id look into an le1 setup

 

That's pretty much the approach I took.

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388 CID LT1 (+.060),10.7 CR, EAGLE Forged 3.75" Crank, EAGLE 6" 'H' Beam FF Rods, SRP Forged Pistons, AFR 190s Ported to 212ccs (304 cfm@.600), Ported LT1 Intake, CompCams XFI 230/236 Hydraulic Roller, CompCams Lifters, SCORPION 1.7 RRs, ATI Super Damper, Crane Double Valve Springs, TFS Hardened Pushods, SVO 30# Injectors, PROFORM 1/4" Taller Valve Covers, HUGHES 3000 Stall, PCMFORLESS PCM Tune


Jake

 

Since I was going with more cubes, 388 vs 350, I knew I could go up a size in camshaft as opposed to what I'd choose if I was doing a 350.

I bought the best flowing set of heads I could find with a matching ported intake. Currently I'm running a stock TB, but I just place an order for a 58 mm.

My car is a daily driver (stop and go traffic, traffic jams, etc.) and I just drove it from Chicago to Texas. I get 18 MPG around town and 23 on the highway.

Jake

 

I may use the same cam. The comp cams website describes your cam as having a strong idle, needing a 2200rpm+ converter, and having a power range of 2000 to 6000 rpm. Sounds like just what the dr. ordered. With a lighter car and 3200stall, I ought to be able to live with it. Should make good power with the other mods I'm planning.

 

You're correct. The recommended converter is 2200+, my mistake for thinking Comp recommended 3000.

Don't let that 2000/6000 fool you. I once nailed the throttle in 2nd gear and as the car was rocketing away I was paying attention to the road. By the time I looked down at the 6000 RPM tach, it was buried.

I would never have known it if I hadn't looked down because the engine was pulling harder and harder. I really don't know how high it was.

Now I'm in the market for a dash from a 96 LT4 since it has a 7000 rpm tach stock and will bolt right in.

Jake

 

The current cam in my '95 TA, specs in sig could be considered "streetable", but to me it is not. For a cam that big in duration to make power is going to take more than 6500rpms, below 3500 its simply a dog even with a 3k stall. You said earlier you had a 3200stall, which will be overkill for the street with a "smooth" idling cam I think. You will be turning 3k rpms cruising at 35mph unless you reprogram the PCM to basically lock the convertor at any light TPS reading...which presents other problems then.
I'll be switching to the LPE 211/219 cam in a few weeks, and if it produces good low end power with the LE2 ported heads, then a low stall may be going in as well...this is a daily driven car, 40+ miles per day, so having power down low at 1500-2k is important to me.... not to mention with the current 236/242 cam, I had braking problems until I got the looser convertor.

 

I don't understand much of that, especially the 3K at 35 mph part. Admittedly, my cam is one step down, being only 230/236 but I drive around town all the time in OD at the same rpm the engine had when it was a stock, 96 LT1.

I must be missing something here.

Jake

 

With a 388 it will not be as noticable because you probably are able to lock the convertor alot earlier at those low speeds and not get near as much cam surge....but with a 350, locking the convertor earlier will make the rpms drop down around 1500 and cause lots of cam surge with a cam much bigger than 230-235 in duration...so the remedy is to not lock the convertor, which then with a true 3k stall you're going to be cruising around at 3k rpms when the TC is not locked yet...maybe a bigger diameter convertor would help too. I had a 9" billet 3k and 2700, then went with a 2500 11" and still can't say I like the way it drives at low speed.

