Hi everyone, I'm here on behalf of my friend who is also on this board.

He has a 93 Camaro Z28 with BBK Headers, B&M Shortthrow, Flowmaster American THunder, Summit Intake Elbow and the K&N Intake.

Both of us dont know all that much about camshafts and we were wondering what the the maximum degree of cam for the LT1 engine that will still keep the car street drivable without any excessively rough idle and still keep the CAM sound and a decent amount of gains?

Also we are wanting to know if your required to get roller rockers, valve springs etc when doing a cam swaps or if thats only a step you have to do when you get a higher deg. camshaft?

Let me know what your guys' thoughts are.... And i'm wanting to keep it somewhat cost effective.

 

Get the GMPP LT4 hotcam kit. It comes with EVERYTHING you need including new springs, locks, retainers, shims, AND a set of GMPP 1.6 roller rockers. It definitely has that "cammed" sound, but is fully streetable. You MUST use new valvesprings when cahnging the cam to anything larger than stock; the stock springs are for small cams only. Anything larger than the hotcam would probably be too big for a daily driver you use for tranportation duties in addition to fun. It is a good value for $529.95 through several sources.
When doing the cam you need to replace the timing chain also. This piece for an LT1 (like EVERYTHING else only used by the LT1) is expensive, ranging from $200 to $400 for a decent chain with a waterpump drive sprocket.
You may want to go with new roller lifters too (around $170-$200).
A BASIC cam swap for the LT1 when done correctly unfortunately costs around $1000 total for parts, plus labor.
No $200 total cheap small-block chevy cam swaps for the LT1 !
With this cam kit and headers it is possible to increase your rear-wheel horsepower by around 100hp. One should NOT add a cam without the headers; with stock manifolds they do very little in relation to the cost.

 

Forget about the hotcam. 220/230 112-114 LSA

 

Also note that the springs that come with the hotcam kit are marginal for that specific cam. You will most likely have to upgrade the springs to either 918s or 612s if you want your top end to last.

 

I like reading threads on cams but this is like the same old story every time I see a cam post. You just need to do a search on cams and you will hear the same things over and over. Really no need to make another cam thread like this because there are 100's out there. Theres enough cam information to make a decision what would be good for you. I would recommend a custom cam. I think that will meet your needs better then any off the shelf cam. Contact Joe Overton if you can or Lloyd Elliot for a cam/head package.

 

What you are after a hotcam kit will do for you better and cheaper than anything else. You could do a custom kit, but it doesn't look like the right thing to do for you.

Bret

 

There is no good reason for anyone to be buying an O.T.S. cam these days. Custom cams are too available and the price is competative; especially considering what you get.

I also, and this is my opininion and not objective fact; that it's counterproductive to be thinking in terms of "What is the most ______ that I can _____?".

There's a guy, his name is Lloyd Elliot. I've read his writings, I've spoken with him and I've seen his work on both the track and the dyno.

You want to talk to this guy about a cam. It's not the cheapest way to go, but it is the best value.

There are other guys with good reps of course, and I'm sure they deserve them. However, I haven't yet had the opportunity to observe their work in person so I can't vouche for them the same way.

I'm going to suggest that you speak to him BEFORE you do a search. You'll miss the best information from the search if you don't get a little background info from him first.

 

Actually the guy above you is the man who makes the cams for lloyd's packages. Lloyd is our resident head master. Bret is our cam lord.

And together they are......um voltron?????

Edit: you most likely will be happy with the hotcam as the others have stated but Im sure Bret would even agree that the springs that come in the kit are not optimal for that setup on the 1.6rr. CM612 springs can be had for very cheap compared to the comp 918s.

Good luck

 

Not to short Bret 'cause he makes good cams too.
Crower has one of my small cams he put in his line up of hyd rollers. It is a 218/224@50 on a 112LSA with a 108ICL. He can also put it on a 110LSA.
The dam cam is impressive with a mild head porting in the 255-260CFM range on a 355CID. Get his springs and retainers too if ya get that cam.
Have seen it outrun 383's from 30 to 120mph in a 11 to one 355 on pump gas. About 1/2 car length-- a little in each gear and have done it to more than one,so it wasn't a bad running 383.

 

I have a fairly complete top-end kit for sale. It's the Comp 503 cam 224/230,
612 springs, Cloyes LT1 chain, and AFR rev kit. I also have OEM lifters that have less than 6,000 miles on them, and hardened pushrods if you wanted to use regular rockers and guide plates. The only things left to buy are gaskets, valve seals, and roller rockers. If I had more time to tweak things before my motor swap, I could have easily gone 11.50's with these parts. I had an 11.66 run going 2 weeks ago until I ran over some oil on the track. I let off and still went 11.78. You can have it all for 400.
Lifters
pushrods
Hydra-rev
Comp cam
Cloyes LT1 chain
CM 612 springs

 

Like everything else, the part needs to match the application. A car with a steep gear, and/or big stall, ported or aftermarket heads, big headers and exaust and a TB might beenifit from a very large cam, but put that same cam in a stock car, and it will get slower. Overcammed is often a problem. You also don't want to loose your torque curve. So what about peak numbers, how about the whole torque curve. My buddy has a CC305 (comp cam 220/230 114LSA, .544lift) and a mostly stock engine with 1.6 RR's, headers/exaust/TB and a few other mods and he may only make 334hp/349tq on a mustang dyno but he gets that 349tq at 3000rpm where the stall comes in and stays flatter than I can draw until about 5600rpm and really doesn't fall off until about 6300.