i was talking to my buddy the other day about cams and he said that the lt1 b-body cam actually made more torque than the f body cams, but the f body had better horsepower gains. can anyone conclude this? i know there isnt much difference between the camshafts but when i looked them up i got this information

94 camaro z28 lt1 made 275hp and 325 pounds of torque. now the l31 vortec in my car claimed to make 255 hp and 350 pounds of torque on its b body cam.

i know the lt1 and my l31 are very close because the heads, but im hold the vortecs flow better than the lt1s slightly better. below are the cam specs. did i make the wrong choice? im wanting a torquie motor that wont have a problem lighting up the tires if i stand on it, i got the 95 trans am lt1 cam

96 l31 cam specs: 191/196 with 111 lobe seperation

95 trans am lt1 cam specs: 205/207 with 117 lobe seperation.

 

The B body cam will make a little more tq than the F body cam however the numbers are close enough to make them both a good choice for what you are searching for by using a stock GM efi camshaft. I will suggest the use of 1.6 roller rockers though...

 

1992 Y-body: 205/207 0.451/0.450 lift 117 LSA
1993-1995 Y-body, F-body: 202/207 0.450/0.460 lift 116 LSA
1994-1996 B-bodies (including L99 4.3L): 191/196 0.418/0.430 lift 111 LSA
1996 Y-body, 1996-1997 F-body: 200/207 0.447/0.459 lift 117 LSA
1996 Y-body, F-body LT4: 203/210 0.476/0.479 lift 115 LSA

I found these specs on ls1lt1.com forums. I have first hand experience with the b body cam and while it idles smooth, I wouldn't call the "added low end torque" tire frying by any means. I may be wrong but I think the b bodies were rated 330 ft lbs and the f bodies were 325 ft lbs in 95. Looking at the cam specs and your car specs I'd suggest you use the f body cam. The rated 15 HP advantage is worth more than the rated 5 ft lbs in cars like ours. The only thing is I hope your heads aren't 100% factory because I think there were only capable of .450 lift without having problems. In which case you'll have to stay with the smaller cam.

 

In reality, with EQUAL intake and exhaust plumbing on engines with the two different cams, you'll see more than a 5 ft-lb torque advantage (and at a lower rpm) to the B cam and less than a 15 hp advantage to the F cam. The overlaps are exactly the same. The LSA and duration numbers differ purely because of the intake closing side and exhaust opening side of the lobes.
It's so much a wash; the peak power rpm and optimum shift points vary by 200 rpm or less. I think you picked the right one for a relatively light vehicle.
1.6 rockers are a good idea in either case. A spring/retainer kit to handle the lift is cheap.

 

I'm not using a factory b body car motor though. I'm using a 96 l31 Vortec motor but they had the b body cams. I upgraded to the 95 lt1 f body cam. I'm wanting a torque car pretty much. Will I will be okay with this cam?

 

The 95 f body cam will work well for you. The b body cam is just a little tame. If your vortec heads aren't modified to handle more than .450 lift then the f body cam will cause problems. In which case I'd stay with the b body cam if the heads are factory GM.

 

Yes, you WILL be Ok with that cam. It will have plenty of torque.
Just make sure your spring/retainer setup can accomodate the lift.

 

the heads are stock but I upgraded to Alex spring kit to help with the lift of the new cam

 

If those were my only two choices, I'd take the F-Body one.

Why not just go aftermarket?

 

I think he already has the LT1 F-cam.

 

If you already have it then dont worry about. You wont notice the difference.

 

As stated I wouldn't sweat it. I put an Fbody LT1 cam in basically the same motor and heads and it will roast the tires with little to no effort. I'm not sure what intake setup you are running but I am running a TPI for vortec heads with SLP runners.

I will also note I am running LS1 springs and comp retainers for more lift potential. If you plan to run 1.6 rockers you would most likely need to do the same. But with stock 1.5 rockers the vortec heads should be good to .470 lift.

 

The torque difference in ANY of the production LT cams is NOT NOTICEABLE in any way seat of the pants. My 97 Express conversion van weighing in at 6,200 lbs without passengers has no issue getting up and going on the highway and despite having 3.42 gears pulls just about every hill in OD without even unlocking the torque converter. Oh I swapped the L31 cam out for a production 142' Corvette LT4 cam and 1.6:1 crane self aligning full roller rockers, run doug thorley tri-Y headers, mandral bent 2.5" dual exhaust with high flow cats into a magnaflow 24" case muffler and 3" tail pipe, running a 0411 PCM tuned by me with HP Tuners. If I do anything else to this van it will be 4.10s and a Yank 2,800 converter with a high STR.