I'm trying to choose a cam to put into my LG4 to wake it up a bit. My plans for the car are to eventually do a twin turbo 327 down the road so i really don't want to put much into the LG4. For this reason I'm not going to be doing headers with the 305.

So anyways i have an '86 TA. It has 3.42 gears, T5, and a 500cfm Edelbrock Carb. It will have stock heads, I'm rebuilding them and then I'm gonna clean them up a bit, but no real porting really. I am going to mill the heads .015"-.020" however. I have been looking around for a mild cam for this setup since the stock cam is pretty horrible for this car. I'd like to upgrade my intake as well since it is stock. I've been looking at cams with around .420"-.440" lift and duration somewhere around 212-222 degrees and LSA in the 108-112 range. Is this about the range i should be looking at? And also i have no idea what would be a good intake for this setup???

I'm not looking for it to really scream obviously, I'm just looking to wake it up a bit but i know it will be pointless to overdo it and put a big cam in to try to make power. Any suggestions are appreciated.


Shawn

 

Hey there, I have a brand new EDELBROCK performer cam for LG4's that i never put in my 86 Camaro. If I remember correctly, it has 204 intake-214 exhaust duration. And the lift specs are 420 intake- 442 exhaust. I would be willing to sell for cheap, if your interested.

 

And as for the intake, I would recommend the Edelbrock Performer aluminum intake. It really woke my little 305 up on the bottom end. This intake matched with the Edelbrock cam, and a decent exhaust should put you well over 200 horses.

 

if emissions aren't a problem, I'd recommend the edelbrock performer rpm air-gap intake. If they are, the performer air-gap is a good intake as well.

Cam wise for streetability's sake, I'd look at something in the 212/218 @ .50 range. It'll give you a nice little pickup over what you have now and will be very streetable.

Before you do a cam though, get some good headers and a full 3" exhaust. It'll really wake up your car. Then start looking at the intake and cam. Consider porting the stock heads as well.

 

For comparison sake, look where you're starting from...... the stock LG4 cam has 179/192* duration and lift well under .400". ANYTHING is a fire-breather compared to that.

A cheap Edlebrock Performer cam (204/214*) is huge compared to the stock cam. Probably about what you want.

FYI- Summit sells the exact same cam as the Edlebrock Performer but for a lot less. $85 including lifters. SUM-K1102.

While you have the heads off you might as well upgrade the valve springs- trust me, even a mild performance cam is too much for stock springs. I'm sure Summit sells upgraded units (that drop right in without machining). If not, a set of Comp 981 springs certainly will. Don't cheap out on springs- stock ones are questionable above 4500-5000 RPMs even with a mild performance cam.

 

So it seems like I was thinking pretty much the right size cam for this setup.

It already has a 3" exhaust after the y-pipe and it actually sounds pretty good too, and yes I know that getting rid of the stock y-pipe and manifolds will wake it up a bit, but right now I'm trying to just make it so I can stand to drive it while I gather up everything I need for the new setup for it. I don't want to spend much on it right now and my budget is VERY small.

I already upgraded the springs about 6 months ago. I can't remember what the part number was but they're 110lb. springs and they're supposed to support up to .500" lift. They should be plenty for what I need. My stock springs were WORN out and the engine would valve float at ~4400rpm with them.

I appreciate the input. I'll let you guys know what I end up going with for a cam and intake and how it performs. Thank you.

 

If the budget is small, look at headers NOT a cam. A proper cam swap with good parts can cost close to $1000 dollars after all is said and done.

The headers and intake manifold would be well under $1000 and would give you the support you need for a future cam swap - without a proper intake and exhaust to give good airflow, your motor will choke on that new cam and you won't see anywhere near it's full potential. In fact you'll probably get about the same performance you have now, with a lumpier idle and worse gas mileage.

After you take care of the intake/exhaust issue, swapping the cam and working the heads is a great idea.

 

Wanna do the math on that one?


I'm seeing that cheapo summit cam & lifters for $85. Toss on a timing chain, timing chain gasket, new timing chain cover, new oil & filter.... I'm hard pressed to get to $200 there.... A better cam, say a comp xe256, might be up to $300, when the smoke clears.

Not a retrofit solid roller swap we're talking about here right?

 

Considering that I already have a full gasket set for the engine (came with the car when I bought it), a cam swap will not be that much. Since I have some collapsed lifters and it only runs on 6 cylinders right now, I would imagine that a cam swap would definately improve the performance that it has right now a lot more than headers. (and I imagine that running on all the cyls. it would get better than 8mpg too) The engine also has ~175k miles on it and has never had any head work done to it. The valve seals and guides need to be replaced badly, filling the neighborhood with smoke on startup gets old quick. I figured since I have to pull the intake to replace the bad lifters anyways, why not fix the heads and put a cam in it at the same time. I wasn't even going to do anything to engine at all before I did my new setup but I really don't have much of a choice if I want to keep driving it. I'd like to get the engine in proper working order before putting headers on it. I also don't want to get headers now because when I do my twin turbo setup I'm going to be using a completely different exhaust setup and I'd just have to get rid of the headers.

It will be free to do all the head work because if I rebuild them in class my school will provide me with the new guides, seals, etc...., and I can do the milling myself. I already have the valve springs so those don't need to be upgraded. All that is left is the cam, lifters, and timing gear. Considering the cam & lifters is $85, plus new timing set that I can easily get for less than $50. Add head bolts in there, oil, coolant, threadlock, rtv, etc..., and I can't see it being more than $250. Plus and intake and I'm still under $400. Hooker 2055's are almost that much, and if I were to get headers those would be the ones, then I would still need an intake.

In all honesty I almost bought headers around Nov. of last year, along with a few other things, but then decided what I wanted to do with the car so I decided not to touch it and just wait for the new setup. But then once i put my new valvesprings in my lifters started giving me problems (which is understandable considering the springs are upgraded, and the lifters are stock with 175k on them) and now its not really drivable so either I let it sit (which I've been doing since March) until i get the new setup ready, or put a little bit into it so I can drive it. I'd love to do headers, but it just doesn't make sense to me. Thats another $300+ I could put into the new engine, or parts for one of my other cars. Assuming the engine was running 100% and had no valvetrain issues, I'd do headers hands down before a cam but that is not the case.

I appreciate your input though.

Shawn

 

Your upgraded springs sound about the same as what I recommended. Anything 1.25" diameter and ~105-110 lbs. on the seat is in the same ballpark as the ones I suggested. You're good to go on that one. Good luck.