I have a 92 caprice cop car with an L05. For those of you who are un-aware the cop L05 came with the L98 cam from the TPI. I was wondering if the specs on the B body LT1 cam were significant enough that it would be worth the time, effort and money to swap in a used LT1 cam.

Or since I hear both cams are very close in specs, would it be easier and give more or the same power gain if I change over to 1.6 rockers with the L98 cam?

 

The Bcar LT1 cam specs are have slightly more lift than what you have (which is better for performance), but it has approx 10 deg less duration (not better for performance). So there is no merit in installing a Bcar LT1 cam into your 92 9C1. The specs on your L98 cam are also darn close to a wash for the Fcar version of the LT1 cam.... (again except for lift), so there is no point in installing one of those either. IOW keep the cam you have.

OTOH what would make sense is to install fresh springs and 1.6 rockers while keeping your stock cam. That will up the lift from approx 0.41" to around 0.44". The lift increase is still in the mild territory, so there is no fear of valves hitting the pistons and the springs will still last a long time because the lift is still mild. HTH.

 

Will I need self aligning rockers?

Should I go roller tip or not?

 

Yes.

SA rockers were incorporated at the same time the engine got roller lifters and that was around 1987 IIRC. The roller lifters were good for +5 fwhp (GM's rating on the old vs new L98) and a few percent increase in fuel economy. SA rockers were similarly used to avoid friction between the pushrod hole (which previously acted as an alignment guide) in the head and the pushrod itself.

Elgin and Sealed Power both make long slot 1.6 SA stamped rockers. There are several threads here and on the Impala SS forum that have the pns. Or you could use SA roller tip, or SA full rollers.... but don't expect much extra power from them over stamped, and do expect to pay more for them. HTH.

 

Okay so say I found some rollar tipped rockers for the same/slightly more than non rollar tipped. Should I go with the rollers or do you think the chinese soldier who held the gun to the guys head who pinned the rollers in there should not be trusted?

 

I can't answer that in the way you asked it. You can still find poor quality control products no matter what type.

I will say that the very few careful stamped vs roller tip vs full roller rocker tests have shown no real difference under 4000 rpm, and slight differences at high rpms. The roller tip made slightly more power than the stamped and the full rollers made slightly more power than the tipped. But that test was conducted on an engine with a fairly hot cam and fairly stiff valve springs. I don't expect the difference to be much at all in something more streetable with a milder cam and less stiff springs.

So in a street-driven car, IMO, the rocker type doesn't affect the power output much... but the ratio will (larger ratio means more lift, hence easier cylinder filling).

Remember too that GM once used full aluminum roller rockers on the LT4 production Vette engine, and yet they abandoned them and went to roller bearing fulcrum with a non-roller sliding tip on the LS1 family of engines. They did this because the frictional reduction at the tip wasn't worth the potential costs of failures at the tip... and a roller tip adds a lot of mass (rotary inertia) in exactly the wrong place.

 

Exactly why I am skiddish about the cheap roller tip rockers, just creates a weak point and doesnt add any power. I try to find some stamped ones...

 

See this thread:

http://impalassforum.com/cgi-bin/ult...c;f=1;t=006226

 

Hey Ken...won't roller tips end up being a little bit louder too? I think that's what you have always mentioned when this subject comes up.

You can call Dal and he can get you a whole matching kit of rockers and springs to match your L98 cam better. There are a lot of things you can do to your stock L98 cam'd L05 and not need to get crazy money wise. Ken has said this over and over again and it only took me about 5 years to understand that...not kidding......LOL

~

JB

Don't for get about the TBI intake manifold mod...the coolant passages up by the TB can get closed up for a slight gain too...unless you live in a cold area...its possible to do for next to nothing. Ken can elaborate more on this...he's the one that told me about it back in the day...

 

Yes; GM used a different knock sensor module (a filter) on the LT4 engines that were also factory equipped with full rollers. The different knock module did more electronic filtering (suppressing false knock), because structurally (thru the block to the knock sensors) and audibly (to the driver) the full rollers are more noisy.

 

Ahhh...now I see why guys swap over to a LT4 knock sensor...

 

$111 for a set of stamped steel rockers from scroggins dicky is rediculous. I can get the 1.5's for half of that. If I cant find any stamped ones for alot cheaper than that I guess I dont need those few extra horse power that bad.

I could do the cam swap for less than that.

 

You already have 1.5's I thought? Why would youwant to get the same ones you already have? Did I miss something?

It's not necessarily extra hp your getting...your getting better driveabilty...throttle response...etc. It'd be worth it...imho...

Did you call Dal??

877.448.5451

He is the GM parts God...

 

The car already has 1.5's the price differance is just high. Ive never priced 1.6's before and remember buying 1.5s for a previous build for around 50 bucks

 

TBI police head is 3/8 stud, correct? Seems ebay has the rockers much cheaper

What do you guys think of these? Cheap crap? I dont like the roller tips but they are nearly half the price of the stamped ones.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Go back and read this...........

 

Alright, so it turns out Im gonna have the motor out of the car anyway, which in that case it makes it cheaper and only a little bit more work if I just put an LT1 cam in there. Besides I would probably wanna install a new timing chain if I put 1.6 rockers on there anyway. My question is, will I need to get a chip burnt if I switch to the LT1 cam?

 

Get a bigger cam. IMO, the LT1 cam mod was great a few years ago before all of the advances we've made in ECM tuning. You can do better if you're will to drop for an EBL or something similiar.

 

Any bigger than an LT1 is out of the question for me, Im running a stock setup and was just considering that since I have the engine out anyway....

Besides i can find used LT1 cams for 30 bucks.

Ive looked into and theres no way I could afford to get into chip burning right now. Anyone got any ideas on how much it would cost to have someone else burn it for me?

I'll probably just stick with the stock setup. Thanks.

 

With that cam, especially in a LO5, you should be able to get by with simply playing with your timing and getting a, or making your fuel pressure regulator adjustable.

It won't be perfect, and you could probably pick up another 10-15hp with a dyno tuned chip, but you'll still be fine.

 

Im a complete newb when it comes to tuning. I get the fact that there is a brain box that controls things, and tuning changes how it controls things. But what exactly is it that one tunes? The brain box? A chip that is removed from the box?

Is there any aftermarket chips that one can buy and just put in there? What do they cost, where can I get them?

is there someone on here that would tune mine for a fee if I send it to them?

 

There's a chip that is snapped into your ECM. Those chips can be reprogrammed with better timing and fuel tables. It depends on where you live if someone in the area can help you or not. Mail order will get you running but it will not be optimum. If you happen to have someone close by who can scan the computer while you're driving around, the tune can be dialed in much better.

 

Hahahahahahha, that was so funny..............