well I've been throwing around some ideas of upgrading the motor while its out of the car, have gone many many different ways but my budget is limited to around 1000 alittle more. I've found a few super ram setup's for rather cheap.
So I was wondering what a good cam choice would be for a stock l98 with headers and dual cats and a l98. I dont want to have to pull the heads. But can if absolutely needed.

the car has a t56 with 3 42 gears and will mainly be street drivin.

 

If budget is low, consider a hotcam or somethin mildish like a xfi cam

 

I had stock L98 with all bolt ons Superram,24lb inj. ,58mm and LPE 219/219 560 112° I absolutely loved this combination! 2600 stall,4L60,3.42 rear then swapped to a T5 then installed a set of LPE cnc ported heads w/2.00 1.56 valves this car ran in the 11.8-11.9 range often. The weakest link was the T5 it hated me! Then the rearend broke so I installed a 9-bolt w/ 3.45s. Tons of and killed mustangs that had similar mods!

 

I know this for a fact. If you change the cam, get a cam that is one step above the LT1 cam. The Hot Cam is too big for stock heads. The cam should be around no more than .440-460 lift with a 113-114LSA. This is good enough for stock heads. and you can still used the 22lbs injectors. Anything else will be an overkill. Trust me I know this. I have had a 3gen since 1987.

 

alright well I ended up pulling the heads. And stripping them, there at the machine shop right now, have the guides cut down and screw in studes put in and the push rod holes drilled for sa rockers.

I know should probably invested in some better heads but I'm not going crazy just an uped 350.

I'm going to try some pocket porting to help them alittle.

But what cams should I look into? how much should he clearance the guides for? I was looking at something right around .500 lift?

 

Get any cam with a 113-114LSA, no more than .470 lift. This way you won't have more cam than heads. Do it right and you could run high 12's.

 

I have a used Crane Powermax 2032 HR Compucam, that I had in for a while. I used it for about 12k miles, and my motor broke a few pistons, so I upgraded to an XFI cam with more lift. Ill let the cam go for $120 Shipped. Great condition.

 

what kind of duration should I look for? and should I look for something with equal lift or more to exhaust or opposite? sorry cam newbie

 

I wouldnt say the hotcam is too much cam for a superram setup and especially if you do alittle clean upwork to the stock heads. Thats a good budget cam as it can be found for cheap.

Else, anything a step or 2 up from the LT1 type cam is fine like said above. I think high .400's lift to around .500" wouldnt be a bad place to start. Duration in the 212-220 range. A good 218 deg cam will support all the rpm range stock heads and superram can handle. Stock L98 cam is good to 5200 rpm in a stock L98 head motor. Abit more duration can help get that to hold to 5500 but after that it will be tapped for airflow. 212-218 or so is all you really need on the intake.

You can throw more cam at it if you want more lopey/cammed sounding car but its not gonna help as much as the smaller cam fitting the rpm range the heads can handle.

 

alright sorry one more question is that duration at .50 or the advertised duration. sorry if this is a common sense answer.

 

Mainly looking at .050 duration but all duration points are things to consider. If you want to try and get the most performance, have the heads flowed and send that data to a custom cam grinder with the intent of hitting peak hp as high as the intake/head ports will allow. This will maximize hp production

 

well after alot of cam searching I cam across this one. the only thing, the lift is abit higher then what was recommended a few posts up.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LUN-54779LUN/

tell me what you think. would be much appreciated

 

I like it. Mild, but will go well with the heads and superram, and also make good power over stock.

 

That cam would be a great choice with mildly worked over stock heads. You'll have an awesome low-end to midrange powerband. With an SR intake and that cam, it should pull like a mad bastard from off idle through at least the 4-5k range! I'm running a SR intake on a 355 with AFR 190 heads, and I'm running a Comp XE series cam: 218/224, .498/.502, 112 lsa, and it's an awesome combination for a hot street car. The cam you're looking at is just a bit smaller than what I run, and that should work really well with the heads you're gonna use. Cams around the size you're looking at are great for the street since they come into their peak power range pretty quickly. Btw, along with the screw-in studs you're having installed, make sure to get a set of valve springs that are up to the task. Iskendarian's 235-D springs are a great choice for your needs. They fit the stock diameter spring pocket and can handle .500 lift or better. I had a set of those springs installed on my stock heads before I decided to use the AFR's

 

alright well I really wanted to go with the lunati cam but every place keeps extending the ship dates on it? So would any of these do just as well if not better?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-08-501-8/

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-08-502-8/

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-08-503-8/

if there not really going to work well for me let me know and Ill keep looking or just wait it out for the lunati

 

A good cam from Lunati is the 280/288 226-234dur 530int/ext 112LSA. I had the LSA change to 113. Call them up and they will grind a cam for you. Kevin91Z on the SoCal board in running that cam I gave to him. Its good for 400whp.

 

That cam's way too big for a stock-headed L98. All that duration and that high of lift would just be a waste with stock heads. Out of the Comp Cams that are linked above from Summit, I'd suggest either the 501 or 502 grind. Out of those two, I'd probably go with the 501 for your motor. It'd take off like a bat outta hell with that cam and probably pull hard up to around 5 or 5,500.