Hi all,
I've been thinking about doing a cam and replacing most of my valvetrain. I was wondering what cam would be best for a completely stock motor?

Also I'm not sure I could afford a tune right away so I was wondering how well the car might run without one for awhile if I cam it.

I was thinking about going with 1.6 rockers and replace the lifters, pushrods, and springs while I'm in there. Does anyone have any suggestions what pieces will make good replacements for these parts? I'm mostly looking for durability and reliability right now and as much bang for the buck power I can get. I'm on a college budget right now and just want to start building a good platform for some decent power down the road.

Besides all this what other parts will I need to do the swap right? and are there any parts you guys would recommend replacing while I'm in there?

I'm sure this topic gets brought up alot and I have done some searching but I can't really seem to get a good answer for these questions... I'm pretty much lost when it comes to cams and valvetrains so any help would be greatly apprieciated.

Thanks in advance

 

I would say the lt4 hot cam kit (about 500 bucks), comes with cam and valvetrain. It would be ok without a tune until you can afford one, you would need an lt4 knock module

 

The Comp 503 is good too.

 

Thanks for the advice.
I've been considering the hot cam kit for awhile now because of how cheap it is but I wasn't sure how well it would run without a tune. Ive also heard it can have bad serge without a better tq converter... is this true?

Also, since it doesn't come with pushrods or lifters do you have any recommendations what to use to replace my stock ones?
And how does the 503 compare to the hot cam kit? Do they run about the same or is there a big difference? Since the 503 doesn't come with any parts for the valvetrain what pieces should I use with it?

I'm just trying to get a feel for the price difference in buying a hot cam kit vs buying the pieces seperately with a different cam.

thanks for the help

 

The 503 is cam only. Whats needed is spring kit needed $100-$200, rockers 200-300. Best lifters are Morals but crane or comp stock replacement are good and much cheaper. For pushrods I like the comp hi-teck series.

 

Is there any power difference between the 503 and the Hot Cam or are they pretty much the same?

 

BTW isn't tuning required with a 503?

 

They are pretty much the same.

PM me though if you are interested in the 503, springs, hydra-rev, timing chain, and hardened Comp pushrods. You will have to buy rockers. MadZ for tuning either with the 503 or Hotcam is required.

 

I just put a HotCam in mine and it's fine with the stock tuning and stock torque convertor. I did put my other tuned PCM in and it wasn't THAT much different at idle, maybe a little smoother. The HotCam is fine for pretty much stock everything except springs.

My car's still in the shop, had to get a little extra work done. I ended up paying $560 shipped for the HotCam kit, which is a great deal because of the 1.6 rocker rollers. If you piece it together, getting new RRs always makes it more expensive. Only other parts I got for the valvetrain were hardened pushrods, which were around $100. So $660 for doing a cam package isn't bad. But then again you also mentioned lifters. Those can get expensive. From what I hear/read, the stock ones should be fine. But get other opinions, I'm by all means no expert.

 

Both cams will work with the stock tune, but you won't be getting the full benefit of the cams. A custom tune will really finish it off and, while not truly required, should definitely be considered an important component.

 

Sent PM

 

Thanks for all the info

I've been doing some more reading and i'll be going with either the Hot Cam kit or the 503. I've still got to do some more pricing both ways to see what I can afford but it sounds like i'll be happy either way.

BTW Eck were did you buy your kit?

 

Do a search on here. There is definitely a ton of stuff on the hotcam and I'm sure there is some stuff on the 503 also.

 

I got mine from gmpartsdirect.com but I don't recommend them. Get it from www.summitracing.com -- they are just as cheap and so much better as far as customer service.

Also, I just got my car back this morning and it's running great. Now that it doesn't have misfire problems, I can tell a difference with the cam. It is a lot more choppy, especially when decelerating when almost stopped. There is a little surge when taking off, somewhere between 1500 and 2000 rpms. It's not bad at all though, I kinda like it. A small stall should take care of it I'm guessing.

 

Call and get a pricing from Jason Cromer. I think that is where I got mine and I didn't pay $560 shipped. The price of the kit may have gone up since the time that I bought mine. Scoggin Dickey also sells them.

Some phone numbers are here: http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#Dal_and_Jason