Does anyone know what cc the L98 iron head was? It's an '88 motor....though I doubt that matters. I've heard 64cc,67cc,72cc. I need to know in order to calculate my CR w/ a set of 65cc Canfields. Thanks in advance.

 

64

 

Thanks Madmax...... Does that mean if I go with a 65cc Canfield 197 that I'll actually have less than stock comp.? (assuming I use the same thickness head gasket)

 

Yea, you are gonna lose .1 of compression. You could always have the head milled a little to 64. Keep in mind too that GM tolerances suck. I cc'ed a set to put a rest to this issue in particular, and came out with a rather wide variance.

 

OK Madmax...heres my dilemma.... My car is in 1 piece sitting in my garage. I have full intentions of driving it to my buddys garage where the head/cam/mini ram swap will take place. My concerns 1) assuming I use the cam I've chosen 519/540 226/236 @ 50 114° LS, do I have enought CR with the stock short block and the 65cc Canfields for this cam? 2) If not, how much can I mill my heads before I start worrying about piston-valve clearance problems? Theres my dilemma....caught between a rock and a hard place......some things just never change....LOL

 

With that cam you could easily run more compression, like 10-10.5:1. It would probably be a good idea anyway. Problem is, doesnt look like you wanna do a piston change. The other thing is when you get a cam thats in the 220+ duration, and .500+ lift, and start throwing aftermarket parts at it, it becomes a guessing game where you dont want to guess. Best I can suggest get the cam in, throw a head on there, and see how much clearance you have. I would hate to suggest milling .020 off to raise compression, and then having to flycut the pistons. Chances are though that you wont have to. The canfields AFAIK have stock valve locations, which should leave plenty of clearance. I have a similar cam (224/230 .497/.517) with vette heads milled .005 from stock, 0 decked block (stock is approx .020+/-) and I had plenty of clearance, could have gotten about .060 closer and felt safe. Even at that, I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. A decent machine shop should be able to mill the heads down some within a single day (it actually takes about 1 hour including setup time), so to me the downtime from having to do that for the added insurance is worth it.

FYI milling about .020 will increase the compression around .3 which isnt much increase really.

[This message has been edited by madmax (edited February 12, 2001).]

 

Assuming I get that cam w/ the 65cc Canfields, is the cam gonna be OK w/ 9.5-1 or is it going to need at least 10-1? If worst comes to worst, guess I could try that thinner head gasket that TPIS sells to bump compression up a half point....LOL

 

The stock gasket should already be that thin. TPIS... my pals..

It'll work with 9.5, you will just be sacrificing power to the HP gods. Dont mill the heads and throw a blower on it

 

A BLOWER!!!! Wish I had the change to afford one....I'm not into giving HP to the HP Gods, I'd rather take. Which cam do you think would work best w/ my combo cause it sounds like that Crower may be a bit much. Here's what I've gotten thus far for my buildup: 1 3/4 Hooker Long Tubes, Mini-Ram, Level 5 Prom. Leaning real far towards the Canfield's, and a Vigi Verter (stall TBD, prob around 3200) ....bumpstick....I'm still 100% open for suggestions. BTW, the reason I'm leaving the shortblock untouched: Mini-Rammed 406 in 2002 or 2003. Other present mods can be seen at www.fbody.com/members/BTLFEDZ/index.html

 

Miniram and longtube headers eh?
Well that cam might work out quite well, because the miniram works better with a larger cam rather than a smaller one. Since you arent keeping the whole setup for too long anyway, I would go ahead and throw the heads and that cam on there and run it. When you build the next engine just account for the head cc and use the pistons you need to get the compression up to around 10.5