After nearly 3 months of part time work, i got the following installed:

le1 heads w/ larger valves
le1 cam
1.6 NSA roller rockers, guideplates, hardened pushrods
double roller chain
Metzere water pump

I must have been crazy to think I could drive this thing every day. Luckily I got a daily driver, because with the new mods, the car is barely drivable on the street at low speeds.
Anything under 1200 rpm causes the car to buck wildly, I am having the most trouble getting this thing in and out of parking spots.
Its like trying to tame a wild beast around idle, but then when you get going, everything from 2000 rpm + is amazing and very smooth.

Another thing is the city mileage, OMG i burned from the half tank mark down in under the first 20 miles of city driving. I think it may be running a bit rich and I realize that its a cammed car, but you guys are misleading about how usable these packages are for daily driving.

I am darn glad I did this work, and i know ill show some solid gains on the dyno, but I need to say, there is no way I could drive this thing in more than 5 minutes of heavy traffic, or pull in and out of parking spots easily.

Am i the only one who is this shocked that people use this package as a daily driver?

 

Sounds like you haven't gotten it tuned.

 

I've got an LE1 w/a 383. Mine is absolutely streetable. It has a lopey idle but it does not buck in traffic. I couldn't be happier with the way it drives. I can't lug it around at idle speed (which is about 950 rpm) but I'd say it drives fairly smoothly above 1500 rpm. Mine is a 6 speed, so I can select the gear I need to keep it in the rpm range where it's happy. I cruise on the highway at 2000-2100 rpm in 6th gear, and it just loafs along. I never checked the milage, but it seems to be about the same as it used to be when I had the stock motor with the hot cam kit.

Maybe it's like Steve9899 says, you need a tune .

 

I don't see in your sig that you put any gears in it. The LE1 should be very streetable. If you still have 3.42's in there, changing to 4.10's or even 3.73's is going to make it a whole bunch more streetable, as well as being a lot more fun! People run the LE2 as a daily driver, there is no reason that your LE1 package shouldn't have better street manners than what you are describing.

 

Sounds lik bad tune.

 

Yea, like the others mentioned , it sounds like your tune is WAY off(who did the tuning if I might ask?)....... Also, Mabe your cam was not degreed in correctly or at all(was it degreed?, if so where exactly did it end up?).....With the mods in my sig, my car is 100% daily drivable.....It Idles with a nice little lope to it, and from the moment you touch the throttle it accelerates perfectly smooth, sounds litterally almost stock at cruise, and has no signs of surging or bucking at any RPM range or speed, and it's an automatic car to boot which are usually harder to get just right......I also just got slightly over 23 MPG on a long highway trip with it last month............

 

what they said

 

It says in his sig that it has a "PCM4less" tune. Now, did he actually go to PCM4less or pcmforless.com? If it's pcmforless, they will redo the tune without issue (I believe) if it isn't running right. I don't know about the other web site! Took me a while to figure out that I was at the wrong web site the first time I went looking.

 

I had the same problems with mine and it was because I was getting knock all over the place and my A/F wasn't right. Log the car when you are driving around, I bet you have some knock and you should also look at getting a colder plug. I run 104's, but when I checked my plugs yesterday I think I might still need to go colder. I daily drive mine and I have a little surging issue between 1500 and 2000 that the shop said they couldn't tune out, but for the most part it isn't that bad.

 

Somethin' ain't right...

Even tho mine is a little violent (LE3 on a mail order pcmforless tune), it's still perfectly drivable.

 

Yeah, there is something wrong with your setup, somewhere...

 

get it tuned.

 

First, congratulations on getting your mods completed!

Second, I agree with the need for a tune as it will be a major help.

Lastly, I do agree with you in that most on the board think these big
cammed cars are daily drivers so it's very misleading to go by what the
majority here say.

I have a dyno tune by Jeff Creech and it was a major improvement over
the mail order tune (which was very good too), especially in the idle and
off idle areas. I get surging with my baby cam. I can imagine what it
would be like with a LE1, 1.5, GM846, CC503, etc., and these are also
relatively small cams.

I had the RA IV cam in my 68 GTO which is very close to the specs of a
CC306 and it was in no way daily drivable. Yes, computers and fuel injection
will tame things, but I'll stick with my definition of a daily driver which is it
has to function off idle to 1500 rpm like stock. Or how about in 6th gear
on the freeway at 1,500 rpm with stock behavior.

 

Ive got a friend with a CC306 in an auto car, daily drove it for a long time on a mail order tune with no problems. Something has to be up with your tune.

 

i daily drove a 355 gm847 car witha six speed and a spec 3 clutch both of which people say are not to streetable and i never had any issues getting in and out of parking spots
yes below 1500 rpms it had some surging issues not terribly though and this was all on a madz28 mail order tune
i dunno maybe im just not too pickey when it comes to considering something streetable but i in know way had issues like you are describing