How is the cam differewnt from the factory cam in my car?(88 305 TBI)Besides lift. Any special install intructions?

 

Here's some charts that may help.

 

Thanks but it is out of a Caprice--.416in 0.426 ex--and thats all I know. Pretty close to L98

 

The other chart (LT1/LT4).

Notice the longer duration. This allows the engine to breath easier at higher RPMs which basically increases the HP figures.

 

I WASN'T DONE YET!!!!!

 

wow--where do you come up with these charts?

looks like I was off a bit--0.418--0.430
It's from ebay--thanks

 

.350 .384!!!!!

thank *** i'm getting my cam out and putting lt1 in..

boy they really mean PEANUT!!

 

The chart for the cams that came stock in our cars I got from this website. It's on the homepage under "Tech Data".

The LT1 cam I got from Vader. He's posted it on here numerous times. I do have to say one thing about that chart though. It's not 100% accurate. I have an LT1 cam out of a '95 Z28 that doesn't meet the specs of any of those cams.

And just so you know (or anyone else for that matter), you can get a brand new Vortec roller cam for ~$50 from Competition Products. It's the second to last one on that page.

The duration is very similar to some of the F-body LT1 cams (more than the Caprice/Roadmaster). The lift isn't as high, but that's not always bad. You won't have to change the valve springs on the heads.

 

When dealing with the poor flowing heads that came on all factory TBI vehicles, I don't think a lot of lift is needed. I think that much above 0.450" at the valve isn't necessary. Just size up the duration for the torque curve that you want (i.e. where do you want the meat).

 

What if you can get the heads off an LT1? Or are those basically Vortec heads?

 

Unfortunatley Fuel injected LT1 heads use reverse flow cooling--they are not compatiblw with anyother SBC (maybe if you spend a fortune modifying them)

I think the port design was carried over to Vortec heads.

 

just to throw this out there, the install is a PITA, but its well worth it, especially if you are going to upgrade the crappy l03 heads. they flat out suck , actually, they dont suck enough, thats the problem. seems to be the same problem i have with women too --thinks-- oh well, special install insctructions are GET a harmonic balancer installation tool, i had to afro engineer a tool to get mine on and about striped out the #$%$ING threads on the crank, never again will i try that heh. oh and watch out for the timing chain cover re-install, i ended up with a small drip from the seal getting ripped a lil...id fix it but dropping the pan and jacking up the engine isnt worth the single quart that leaks out every 3k. i just look at it as "hey less oil i have to spill on the ground during my infamous drain plug fumble"

 

yeah i heard the hardest part was getting cover off... I really cant wait... aside from changing my head gaskets this will me biggest install

 

its not hard to get the cover off, its hard to get it back on, thats the problem, you either have to do it the wrong way, or the right way. i and many others chose to go with the wrong way, and trim a lil bit of the lip off of the timing chain cover and itll finally pop back in with alot of effort.. the right way consists of dopping the oil pan, jacing the engine up , etc etc. like i said i ended up with a small oil leak because i tore the pan gasket a lil, but if i had dropped the pan i might have very well ended up with more than one leak, and it prolly wouldnt have been a small drip either.

other than that, moving the a/c condensor outta the way is kinda nerve wrecking. i thought i was gonna break the lines and cause a leak.

just take your time, dont get to aggravated, and track me or any other of us post-a-holics down that have swapped a cam before and we will help ya out.

lets see how many posts i put on here when i start porting & polishing my Lb9 heads sitting in my garage heheh. that wont be pretty

 

you think by dropping the whole oil pan far enough to get cover back on i will have a big leak?? i hope bot cause i was going to do it the "right way"

 

well, ya never know....just tighten the bolts correctly and you should be good, ..i didnt feel the urge to jack the engine up and drop the pan though.

 

The biggest pain for me was putting the dampner (damper?) back on. We couldn't get it on enough to get the crank bolt in and had to get a slightly longer bolt, no big deal, the pulleys still lined up. I cut the lip of the timing cover too, I'm not sure if it leaks, but there's a butt load of RTV on the thing, so I'm thinking it won't . Also, watch which intake bolts go where, some are longer than others, so if you put the long ones where the short ones go, you'll be hitting pushrods with the bolts which will screw up a whole lot of stuff. Valve covers can be a PITA to put back on, but aren't bad. You have to set valve lash, which shouldn't be hard, but then again I've never done anything like it before, so I had no idea what I was doing. That should cover it. Any more questions, e-mail me or TboneToneBalone on AOLIM.

 

yeah, in a project like this , its a good idea to be over precautios and get card board, poke holes in it, and stick every bolt you take out through the holes in the order they came out, then lable the cardboard as needed ...I.e. "pass side manifold bolts" the rest of the bolts are pretty much the same size ...i didnt realize any of the bolts were longer and could hit the pushrods though. glad i labeled mine.

pass side valve cover is definatly a PITA if you still have all the a/c and smog crap still on --as i do--

a shop wants 500-600 bucks to install a new cam for a reason, ALOT of crap comes off and back on.

make sure you mark you dist position and pay attention to which way the rotor is pointing before you yank it out....i didnt and had to play with my timing for 2 days to get the damn thing to run.

NOTE:
this is important , if no one else has told you this already, BEFORE you yank the timing gears off, make SURE the dots on the chain line up like this ---> : <--- bottom one at 12 oclock, top one at 6 oclock.