I did a search,and didn't really find my answer.I am building a 355 from a stock,4 bolt vortec 350 for one of my best customers.I have a shortblock together,flattop forged SRPs,sized the PM rods,crank polished nicely,left the piston about .010 in the hole to keep compresion down a touch.I'm not real knowledgable on hyd. rollers.I've used a ton of solid rollers,but very few hydraulics.I really like the looks of the GMPP HOT cam,and it's the one I'm leaning towards right now.I see that the kit,with cam,springs/retainers,and rockers is in the $530ish range,which seems pretty reasonable to me.I'm going to use the vortec heads,with one piece stainless valves,a 5 angle valve job,and I have the tool to cut the spring pockets and valve guides.I'm figuring around 415hp on the air dyno.Am I on the right track here?Is there a better all around street/strip hyd.roller than this that I've overlooked?I will be topping this combo off with and Air Gap RPM,750 vac. sec. Holley,and 1 7/8" long tube headers,and it's going into a 91 S-10.A penny for your thoughts?

 

I like the LT4 Hot Cam personally. If you buy the kit don't use the springs. Use Comp 987's or similar.

 

What's wrong with the springs?If I have to buy another set it kinda defeats the purpose of the kit.

 

They are barley adequate.

 

Couple of thoughts. With the pistons .010 in the hole I would use the GM .028 head gasket. This will give the motor about a perfect "quench" and make it less octane sensitive. In my opinion there are better cams on the market these days than the hot "cam". For the performance motor that it looks like you are building I would look into the Comp Cams 218 XFI cam or something similiar by the other makers.

The factory roller lifters are fine. If posible get the 2nd design. I would also get some chrome molley pushrods(stiff) after you have checked valve train geometry. Also buy some quality roller rocker arms. If you do get a high performance cam I would suggest the Comp Cams beehive valve springs such as the 918's. Hey its only money.

 

I was about to mention that. You want to cheap the quench in check. Or you will increase you chance of detonation. Even with the decrease in compression

 

I'd use a smaller primary tube diameter than 1 7/8. The 1 3/4 would probably work out nicely, but the 1 7/8 is so big that you're going to have a problem getting all the exhaust gasses out. That in turn will lead to exhaust gas reversion, which will contaminate the incoming intake charge at best. At worst, it could make the engine more sensitive to detonation. Just like the intake port size, the header primary tubes will flow better with a smaller diameter tube. Just my