If you go with a bigger cam, you must get new valve springs. The stock springs will not hold up unless you go with a near stock lift cam. You might look into the LT4 hotcam kit if you're just wanting something a little more than stock. It's decent for the money. There have been several threads here lately of people running bigger cams with stock heads. I've seen a Comp XE 218/224, CC306, and GM 847. From my understanding, the cast iron LT1 heads flow a little better vs. the aluminum ones so theoretically you should get more power at the crank than these guys are.

 

If you want to make power, and especially down low i suggest a 383.

Gas milage? whoever answered that question- do you have a 383?

My camaro got 18mpg on the highway with a TERRIBLE exhuast leak- it was like I had 4 bolts holding on my headers. You couldn't walk behind the car it was so rich or your eyes would burn.

I has terrible tunning and still got 18 highway with A4/3.73s.
With tuning i would easily get 20. i got 20 before the 383.

I suggest a short durratin (220*ish) and high lift (580 to .610) with propper springs and lifters.

If you want to make power down low you need good heads. no 2 ways about it if you are staying NA.

www.cmotorsports.com

 

Thanks for all the great info, I have done alot of searching on the boards and found alot of good info. One of my main questions is, after going .030 over with new pistons and rings. Now if I add the scat 9000 one peice crank and the other small things you guys said, (main and rod bearings, oil pump, timing chain) and keep my stock rods, WILL this engine be a durable setup, im keeping the stock heads and possibly the stock camshaft or a lt4 camshaft not the hotcam. This is a daily driver. Also, am i going to have to get some custom computer tuning, Thanks for the replies guys!

 

I was one that mentioned loosing gas mileage. Yes, I do have a 383 and I lost a little bit of mileage. It's nothing insane, but I did loose some.


A hotcam isn't going to hurt your drivability. I have a considerably larger cam than the hotcam in my daily driver. Tuning would be nice to have due to the increased cylinder volume(and possibly cam), but not absolutely necessary.