Has anyone here used a ZZ4 camshaft in a stock-headed LT1? Did you have to upgrade the springs or anything else? I remember there was a thread or two about this cam on here a long while back, but search won't let me find it because it's a 3 letter search term.

Have a ZZ4 cam (208/221, .506/.544" 112 LCA) sitting around doing nothing. Was thinking about this or a Crane 227 cam for a basically stock LT1. Any opinions? I'm thinking the Crane would have better power based on the times I've heard on this board, but the ZZ4 cam is free minus getting it fitted for a dowel pin.

 

It would make a nice torquey power curve, but I wouldn't expect it to make leaps and bounds over the factory LT1 cam. Not bad for as cheap as it would be though. I would say at least upgrade to the crane 10308-1 valve spring kit, a decent set of 1.6 RR's, and a new timing set at the same time to make it worth your while. Neither LT1 or LT4 springs will handle the lift of that cam.

Btw, if you are putting this cam in the 94 in your sig, then you won't need the longer dowel pin. Only the 95-97s need those unless you have upgraded your opti to the 95+ style

 

I ran it for a few years with 1.5 rocker on b-body iron heads. Best of 13.2 at 101 with 2800 stall 3.42s and 28" slicks(bad choice didn't need that much tire).
If looking for mild cam that with quiet exhaust can pass as stock it fits the bill well.
As said you will need springs.

 

No, it would be going in a 95-97 LT1. The 94 in the sig has a vented opti too, but that car is way past a ZZ4 cam.

How do you guys think this compares to the mentioned Crane 227?

 

I always wondered about how it stacked up against the 227 myself but really do not know.
To run it on a vented opti car the center hole in the nose needs to be opened up a little, best bet would be pull the original and bring both to a machine shop but I think the hole needs to endup .500 diameter by 1.00 deep.

 

Thanks. What springs did you run? I have some roller tip (not full roller) 1.6's laying around so I've got that covered. I know they're not as nice as full roller, but hey they're free lol. BTW, Did you ever dyno with that setup? What was raceweight for that run? If the ZZ4 cam could get me into the 12's in a stock-weight Z28 it'd be worth it to me over paying for a Crane 227.

 

With full boltons you should be able to run 12's so adding a cam to the mix will make it even easier.

 

This would be with a 6 speed and street tires, so that'll make it harder too. I'm not going to take the car to the track hardly at all, that's just how fast of a car I know I want. My brother used to have a stock C6 with an auto, and I'd like it to feel at least as fast as that, which would have been a high 12/low 13 second car if I'm guessing right.

 

On paper they are pretty much identical. 227 has 1% more lift and duration and they have the same I/E ratios.

 

6 speed with street tires is always going to be a pain at the track. You need to cut 1.8-1.9 60fts in order to get into the 12's with boltons so its gonna be hard for you to do so.

 

To begin with: free is a very good price. Having said that, unless you are doing all the work yourself and the cam and RRs are free too, I would think very carefully about what to install, cam wise and otherwise, since the labor is where most of your cost is. And....you have some room to deal with when it comes to labor which might off set the added cost of a different cam, rrs, etc.

I.e, if someone is going to get paid for the work, then go with the stuff you want, not just because the parts are free---and anyway, you might find a buyer for the free parts you have and are not going to use.

On the other hand if the labor and parts are free and you are satisfied that the cam, etc are going to work for you, then go for it.JMHO

 

Would be putting it in myself. I think I'll give it a shot. Worst case scenario I could just put a different cam in later since the springs would already be done. I just didn't want to have to do this twice, but can't beat free and the engine is going to be out of the car anyways.

 

If the engine is going to be out of the car, I would seriously consider very carefully what cam and other things I wanted to do. You don't get the opportunity that often and to not do it right would, in my opinon, be a waste.JMHO

 

That's exactly the thought process I'm going through.

 

I had iron heads so the springs I ran don't matter to you they were CM614s though like I said though those are for iron heads.
Raceweight was 42-4300 I think.

Put 290rwhp down a few months after that 13.2 run, they screwed something up though, their ignition pickup was on the blink so they tried wheel RPM and the torque numbers they were getting say that the wheel rpm was not cutting it. Graph looked like high 400tq with a spike over 500, that aint right.

I was happy and if it were still my 20K mile a year car I might have just given it a set of ported heads and kept that cam.
A deer totaled that car though so I bought a wagon to drive while I repaired. This allows more downtime and for me to push the limits without fear of being carless from breakage. I still drive it A LOT but can tear it apart for a week without it being a transportation hassle.