I hate to say it, but this is an instance where the information you are receiving on the internet is more credible than what your mechanic is telling you.

The MSD optispark is HALF as reliable as the stock one, not TWICE as reliable. It's also more expensive and even when functioning it provides exactly zero benefits over a stock optispark. I'm running a stock one on my ~575hp 383.

The hotcam is by no means a potent cam. It's designed to pass emissions and be very street-friendly. The 400+ mark won't be had unless you have more substantial heads than the Patriots. If you look at all of the 400+HP N/A guys, you will see that exactly NONE of them use Patriot heads and almost all of them use AI or LE heads (a few other manufacturers sneak in there as well), be it ported stock castings or aftermarket castings ported by said porters. A good set of ported stock castings is all you really need (I have AI ported stockers on my 383).

Also, what kind of static compression are you running? Did you use a thinner head gasket?

It is not hard to crack 400whp. There is a very easy recipe out there to do so, it's just that you didn't find it unfortunately.

 

Yeah he recomended a thin gasket & it made sense to me so I said yes. Static compression test, I dont know if he did one or not... Im gonna take it to the dyno within a few weeks. If it dont crack the 400 mark which Im confident it wont now after all the info I recieved here Im taking it to his ***. Im not exactly a little guy(6'2 250lbs) & Im getting pissed that I was lied to by this guy........I mean what recourse do I have?? I have nothing in writing that he said it would push the 400rwhp mark. Guess Im just f@cked. Oh well, Looks like Nitrous? LOL!

 

He probably didn't lie, he just doesn't know any better.

If you look at magazine LT1 builds one of them did a heads/cam(Edelbrock crap)/nitrous Caprice that ran slower on the bottle than my old heads and cam setup ran NA on STREET tires, real street tires Kuhmo Ecsta SPTs 255/50/17 at street pressure.

My old setup was Advanced Induction 190cc heads their 226 cam on a junkyard shortblock I never even pulled a bearing cap off of to inspect, 3400stall, 3.73s, midlength headers 2.5" dual exhaust ran 12.7 on street tires 11.9 on slicks.
That should illustrate just how bad popular information is.
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/.../camshaft.html

 

with a good tune you MIGHT hit 350rwhp. i was at 326 with a cam only (224/224) and full exhaust. was still running the factory WS6 ram air setup as well which isn't bad but it's not supposed to be as good as a CAI, i also had stock everything else besides valvesprings (duh). Your biggest mistake in hopes to hit high HP numbers was going with a hotcam. You will never get that thing past 380 at the wheels with that hotcam and that's being very generous.

 

What cam is everyone more in agreeance with then for street use & occasional track use(maybe 3-4 times a year)? I was convinced with the Hot cam due to the mechanic saying it was a great street cam with no issues & like I said the price was a bargain I thought at 75 bucks new. I hate to think what a cam swap will be like on this car

 

If it was $75 "new" then he probably used some cheap regrind. The HOT cam is inexpensive but I am sure it is more than that.

 

I would not say the msd opti is half as reliable ; most fail due to the rotor screws backing out. I have had quite a few gm and autozone optis blow apart or the sensor quits working; the MSD opti has been good to me, but I did remove the cap, put a good amount of red lock tight on the rotor screws and let it sit for 24hrs. You just might be happy with the power you git out of it, but it will not be 400rwhp; I am shooting for 380-400 with my hotcam and le1 heads, but I have a high compression light weight forged 355. I wish I would have gone bigger on my cam, but I already had the cam so I am going to stick with it; something tike a cc503 would have been the largest I could go here in CA.

 

I am a big fan of the AI 226/234 grind. Stellar drivability characteristics and great pull up top. www.advancedinduction.com. Unfortunately you got what you paid for.

I should say that I have never seen a hotcam crack anymore than 350 at the wheels. Ported heads won't add another 30HP with that cam. It's simply not enough. Again, if the cam won't meet your needs, just because it's free doesn't mean you should use it. Save up the money and get the cam you want. Or be hasty and be disappointed.

 

I was willing to buy whatever cam was needed honestly. The guy convinced me that all I needed was the Hotcam. I think he just wanted it off his shelf now that this has been discussed..... The car sounds decent. Has a small lope but nothing drastic. If I gotta do a cam swap then so be it.....

 

Where are you located?

 

Lawton Oklahoma.......

 

You don't do a "static compression test".... he should have calculated the static compression ratio based on the dimensions of the components that were used.

PS - Note from Moderator - Do not override the language filter.

 

Sorry for the language man...Temper got the best of me there at the moment. again, my appologies.

 

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt...-hotcam-2.html check out the dyno of the guy with a 355 and stock heads just about 350 to the wheels with the hotcam. A well done hotcam set up can make power.

 

What's it matter if it puts down 300hp, 350hp, or 400hp? You said the car feels strong and powerful... isn't that what matters? If you simply are in search of a 400hp+ dyno sheet to show your friends, just give me your email