What do you guys think of the this cam.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...t=CRN%2D109821

Its for a 91 Camaro with the LO3

Or do you guys have any other recomndations?

 

305 TBI? That may be a weee bit too much cam, unless you have other mods that support it, ie better heads, higher flwing intake, headers & cat back. Even then it may be over kill on a 305.

 

For a 305 TBI, it might be a bit on the big side and freak the computer out. Then again it might be fine, I've never tried that size cam on a TBI before. I do have the summit 204/214 cam in my 350 tbi truck which is a step down from the crane one and it runs fine (needs a bit more fuel pressure, but other than that it runs good and strong). I'm putting the 214/224 cam in my warmed over carb'd 305, so I'll let you know how that works out. If it's not too radical then the crane one should be ok.

 

cams are a misunderstood conception that "bigger is better."

That is most for sure NOT true, i run a almost stock cam in my 350, the right 1.94 heads with work on them a little, and some other mods, none the less, my cam is definately not a big one as a matter of fact, its either a .420 or a .442 intake lift with wither a 204 or 214 intake duration.

I forget its been awhile and i don't feel like looking for the paper that came with the cam, but none the less thats almost stock

And believe it or not the cam that came out was bigger and i will tell you, smaller cam was the BEST thing I could do for better performance.

 

Well it depends on your mods. If you have a close to stock motor then a smaller cam will give more power since the motor can't flow the air on the topend that a bigger cam can provide. However with a heavily modified motor and bigger cam will make more power because it can flow more air on the top end to take advantage of the bigger cam.

 

yeah but a bigger cam requires higher rpms to make power.

But your right, it depends on your mods =] But I think if I had 202 heads n a few other diff mods, I still would stick with a smaller cam.

Not to mention that if the carb is off a lil u could risk damage and if u don't have a nice rebuilt auto tranny or better yet a manual tranny, bigger duration cams are a bad idea due to how they suck so much vacuum pressure due to the duration cycle.

 

Yes it does make the power at higher rpms, I didn't mention that. Really cam selection should be based on a multitude of things like engine size, intake runner size, int/exh flow of the heads, intake manifold size/style, intended use, desired rpm range, stall convertor, tranny, rear end, just to mention a few things. The carb should always be tuned after mods otherwise won't reach the full potential of the mods. You are correct though that if it is off you risk damage, but generally it has to be pretty off to cause serious damage since a carb is much more forgiving than say a tpi setup. It doesn't really matter if the tranny is rebuilt, the main 2 things are the gear ratios (low/high, close ratio/wide ratio) and the stall (except on manual boxes). If the stall is too low and the cam too big the car will be very soggy off the line and won't be any fun until higher up in the rpm range. In hydric's case he wants plenty of lowend so a smaller cam is the way to go. In my case I want more highend performance than low end so I'm using a bigger cam. He is right about bigger isn't always better when it comes to cam selection. You just have to determine what you want and how well it will work with the rest of your combo.

 

Summit cam? Thats the specs on the cam I am running in my 350, 204/214 @ .050, .420/.442 lift. Good cam for low end grunt.

 

yes morley that is the summit brand when i bough it.

For $80 bucks, the cam, lube and lifters, you can't go wrong plus even a smaller cam improved the sound.

Kfoley you are most correct in your post and that should help anyone out.

And yes i wanted low end power but u pretty much said everything! Can't disagree with you at all, well said!

:hail:

 

You're right about the Summit cams, they may not be the latest and greatest technology, but for $80 it's a deal. Even a slightly larger cam than stock will make your motor sound much better. The 350 in my truck sounds much more aggressive now, even with a mild cam.

 

It is almost exactly stock. This is what came in 89 L98s

305 5spd / 350 AT 10066049* .415 .430 207 213 117.0 (116/-118)

 

Well I eventually plan on new exhaust with headers, new intake and a beefed up TBI unit. Then its on to some new heads after all that.

What would you guys recomend that would give me some more go than what I pulled out of the engine.

 

Well we need some specs like rear gear, tranny, stall if it's an auto, desired rpm range, what kind of driving you'll be doing, etc.

 

Well Im looking for something stronger than what I got. I do normal day to day driving but I also like to open her up when ever I can. Half the time the petals on the floor. And I do like to take her down a drag strip every now and then with some road handling courses in there every so often. I'd like the rpm range to be from idle to 5000 or as close as possible to that.

Its an auto tranny with the 3.23 gears. (will be putting in some 3.77s or something later on down the road) I can't tell you the stall rating but its stock if that helps.

