I'm curious to see what your guys mileages are and when you put the cam in your LT1. Looking for people with higher (125-175k miles) on stock bottom ends.

Been thinking about trying to squeeze a moderate cam in my LT1 next fall, wondering if I'll regret it if I don't rebuild the bottom end.

The car is a 1997 Camaro SS - 155k miles, driven maybe 2k miles/year. Mods can be found on my fquick but basically Pacesetter LTs, 3" ORY, SLP 2OTL, 52mm TB, some suspension, etc. I was told that the previous owner replaced the front crank seal, water pump gaskets, rear pinion seal, and a few other things around 135k miles. I replaced the valve cover gaskets at about 142k.

Would like to go with something around a Ai 226/234 @ 110 LSA. Also considered the idea of going with a LT4 hotcam and keeping the stock rev limiter to prevent myself from tearing up the bottom end. Worried that if I do that I'll regret not going bigger for the amount of work done for the swap.

Would love to see people post what cam they went with, mileage they put it in at, and how it's held up.

 

Reading the threads on here years ago, I decided it was to risky. I noticed a lot of the problem is that the cam was installed wrong or caused issued later on. Lots of people ended up with a spun bearing or other issues.

 

I put my CC503 in at 98,000. A year later I changed the bearings. Not for any of them failing or even for low oil pressure. I had 25-30psi at idle with them. I was working on an oil pressure loss issue between 3500-5000rpms and happen to find a minor issue with the #1 main(speculation that glass bead from the factory went through it). I decided at that point to change all the bearings in the motor. Spent more to do it myself than to have a shop do it, but I learned a ton. The pressure loss during high rpm was an oil pan and pickup problem.

I've got 105,000 now.

 

Is it a 6M or A4 trans? The 226/234 may be ok for the 6M and a little too much if for an A4 to get tuned correctly without it surging gears and TC stall also come into play.
I bought a cam from a friend that worked great in his 383 but was way too big for my stock bottom end, would have to spin it past 6k to make good power. Now have the lpe211/219 still with stock bottom end and it makes way more usable power on the street. Had LE1.5 heads with both cams. Has 131k on the rotating assembly.

 

If you want to keep the stock rev limiter you are looking at WAY too much cam.

A friend put a cam in his cop car at 160K these days the engine is in his wife's daily driver with something like 240K on it. He id the AI cam that is about the same size as the HOT and since it is an iron head motor with tall guides it has 1.52 rockers works great.

 

M6, I'm not worried about the cam being too much for driving, I'm worried about it being too much for a 154k mi bottom end.

I'd be upping the rev limiter if I went with the AI. I realize it'll want to run up a lot higher than the hotcam.

 

The cam itself isn't going to hurt the bottom end, its the driving and reving too high. I had/have a bottom end with a cc503 for 20k installed at 100k and now at 120k ts getting a cc306

 

You will when you have to spin it well past what the stocker can handle to make any usable power.

 

Put my hotcam in at 95000 mi. has 120,000 now along with the stock cam bearings and still going strong.

 

110LSA on a 226/234 cam is NOT a tight LSA. People just think it is because cam companies grind cams on wide LSAs to account for the average guy choosing too much duration.

Cam Lobe Centerline - Tech, Overview, Explanation - Hot Rod

I have direct experience with that cam in a Caprice with 3.42s.
I have experience with other cams ranging from 218 intake duration on a 107lsa up to 228 intake duration on 108, the latter would be a bit annoying to drive with something like 3.42 or numerically lower in a big heavy Caprice but give it 3.73s and an appropriate stall and it is fine.


Those who "believe" in 112+ for an NA 350 are pretty much stuck in the past.

If you read the above linked article he is talking about using a 265degree at .050" duration cam on a 107LSA being about ideal in a 355, now that is flat tappet with a 4barrel intake so there are a lot of differences and this is all out race. When you look at that, consider we are talking 30degrees less duration and still going wider on the LSA.

These custom 108/110 LSA cams that are pretty popular these days are setup for the stree, and the 112-114 LSA you see in Comp's catalog is just silly. There can be cases made for it like emissions, turbo, or large nitrous shot, or even sometimes for larger engines.
Lunati's VooDoo line has several cam ground on a 110.

 

I don't know every spec on my cam, but I do know that with the AI 228 cam on a 108 the vacuum is adequate for my brakes and that the Caprice brakes are a bit undersized. 4200lbs car with brakes that clear 15" wheels. Add some HP and front rotors start heat checking pretty quickly.
I know to convert to 4.75" pattern guys use 1LE rotors so I would imagine that means the rotors are the same basic dimensions as the f-body but with more weight to stop.
This cam makes power at least to the pcm's limits so I would agree for most stock shortblock stuff keep the duration a little shorter which that alone would reduce overlap plus if you went 109-110 you are still closer to optimal but still now way out at 112+.