I'm changing the opti and fixing an intake oil leak.
Am I that far away from a cam swap?
It looks like all I have to do is take off the radiator and lifters and pushrods and I'm there.

 

Not far off at all...if your going to be changing the opti and taking the intake manifold off...might all well throw a cam in there and beef up the valve train.
This link will help. http://shbox.com/ci/cam_removal.html

 

So what's a good cam to get if I'm running stock heads with Rksport headers?

 

I personally have the LT4 Hotcam Kit and am very happy with it....Good drivability with a nice little lope to it. Your best bet is to do a search and read all the opinions on the different cams out there and how they perform with your similar mods.

 

your pretty close...but keep this in mind. make sure u have/want to spend the money on it. it adds up fast. you need a cam (175-250 $$) rocker arms (200-300 $$) springs (anywhere from a little to a lotta $$) hardened pushrods (unless u have a 94 or whatever other years come with hardened) and you need miscelaneous stuff like a new oil pump drive gear with some cams, you'll need a different timing chain. it adds up quick. i was planning to do acam swap and have my heads freshened up...i pulled the cam out and the front bearing looked terrible on the bottom for having 80k miles, so $4k later, i had a new engine, cam, etc.

 

blackztpi: That's kind of what I was afraid of. I think someone is selling a hotcam kit locally for $700. Comes with roller rockers, cam, pushrods, valve springs and timing chain.

The kit has 2 miles on it before he blew his motor the other day. Will blowing the motor damage any of the parts in the cam kit? Could the motor have blown because of the cam kit?

I have about 120k miles on my car so it's not the freshest motor on the block anymore. Still I don't want it to blow.


Thanks
Oliver

 

I'd only pay $700 if the timing set (not just a chain) was a good one (LT4 ED, Cloyes DR, etc) and the lifters were decent as well. Get the brand names and price the stuff. I wouldn't pay it if it was just the timing chain. I wouldn't think blowing the motor up would damage anything that you wouldn't be able to see. Just visually inspect all the parts to make sure.

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...d=993&pid=1900

 

To do a basic cam change i just put in new lifters, timing chain (not set), lt4 spring set with locks and retainers, and gaskets. There is no reason to not use the stock rockers unless you want a higher ratio. My pushrods looked fine when I pulled them so i reused them with no problems. I've been running on my cc503 for at least 9,000 miles with my setup and haven't had one problem. Spin the motor to 6200 rpm all the time. Also i spent no where near $4000. Springs off ebay for $40 with locks and retainers, cam $250, lifters + or - $200, I can't remember all the gaskets and hoses replaced mostly because hoses were weather checked bad.

 

oh ya on the dyno the motor pulled all the way to 6200 still making power with 135,000 miles

 

Because roller rockers free up horsepower and create less wear. Also, it gives the cam more lift, which most of the time equals more power.

Are you talking about the LT4 springs? I would suggest a different spring. I didn't even run them with my hotcam.

 

They worked just fine with the 1.5 ratio since the lt4 springs are rated to .525 lift and the cc503 with 1.5 rocker is at .503 - .510. If i was to put on a larger rocker then yes i would have to go to a beehive or a higher lift spring otherwise they work perfectly. There is no reason to over do something when there is no need to. With my nitrous (125 zex wet )and this cam with no head work and on stock manifolds i run a 12.0 at 118 mph. So i'd say my setup works very good for the price i have invested.

 

thats with only a 1.89 60 foot

 

I think the Hotcam is a great idea, the CC305 wouldn't be a bad choice either. Might as well do it considering you have some of the major stuff taken off anyhow.