I've heard people say use the L98 cam but I need some name brands so I can order it.

Cars almost stock now but I would like to not have to buy another cam when I do all this other work to the engine in a few months. So I guess I'm just looking for an all around good cam for what I'd be using it for.

 

If you have an LO3, there are quite a few other things you're going to have to do to get that cam to work.

The LO3 came stock with a roller cam. In order to use a flat tappet cam you're also going to need new, longer pushrods and a new (different style) timing chain set for a flat tappet cam.

For that money spent, it may be better (i.e. easier) to replace your stock cam with a used LT1 cam. I recently sold mine on Ebay for $50. That's the average price they go for. Plus you can use your stock lifters.

It's similar to the L98 cam but more lift, so expect the same results. The drawback; I'd recommend you replace the springs as well. The "Z28" springs can be had for a song, so that's really not gonna dent your wallet.

Another option is the Vortec cam from Competition Products. It has nearly the same duration figures as the LT1 and L98 cams, but not the lift of the LT1 cam. This can be OK since that means you don't have to replace the springs since it's not a whole lot more lift than the stock LO3 cam. Although, at the same time, it's ALSO not a whole lot more lift than the stock LO3 cam, if you get what I'm saying.

You do get considerably more duration though with that Vortec cam. 23* increase @ .050" over the stock cam, and 13* increase on the exhaust. Not bad for ~$50.

You can increase the lift by using 1.6:1 rockers later on. They're simple to replace, and don't require anything more than pulling the valve covers off. That will put the exhaust lift @ .452" and the intake @ .437", which is closer to the LT1 cam lifts. There again, I would suggest changing the springs though.

Either way I think you'll be happy. I just don't think it would be advantageous for you to remove the roller cam and spend just as much, if not more money doing it. :0

 

The LT1 cam would be a good choice, but if you wanted to go alittle bigger you could get a ZZ4 cam. They're also cheap on Ebay since most people upgrade to the hot cam kit before they even run the motor.

 

Isn't that exactly what he's trying to avoid; going to big (i.e. "over camming" the engine)?

That's .474"/.510" lift. That’s borderline for using larger springs that require removing the heads and having the spring pockets enlarged to accommodate them. Plus there is a retainer-to-valve seal clearance issue approaching that height.

Don’t take me wrong. That ZZ4 cam is a good cam, but it’s also $135 on Ebay. Something else to consider since iggy was originally looking at $80 cams w/ lifters.

 

i'd personally would dive over this cam.

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...part=SUM-k1104

Its a .465 lift both intake n exhaust as well as 224 int/ext duration.

Not to small, not to big. seems like would you would be looking for seeings its a daily driver, but trust me, you wouldn't be a unhappy camper after installing this cam

Also, its puts your power range in about the 2500 - 5500 rpms.

Once you've upgraded your rear end like you said and install a stall/manual tranny, then go on n beef up the cam, but this will give you more low end torque without completly destroying all the high end.

 

Wooh wooh wooh guys I'm not switching the cam to a flat tapid hydraulic I'm keeping it a hydraulic roller cam. I just need a good choice that gives me more than the stock one.

What do you guys think of this hydraulic roller cam from comp cams, its designed to work with the computer?
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...2D08%2D300%2D8

I just read that its for the stock TPI and computer setup, will it really matter that much if mine is TBI.

 

The "300" grind should work well in a TBI motor.

The first thing you should do, though, is exhaust; every single piece from the heads to the street, all at once. Get a chassis-specific set of headers such as Edelbrock or SLP, but DO NOT get the setup for a TBI motor. Get the stuff for something like a 88 350 TPI. The reason is that any part that will bolt to youro existing exhaust will preserve the bottleneck you need to get rid of, which is the small Y-pipe.

After that, the cam; and a set of TPI 305 heads, casting # 081; and a set of gears such as 3.42.

With those 4 changes you won't recognize your car, it will be so much faster.

 

iggy,

If you're going with that "300" cam, you absolutely HAVE TO CHECK the retainer-to-seal clearance.

FWIW, I have a pair of swirl port heads (albeit 350) and checked them. The MOST lift I can run and still keep .040" of clearance is .465"

I don't know what the LO3 heads allow, but I can guarantee that .480" is going to a tight squeeze, perhaps literally.

 

How about this one. The tech guys at comp cams said this one.

PN Name int ext int ext
CCA-08-500-8 XR258HR 206-212 .480-.488 112 1000-5000rpm

 

The one Crane reccomended is too conservative. The Comp Cams one sounds like it shoudl work well.