as most of you know, winter is on its way. that means its time to tuck the camaro away in the garage. i recently went to the drag strip and was disappionted in my times. i know that my cam is on the small side and i want to wake up the 409. i know this motor could make so much more power. as of right now it only makes about 300hp and 440lb-ft at the flywheel. i would like to see it make around 450hp and 500lb-ft at the wheels. now that i have an everyday beater to drive around in, i don't have to drive the camaro everyday. this winter i want to put in a bigger cam, AFR heads, and a better intake manifold. i have a couple questions.

1. what you guys recomend for a cam. i don't really know much cams. i don't want an insane cam that will be inpossible to drive on the street. i want to be able to drive the car on the street with out any major problems, but big enough to wake up my motor. also when i change cams, do i have to have new bearings put in. my motor is only about a year old and has about 6000miles on it. i know i have to be EXTREMELY careful when taking out the cam so i don't nick the bearings.

2. i would like to get AFR aluminun heads. i don't know what size cc head i need. i don't want to put the wrong set on and have my compression skyrocket. my compression right now is 9.75:1. i need to be able to run this on 92/93 octane. my combustion space with the 441 cast heads is 95.66cc. i would like to be able to reuse the 1.5 rockers that i have. i would also like to know how much these heads would cost assembled.i know that i would have to get steam holes drilled in them.

3. right now i have the edelbrock performer intake. its not the air gap one or anything special, just the basic performer. i would like to know what intake manifold i should be running.


this motor has about 6000 miles on it. i don't beat on it. all other specs are in my sig.im only working on the topend of the motor. im not going to be pulling the motor out of the car. if you need more specs let me know. any recomendations would be great. thanks alot.

Dan

 

Frst off... compression. If you're pretty sure you're at about 9.75:1 then you're either running 76cc heads with flattop pistons or 64cc heads with dished pistons.

Your combustion space can not be 95cc. If it was your compression would be 9.2:1 with 409ci of displacement. (9cc head gasket, 76cc chambers, 6cc of piston dish, .025" piston deck height- roughly 6cc). If you want to really nail down your compression shoot me an email. I can send you a compression spreadsheet and work it through with you even if you don't know the exact specs on everything.

If you want compression to stay the same as it is now then then order AFR heads with similar chamber volume. They offer both 74cc and 64cc. Speaking of which... I highly recommend their 190or 195cc intake runner heads (they're basically identical to eachother except for intake port opening shape and they flow the same. The 195 is port matched to an Edlebrock Victor Jr. intake, 190 is close to a stock intake port size). They work perfect with a streetable but aggressive setup and flow like Niagara Falls. Only step up from that is the 220s but that might be a bit more than you want to put on unless you're going for a significantly higher powerband.

Cam.... think big for a 400. No, not HUGE but damned big. You're shooting for over 1 HP/ci and that doesn't happen with an emissions cam at low RPMs. You'll be wanting something with about 230-235* @ .050. Yes, even with the better flowing AFR heads. 110-112* LSA is a good compromise for a streetable but powerful cam. On streetable 400s it's been my experience that a single pattern cam works real well- same intake and exhaust duration. An example would be the Comp Cams 280 Magnum. 230/230 @ .050 on a 110* LSA. That cam works REAL well in all the streetable 400s I have shoved it into. Yes, the idle will be a bit choppy, but no overly so. Don't use it against a stock converter even in a big 400. 2300 stall minimum, 3000 stall for max-effort dragstrip performance. You don't need to replace your cam bearings. Out with the old cam, in with the new. Obviouly, you want new lifters with the new cam, but I didn't need to tell you that, did I?

Intake.... Edlebrock Performer RPM or Edlebrock Victor Jr. Take your pick. Can't go wrong with either.

You may not be at 450 HP at the rear wheels (that would be about 520 at the crank) but you'll be up around 400 and it WILL have the streetability you are looking for. More power is a matter of bigger heads, bigger cam, more compression and a higher stall converter, but you will probably not like that combo's anti-social street manners.

Believe me, the combo I have outlined above will be MUCH stronger than you have now. You will LIKE the change. To get the legit 520 at the crank you will need to lay 450 to the rear wheels you probably won't like the compromises you have to make.

A lot of people think it's SOOOOO easy to make 400, 500, 600 HP until they try it the first time. Then they realize how tough it really is. I deal in REALITY, not magazine number or fantasy. Very few people who claim to make 500HP really do. Don't fall into the trap of trying to make the HP that others CLAIM to and end up with the miserable, non-streetable combos it takes to actually make those kinds of numbers. 400 at the rear wheels is what a 488ci V-10 Viper puts down. Enough for you?

 

thanks alot. sounds like you really know your stuff. hp numbers don't really matter that much to me. i was just seeing if it was dueable.would this combo that you layed out for get the car to run 12's? thats really what i looking for. you mentioned something about converters and stall speeds. does that matter, i thought that was only for automatic transmittions.i think im going to drop you an email.