapo advanced
auto parts valvespring tool, as I broke 2 bolts off in the head using
it. Others broke off bolts, including JMX, writer of the install several
installs after writing it. However, there are several other tools you
can use, and I would suggest reading Tools of the Trade forum
on www.ls1tech.com.

I too am on a budget. This is why I bought most of my stuff used.
I also went with the Pacesetter Longtubes for $330 coated from
TSP. I sold my macs/ory to get the longtubes. I then sold my
loudmouth, and ordered a used Dr Gas x-pipe and 2 pro flo twister
mufflers. Always more interesting to work on a budget for sure!

 

well now i know i need to start saving my money to buy all this stuff...i was planning on doing it all at once that way i wouldn't have to bum rides for too long pluss i will see a HUGE difference i'm sure afterwards...and yes it is a lot more interesting on a budget, only thing is it takes longer to...thanks again

 

Is it (more or less) the same cam that goes in the LT1? I got the hot cam in my 95 TA and I didn't notice any driveablility issues....and my car sees a lot of highway and city miles....

 

M6 drivability is alot better than A4 drivability. But, yes, the LS1 and
Lt1 hotcam are similar. Drivability is subjective. I care nothing about
idle, emissions, warm starts, surging.. so to say the hotcam has no
drivability issues is very subjective. Even for myself personally,
I would say that the biggest cam for the ls1 out wouldn't even bother
me as far as drivability. But one thing is for certain, the hotcam has
similar characteristics in idle and drivability to cams that make much
more power. My only point in mentioning the previous is that
you could make 400-420rwhp under the characteristics for a daily
driver that he is looking for (doesn't mind rough idle, etc).
So why not go ahead and do so if its only gonna cost you some
pushrods and a few extra bucks on a used cam. Will save trouble
in future if you want to upgrade. I wish I hadn't went with the
224 personally, I'd like to get me like a 230+/230+ with around
.590/.590 lift on a 112lsa. At the time, I was scared about the
drivability.

 

yeah...to hell with drivability i'm not building a sleeper but this car will see some 200+ mile road trips, that's all i'm worried about...you've been a lot of help dist0rtion_69, and you'll prolly be hearing from me again when i go to actually buy the cam...thanks!!!

 

headers and loudmouth is 1 too loud 2 too rapsy 3 never gonna pass an inspection 4 cops will pull you over non stop 5 just doesn't sound good.

 

so what exhaust combo do you suggest??? i have away arround the inspection thing...somebody suggested putting a bullet muffler inline, is that a glass pack???cause i don't like the way those sound at least not on trucks...thanks

 

you can try a used (3000 miles) 01 z06 cam with springs for 110.00 shipped from me I take paypal too!

 

lol...i think i'm gonna go with a TR224 or 230 now...but thanks anyways

 

The higher lift cams put more and tear on the valvetrain, ie. spring checking and swap outs, with the hot cam you don't get the power of the larger cams but your also not revving it up as high, I don't spend alot of time in the high above 5500-6000 RPM range so I opted for the hotcam it's relatively easy on the valvetrain has a pretty mean lope and for the money it does fine the low and midrange improvement is quite noticable, mine is a daily driver and only sees occasional track runs, if you want power you should go with a different cam.

 

well i want the best cam i can get power wise, with out having to change and check springs all the time...and can some one please explain the numbers for these cams??? 99-230/224-111??? and what exactly is Lobe Separation Angle (LSA)???