Question is... (go ahead, guess)... *which cam*?

I know somebody asks this question at least five times a day, so I'll try to be quick (and say that I have done a search, but it's sometimes hard to find someone with the same setup as mine).

What I've got in my '89 IROC:

-- Rebuilt, but otherwise stock, L98 engine (only minor internal improvements over stock--not really anything performance, though)
-- Rebuilt, but otherwise stock, L98 heads
-- Stock TPI setup
-- Stock exhaust and exhaust manifolds
-- 2.77 Borg-Warner rearend
-- Currently have a new, stock roller-cam setup

This car is and will remain a daily-driver.

Basically, I'm in the mindset that the engine is already out and I might as well upgrade the camshaft. That, and I've seen a lot of trash talk about the "peanut-cam" that GM put in these engines, which leads me to believe that there's easy horsepower on the table--I just need to get it.

At the risk of being too vague, I'm basically looking to "push up the whole power curve" as much as I can without having to upgrade the heads or something like that (the money just isn't there for any of that).

I've seen a lot of positive PR on the boards for the XTreme Energy and LT4 cams--but, again, that's not neccessarily in response to somebody using stock L98 heads like me.

Any suggestions? Or would upgrading the cam be pretty useless without upgrading the heads, etc. ?

Thanks!

 

the l98 didn't get the peanut cam, not that the l98 cam is that great. off the top of my head i'd say zz4, next choice might be something in the LPE catalog or comp catalog, as much as i like lunati stuff i doubt if i looked there for a cam for a ecm controled engine.

 

I'll second the ZZ4 cam. It's cheap and works great with TPI. Plus it'll pass CA emissions if your area requires smog. I ran a ZZ3/4 cam for a couple of years on a stock chip with no problems. This cam should've came standard on L98s.

 

I have a brand new ZZ4 cam if your interested... PM or email me ws6transamgta@aol.com

 

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah, I've heard a lot of good things about the ZZ4 cam as well. Another question, though: the ZZ4 is only a type (spec-set) of cam that could be made by any different number of manufacturers, correct? Or is this the name of a pouplar cam made by one company?

Another thing that my dad brought up... gas mileage. Gas mileage isn't really much of an issue right now (the 2.77 rearend helps there), but I've never changed the cam before. What kind of gas-consumption increase can I be expecting under "normal" driving conditions (i.e. how noticable is the change)? A few bucks a month extra isn't going to hurt too much, but an extra tank or so will...

 

A ZZ4 Cam is a ZZ4 cam. The one I have was pulled out of a brand new, never run, GMPP ZZ4 Crate Engine.

 

i recommend u ditch the tpi for a carb.go to a 306S comp cams.
zz4 is a peanut cam.just my recommendations = ).zz4 cam is a good street cam though.

dave

ps cant beat the sound of a lopey engine