I am thinking about doing the hotcam kit and money is kinda tight right now. So can i get away with the stock TC? thanks in advance.
Kyle

 

You should be fine. The nice thing about the HC is that it has about the same power in the lower rpm's (nice in the LT1) but raises the power in the upper rpm's. I know exactly how you feel about the money issue but I would really look into pulling your heads and getting some inexpensive clean up work on them wjhile you are at it. The labor is not much more (if any, DIY) for pulling your heads, and the a good clean up job at any competent shop should only run about $250 -$300. Trust me, it is well worth it and should give you about 340-350 at the wheels. I did my set up at the same time with a stock ported 52mm TB. I beat as 93 conv Cobra (SC) by 2 cars from 40-120. With my stall (B&M Holeshot 2400-2600) and custom programming from Bryan at PCMforless, my car gets 17 mpg (90/10 cty/hwy), idles smooth with a nice grumble, and can lay a stripe 50 ft long at 30 mph. Definately a very nice/fast daily driver. Good luck and if you need any help (installing the cam yourself, advice, etc) just let me know,

Kyle

 

I'm going to have to slightly disagree with the first response.

#1, if you keep the stock stall you can "live" with it but I HIGHLY recommend tuning and you'll feel the car "pull" a little more idling in gear...like it wants to lurch. This is because the Hotcam on an A4 car will require a slightly higher idle

#2, pulling the heads is a LOT more work and do a slight clean up job on the lt1 casting will get you very little in performance gain. Doing the cam install on an LT1 takes me about 5-6 hours including changing the springs (keep in mind I've done it quite a few times). If the person is doing heads it takes a least a full day to day and a half labor more, plus you lose the reliability of that nice factory-tight seal. Keep in mind for a cam-swap you don't have to touch the exhaust. Getting the factory manifold or most headers off and the y-pipe down alone is several hours more work. Reuse of the headbolts isn't recommended and new headbolts and head gaskets are NOT cheap. Anyone that tells you the labor will take less time than what I've quoted you is not doing the proper cleaning of the mating surfaces, chasing the threads in the block for the heads...etc. etc.

Back to the main question though.....your stock torque converter will work...it just won't be much fun. What I mentioned above applies as well as the fact that with the hotcam you actually lose some power and especially torqe below 3,000 rpms. With the factory stall in the 1700-1800 area that a lot of bog....since you have 3.23s it won't be nearly as bad as doing it with 2.73s though.

 

I ran my 224/230 XE with the stock stall and 2.73's for about a year (idle @ 850). There was some lurching as mentioned above, but it wasn't horrible. It certainly was not the optimum set up, but I did ok with it as a daily driver. I did install a cooler after the cam swap though. With the higher idle and low stall, I figured the trans would be getting hotter than normal.. I could be wrong, but it's a good idea regardless. A trans rebuild is not cheap, but a cooler is.

 

I will not disagree with you about the lurch, but it is really no too noticeable. I agree that anytime you do internal engine work (i.e. cam/heads) you need to get the car reprogrammed. Bryan pretty much has teh tune for the Hotcam down. That is why the lurching, idle, etc is not too noticable. I drove my car for 8 months before the tranny went sout. AT that time, I had the stall put in with the new tranny.

As far as pulling the heads being a LOT more work, I disagree with, comparatively speaking. You don't need to drop the Y pipe, just disconnect the header/manifold bolts, 6 per side. I also should have clarified my statement about the labor. I was talking about pulling the heads labor, not the porting. I would advise him to leave that to a professional. Yes, he will need to use new head bolts and gaskets, but as far as most people are concerned, the depth of his teardown thus far would be an optimal time to do some cleanup work on his heads. He could even look at purchasing some already done to shorten his down time and then sell his stockers to recoup some $$. I just think that most people who are installing cams are in to more performance (obviously). For minimal additional labor in removing the heads, he could gain in the neighborhood of an additional 30-40 rwhp. Just my thought.


Kyle