I have a stock LT1, and was wondering what is a good cam to put in it. A buddy of mine said comp cams 280x, but I'm not sure if that's the best one for, it maybe but I'm not sure. I want to get more mid range and top end, but I also want the choppy idle and all. Which cam is the best for it.

 

To keep a long story short. If you do some searches on the boards you will find 4 popular cams. comp cams 503, comp cams 305, LT4 Hot cam, and GMPP 846. From my research the CC 503 and the GMPP 846 > CC 305 and GM LT4 Hot cam. Some argue that the 503 or the 846 are the largest cams you want to use with a stock bottom end and stock heads. I went with the comp cams 503. If you go this direction you will have to remove your stock springs and go with a spring that can handle the higher rpm and lift. The stock springs in the LT1 are garbage and will not keep up. At this point you should replace your lifters considering your this far deep. As for push rods and rockers, you can re use them if you are on a tight budget and replace them at a later time due to the fact you can get at them by taking the valve covers off and undoing the rockers (relatively easy job).

As for drive-ability. Some say you can get away with a stock tune and run this cam. I took this advice and ran my CC 503 lt1 without a tune. It started fine, idled in park/neutral fine, cruised at any speed with no hiccups or issues. When it came time to slow down to a stop light is where it became a problem on really hot days. If i was to come to an abrupt stop at a light it would almost die on me. I had to give it a bit of throttle or come to a nice easy stop. When accelerating from the red light if you blip the throttle and let off I ran the risk of bogging out. It would almost die on me. Next was parking lots. idling through a parking lot was not so easy due to tapping the gas and letting off just to roll. this would produce the same bogging out or dieing as the red light situation. Reversing out of parking stalls was producing the same issue. I got used to it and added throttle to get me through these situations (brake and throttle at the same time). These were the most annoying issues with the cam setup. The car did run on the rich side of things as well. Just recently I purchased a tune off of madz28 and i cannot believe difference it has made. It is night and day compared to stock tune. I cannot stress this enough. Make sure you buy a tune. The problem with the stock tune is it wants to idle at 550rpm when you are in gear. Madz28 upped it to 750-775 and it has made a world of difference. Secondly, a higher stall torque converter is recommended. If it is a budget concern and you dont want to spend the extra money on a high stall you can get away without using one. Without a stall you will not be using the cam to its full potential and might experience a bit of low end power loss. My budget did not allow for a highstall torque convert at the time I did the cam and I am still running the stock converter. At first I thought I would have to get a highstall due to my drive-ability issues. As I mentioned earlier the tune alone has changed my thoughts on the whole subject. I will still get a high stall just not this season. There is a just over a month left in the my driving season up here in winnipeg canada. The highstall can wait till next season.

 

Ok cool ill start looking into those I'm not looking for the biggest cam just something to give it extra I'm still getting use to the power and all since my first car which I still own is a 92 civic and all so to me the maro is plenty fast already and all

 

an old very well proven cam is the cc306. the gm 847 might be a little bigger, but the cc306 is very street friendly. both are great cams and are cheap.

 

Would the CC304 be good also I looked and it doesn't require tunning like the others and all

 

To get best results your going to want some tuning with any cam you get.

 

True true ok ill look into that and I guess a stall conveter and all