 

2quick6, you do know that your 3:23 gear, heavy(er) car, and big cam is just not a great setup right? a bigger rear gear (3:73 or 4:10) would totally change the personality of that car. but maybe not the way you'd prefer it to go if you want a driver.

you might be particularly picky about low speed driveability, cuase I wouldnt want to swap the current cam for the cam you mentioned. unless that is your only car? I could see goin low 230 or 224 even. since you want to drive it soo much. but anyways, Im not following along either about the whole driving at 3000 rpm either? I have a 9.5" 3800 stall (edge street converter). and a 700r4 so no computer to tell it to lock up. I rarely use the lockup even though I have a manual switch wired up. anways, it'll hit around 2500 but only while Im accelerating at light-mid throttle. then soon as I settle in at a speed, the rpms drop right back down to close to what they would be locked. I get about 250 rpm diff. from holding cruise speed (say 45mph) and hitting the lockup switch. and about 4-600 rpm if Im talking about lightly accelerating to pick up speed between lockup on/lockup off. so its not anywhere near what your claiming. unless Im missing something here too?

 

That's basically what I see too, 200/250 rpm between a locked and unlocked converter. It's the same with my 86 Vette that has a 700R4 and my 96 LT1 with the 4L60E.

Could be he's confusing converter lockup with Over Drive gear.

Now that you mentioned it, I'd like to be able to manually control the converter lock-up on my 96 the same way I can on my 700R4. I bought an inexpensive adapter to allow me to do it on the 700R4, but the one for the 4L60E is pretty pricey.

Do you know a "work-around" that'll let me do it on the 4L60E without breaking the bank?

Jake

 

well, you could wire it like I have mine, but it would prolly set codes in your 96 pcm. you could have the pcm tweaked to turn off the lock up related codes and functions, then just do it all your self? basically all you gotta do is supply voltage down to the trans. at one wire. its grounded inside the trans pan already if I remember right. easy to do once you know which wire is the right one. then you'd have full control of the lockup. its great at the track, or while driving down the freeway. or high speed surface road too.

 

I'm still leaning toward a cam a little on the big side. While I want the car to be well behaved, it's not my daily driver. I've been conservative on cams just about my whole life. Maybe it's time to go a little nuts. Still, I'm hoping the lighter car, looser converter, and 3.73 gears will make the car very manageable. I'm going to talk to a couple of head porters tomorrow. With their input and yours.... hopefully, I'll get it right. I'm still assuming that better flowing heads, ported intake, and bigger throttle body won't make the bigger cam even worse in the drivability department. I'm hoping those mods will just add HP.

 

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Still, I'm hoping the lighter car, looser converter, and 3.73 gears will make the car very manageable.
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it will. absolutly.


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I'm still assuming that better flowing heads, ported intake, and bigger throttle body won't make the bigger cam even worse in the drivability department. I'm hoping those mods will just add HP.
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if the heads are maxed out port size wise, you wont notice the difference in YOUR car and above setup. heavy cars, or numerically low rear gears/stall will show up alot more. and if your talking about a 58mm tbody, should be fine too.

 

Sorry, wasn't thinking about the gears being 373s, that will make a difference for sure. I need to have my tranny gone thru again, the last build that consequently was the same time I went to the higher stall just has never seemed to be right...the 3k stall acted nothing like the 3k stall in my GN. GN behaves much the same as you describe above, only a 200/300 rpm difference when cruise under the stall speed unlocked vs locked...but not with the TA. At the time I posted about it and it was about half and half of the responses thinking that was normal with a high stall having significantly higher rpms when unlocked.
But on the duration part, if you are staying stock cubes, I wouldn't go bigger than 230-235 or so with an A4 unless you are planning to do nothing but drag racing at every light to keep the rpms past 6k to stay in the power band

 

could be having that obdI and high stall issue. some cars get it, some dont. something about the stall in tricking the pcm into thinking the trans isnt right, and it alters the shift points, firmness, line press. and screws everything up. thats why I was more then happy to use a 700r4 instead of a 4L60e for my A4 swap from the t56.

and when I broke my 3:73 gears first day out of the garage this spring (in fact, w/in seconds of leaving my driveway for the first time) I was VERY bummed at how much of an acceleration difference the 3:42 gears for around town driving. you know the eng. is working a little harder to move the car. so Im sure your 3:23 gears would accentuate that even more.

but yeah, Id say low 23x duration is right around optimum for max power AND driveability.