Hi all, new to third gen camaros as well as this board. Seems to be a wealth of info so far as I've been searching like a mad man.

I finally have some specific questions so let me give some back info. I picked up an 84 z28 with an auto a few weeks ago. The seller said he had swapped out the 305 with a 350 4 bolt main from an earlier 80ish truck. It has 882 casting heads that he said were went through and had the springs upgraded. He installed a .488/.488 summit cam and lifters and put it all back together. It still has the stock intake and computer carb but for some reason it has a vac advance HEI distributor.

The car is a dog, pain to start. Just overall doesn't run very well. I have a set of vortec heads with upgraded springs, rpm air gap manifold, and a 1407 750 edelbrock already in the garage. I'm about to pull the trigger on a set of hedman 68478 shorty headers, scorpion 1.5 roller rockers, felpro q1094 head gaskets (.015 crush), and some arp head bolts. I seem to keep coming back to this cam. Summit says its a 2800 - 6300rpm cam and needs 9.5:1 compression with a 2800 stall. Should I replace this already new part or will it work ok with my other stuff? Or am I tracking in a wacky way and need to divert directions? Should I find a roller block to build then just switch the whole dang thing? I would like to see 400hp but would settle just on getting it running well right now. Should I change the torque converter? I'm trying to avoid pulling the motor pull will if I have to. Thanks for any and all insight. -Rob

 

well I just found another option. 1 piece crank 350 with a forged scat crank, rods, and pistons. roller block with a zz4 cam, aluminum dart heads, roller rockers, and a bowtie intake. I can pick the whole thing up for $1300. Its just been completely freshened up with new bearings, rings, and what not.

 

Buy it if it is a good as what you say; worth it just for having a roller cam.
You could even run your Vortec stuff on that shortblock if the Dart heads are wrong
Will need a flexplate to suit the new ( 1pce RMS ) motor ; one from your old ( 2 pce RMS ) motor won't fit

 

I would go with the $1300.00 option myself.

 

going to pick up the other motor tonight. Hopefully its all that the guy made it out to be on the phone.

 

Way wrong cam for any of the heads you listed. Put it in the trash where it belongs. ZZ4 cam with Dart heads depends on which version of Dart's many offerings, but will still be far better than what you started with.

 

Well I drove three hours to find out the seller either didn't have a clue or was trying to hoodoo someone. The motor turned out to be a ZZ4 crate motor top to bottom. L98 heads, chevy dual plane intake, and gm forged crank. It did however have crane gold race full roller rockers and he was tossing in a holley 750 double pumper plus all the stuff for a serp belt setup. The bottom looked tight and the bores still had hatch marks on them. The heads were fastened with ARP bolts. $1200 later I took it home anyway. Now the question is do I ditch the L98's and bolt on my cast vortecs? I would lose a little compression but I think the vortecs flow better. The zz4 cam definitely has to go.

 

Well I think I'm going with my vortec heads. I'll just tap them for screw in studs and guide plates. That way I can use the roller rockers I already have as well as my rpm air gap intake. Also how's this cam look as far as going with everything else http://www.compcams.com/v002/Pages/396/XR276HR-10.aspx

 

Those Darts that Comp Cams used are pretty comparable to a set of Vortecs. I am running that same combination (vortec heads) with slightly more compression and a little less cubes (stock bore). About as solid of a cam as you'll get for stock vortecs; anything bigger won't benefit enough to sacrifice streetability.
My machine shop figured pretty close numbers to those. Our guess on torque is a hair lower but we estimate 355-360 horse and 385+ ft lbs.

 

From all my digging that cam seemed to be right on the money for the combo. Glad to hear you like it. What intake are you using? I was really hoping to bust 400 on both accounts but I'll take what I can get I guess. The motor is already bolted up with l98 heads with roller rockers. I'm having issues pulling it apart to swap in the vortecs since its all buttoned up with new arp bolts and I'll have to have the vortec heads converted to screw in studs to keep my roller rockers. Might be cheaper to just get another intake and leave a few ponies on the table for now. Oh choices choices.

 

I think having the machine shop install the studs (I had to run Mr. Gaskets since they were the only one without a collar on them) and stud price cost me about $100.
Running an RPM Air Gap. Strong combo with a B&M Holeshot (2,200ish flash).

It is in an S10 and not a 3rd gen but I imagine it'd still be very fun for a cheap build.

 

Well the heads are at the machine shop getting studs and guides. While they have the heads I told em to do a valve job and cut the chambers down to 60cc.