Next upgrade - Cam?
 

I'm trying to come up with a plan on where I'm going with my car next. Leaning towards a cam swap, now I need to decide on what cam to run.

Since this is such a hotbutton topic it's hard to find the facts amongst all the hype.

My critera:

I drive my car. It's not a daily driver, but it sees more than just weekend use. Fuel economy is a consideration, as is idle quality. Some lope is OK, but the brakes need to work.

The car has a fuddle 2800 converter, 4.10 gears, and all the bolt-ons. Tune will be mail order, more than likely.

My initial thoughts were the CC 503, the numbers look pretty good without being too big.

I really considered the crane 227 but don't know if they're available anymore with the upheaval the company went through.

You can't go wrong with the CC503.

But if gas mileage is that big of a concern, maybe the hotcam is a better fit for you.

Sounds like a CC503 for you or smaller, assuming you have all supporting mods.

I thought about the hotcam, but don't want to waste my time installing something that won't really change much. Saw a few before/after dyno sheets of a hotcam install and it doesn't seem to change anything until you get north of 4k rpm.

The 503 seems to be a big torque producer if I'm getting the right info.

My car has pretty much everything you can do to it externally; full length headers, exhaust, cold air, etc. The full compliment of 'bolt on' upgrades including hotcam springs (I know they've got to change), 1.6 ratio NSA rocker arms, guide plates, hardened pushrods, etc.

hotcam isn't really a bad cam, its bad rap I think stems mostly from the fact that alot of people stick it in poor setups and are disappointed with the results because they assumed a cam = a cam or that a cam instantly adds horsepower without supporting mods (cars with ported or aftermarket heads, stroker motors, no supporting mods like exhaust, tune, etc)

but personally for the cost and hassle of doing a cam swap I'd want the best one I could get my heads on for the setup. CC503 gets my vote as I had great luck with it in the past on my cam-only setup. suprised alot of full bolt-on LS1s in my area.

So it looks like the 503 is it, pending funds...

hotcam power
 

i have a hotcam with full boltons and dyno tune thru a m6 and 10bolt, i layed 340rwhp sae corrected on a dyno that ls1's with lid and filter dont break 300.

The 503 cam has more lift and duration than the hot cam,so it should make less
torque below 4k than the hot cam and more hp. above.

Fuel economy is a concern and you're running 4.10 gears and a 2800 stall? :lol:

I'm betting the 503 will get just as good gas mileage as the Hot Cam, and make more power.

I didn't say it was a major concern ;)

Besides, the converter locks on the highway, so the stall speed doesn't really matter.

If I don't end up selling the car soon I'll be doing the cam swap. 503 going in.