I am so confused. My car is a daily driver with LT headers, off road pipe, CAI, some other goodies. What should I look for in a cam? I was gonna go with the CC XE 224/230, but my mechanic and friends all say bad idle, too much on exhaust without heads.....and recommend 224/224. I don't think I understand the rationale. Can anybody help?

 

I have the 224/230. With the idle is set @ 850 I've had absolutely no problems. A small amt of lope, but nothing serious. The cam is very easy to live with on a daily basis..

Something else to consider - there are a few on this board who're happy driving around with a 306 on stock heads everyday. None of them have piped up with "Man, this is just too much to deal with everyday!".

From my own experience, I'd say go for the 224/230 if you want. It's a blast!

 

Most mechanics tend to say things like that from what I can tell. Dont worry about it, the 224/230 isn't all that aggressive. Just get it tuned right and you'll be fine.

 

Tell him that most SBC heads are closer to the optimum in/exh ratio and therefore use single pattern cams. The duration split with an exhaust bias benefits LT1 heads because of theire weak exhaust ports. The XE cams are very aggressive with small .006 durations compared to their .05 dur which also reduces overlap and poor idle/vacuum quality. That cam will idle A-OK, although i'd go with a varient of the CC502 on stock heads myself.

-brent

 

Mods in sig. Runs great for a driver.

Jeff D.

 

Ditto, the LT1 just plain works better with a dual pattern cam as opposed to the single pattern which is more common in the older SBC stuff.

I LOVE my 224/230. Great idle, a little choppy but it's on a 112 LSA. And the power.....oooh my....the power.