Alright, due to funding, I cant get my heads worked just yet.

So until then I just need my car running.
Here's where I am at:

383 bottom end
Compression is being bumped to around 11.3-1
stock heads
3000rpm stall
3.23 rear gears

I have new lifters etc, but what cam should I put in?
I know this is far from optimal, and not many people have done it this way....searching didn't help much. This car is a daily driver, but I do like to get on it

 

306 would b decent mid to upper range...whata your goals

 

Put whatever cam you want to at this point. The car will still feel like the 454SS trucks... Nice and torquey at lower rpm and then will turn into a big bag of poop as rpm climbs.

 

What type of poop firm or soupy?

 

well it cant be worse then having a stock bottom end can it?

 

you should maybe consider getting the le2 cam. itll provide good power as is, then later on as funds allow you can have the heads done to le2 specs as well. a le2 383 is a proven combo that will really haul *** at the track.

 

I had your same problem, but everyone on this board convinced me to go LE1 heads. I still dont have the money really for better heads, but at the end of the day I realized that bigger heads are better than any cam. You really should go best heads you can afford, before anything else. Especially with the 383. I should have gone bigger myself, because the 383 w/ my LE3.2 cam I max hp at 6300rpms. I think I remember someone dynoing with stock heads too... I remember like 340rwhp/360rwtq... I just dynoed 388rwhp and 400rwtq, w/ just LE1 heads. Still stock valve size, and it helped a lot I would say. HTH

 

I was in the same boat, I couldn't afford decent heads so I just got my stock ones cleaned up. I'm also still using stock manifolds and the stock cat converter I'd recommend getting a custom cam ground that'll work with your stock heads unless your planning on upgrading them soon. A custom cam can cost the same as a regular off the shelf cam, so if you got a funky setup it'll be the best option for ya.

 

My brother was in a similar position once, he ended up doing a 383 bottom end with stock heads and a cc305, with slp shorty headers, stock cats and a borla. He's got a lower stall than you (2500 i think) and the car is a nice daily driver. As mentioned, the lowend is great, but power for him peaks at 5500 rpm (although it is something like 50 more peak rwhp than stock)

 

id say dont even bother with a cam at this point in time.. keep savin up and get an le2 package

 

I was in the same boat look at my post here for an idea: http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532071

 

Sometimes shortblocks let go and guys have to do something like this to get the car back on the road. I would rather see someone put stock heads on a stroker than have the car rot in the garage till they can afford the whole package.
Now doing a stroker bottomend as a performance mod and keeping stock heads would be a big mistake and poor planning and understanding of how it all works.

I would say keep the cam reasonable, a big duration cam is going to want to wind higher than the stock heads can feed those cubes. Play to the torque advantage, something like a GMPP 846 yes 846 NOT 847. Just a little bigger than the HOT cam and a proven performer.

 

word.. i hadnt taken the fact that it might not be just for performance reasons (the bottom end i mean)...

i still would think id go with an 847 (assuming the stock heads are a temporary thing), just for resale purposes...

 

You can see from my sig that I went with a mild cam with a 383 and cleaned up heads. Personally, I am very happy with how it has performed but yes it does poop out at 5500 rpm but is at 90% torque at 2000 rpm...which was my intent.