I am looking for a nice cam for a 89 Camaro 5.7 tpi. I want to keep stock heads. I have to have my timing chain replaced so the guy told me to go ahead and get a cam.

so I plan on replacing timing chain, cam and seals. Also probably go ahead and replace valve spring and whatever else may pop up. I seen a lot saying the crane 2032 cam. (What actual part#)
and is their other cams that's would work good with stock tpi 89 camaro?

 

2032 isn't much better than your stock#049 gm cam that year. 268 cam is what I would look at.

 

What about valve springs set, lifters, rocker arms? Should I replace them and what part#s?

 

1.5rr are fine.1.6rr may give you just a lil more lift.. Stock lifters should be fine. I'd definitely look at Alex spring kits but I'm sure there a lot more somebody else could chime in and suggest. Look at Summit, Jegs, and Northern auto parts and comp cams are always good to talk to for matching up spring and retainer kits to their cams.

 

Nothing wrong with the 2032. ...that being said, I had great success with the stock zz4 cam. Just upgraded springs. Other than that no change....well...I had headers too, but I consider that mod a separate mod. Had a mild lope, ran great, didn't even retune for a year or two, AND passed NC emissions back when that was still required.

 

is the part# crane cam 270-104224? I assume 2032 is the grind# .

what springs, lifters, rockers? Part#

 

I went through college with a 89 350 iroc with a true roller timing chain ZZ4 cam and Edelbrock headers and that car still got the same gas mileage and ran awesome even with 2.77 gears. I found an aluminum drive shaft for it fairly early and a better radiator but that was a great daily driver.

 

 

I setup a stock TPI on a 10:1 355 with a LT4 Hotcam and Dart 180cc heads. Seems to have plenty of airflow to me. Lots of torque and makes power past 5,500 rpm. Nets the best ETs shifting the TH400 manually about 6,200.

My old G-van had a 350 with ported vortecs and a factory LT4 cam with 1.6 rockers. Pulled hard all the way to 6,000 rpm as well.

Stock TPI setup breathes better than most will give it credit for.

 

 

I have the sheets and time slips to validate mine over the years too. At 6,200 rpm the LT4 Hotcam/Dart 180 engine was less than 20 HP down from the peak at 5,100 rpm. The 350 TPI I had in my G-van went 14.1 @ 101 mph in the 1/4 mile in a 5,300 lbs brick with a stock stalled 700r4 and 3.08 gears. That is ALOT more than 220 RWHP. I made about 300 RWHP and about 370 RWTQ with stock runners, ported upper plenum, ported edelbrock vortec base, stock 46mm throttle body, ported 906 heads, factory LT4 cam and 1.6:1 rocker with Thorley Tri-Y headers for a G-van and dual 2.5" exhaust with a X-pipe.

The 383 in my signature did 360 RWHP and 380 RWTQ and went 13.8 @ 102 with a slipping transmission.

Also just FYI, it really does not matter what the power curve looks like if the car responds better to shifting at higher rpm. ETs & MPH at the track do not lie. I was merely stating a FACT that the 1987 Firebird that I setup and has run down the track with a 10:1 350, LT4 Hotcam, Dart 180s, stock TPI, shorty headers, dual 2.5" exhaust, backed to a 2,800 rpm stalled TH400 and 2.73 gears runs the best times shifting at 6,200 rpm. Car runs 7.80s @ 88-90 mph quite consistantly in the 1/8 on a 1.7-1.8s 60' time leaving at idle on drag radials. The car has a 2,800 rpm converter in it, but the owner is afraid to leave harder than idle with the weak 7.5" rear still under the car.

Also worth mentioning my low 8.75:1 compression 1-ton 350 TBI with a LT4 cam, 1.6 rockers, stock TPI, tri-y headers and exhaust ran best in that old G-van shifting at 5,200-5,300 rpm. Power peaked about 4,800 rpm with the TBI swirl ports and TPI but power was table top flat from 4,500-5,500 rpm. It also ran a 15.3 @ 92 mph in the 1/4 in a 5,300 lbs G-van. I never lost to a LS based truck engine at that time (2006ish) either. Go figure!

 

 

Every Stock TPI I've ever drive pretty much quit pulling around 5000rpm.A friend of mines 5.0 5spd TPI Camaro i drove once seemed to maybe pull a lil more rpm but not much over 5500 if that. They were designed strictly for making power in the lower powerband. Would have been great truck engines.

 

I know I will get flamed for posting these but here are some dyno runs I found on TPIs on the internet that also all seem to support them holding power until well above 4,500 rpm. If you cannot take my word for it, maybe this will explain what I have seen in a graphical form.

Seems the factory exhaust puts a choke hold on the Vettes more than the intake manifold. With 1 3/4" primary headers and a decent exhaust they are seeing gains of 40-50 RWHP @ 5,000 rpm.

1985 Corvette with ported heads, 1.6 rockers and 1 3/4" long tubes


This is a 1989 LB9 IrocZ with the peanut cam and stock exhaust manifolds. Power curve is flat enough that I would experiment shifting in the 5,200-5,300 rpm range at the track.


This is a 1989 Corvette with long tubes and descreened maf along with a few other parts.




This is a L98 cammed G92 305 5spd. This TPI was not even starting to fall off yet at 5,300 rpm.

 

 

The biggest cam in those is 202/207 @ .050. The cam itself is falling off by those RPM. I bet you could put a single plane intake and a 750 cfm carb on it and the stock cam would fall on its face by 5,200 rpm. The 85 Vette is about the worst case example. It is nothing more than a smog 350 with flat top pistons and a 305 HO cam. The 76cc heads on it flow worse than most 305 heads.
Even the Hotcam with its 218/228 @ .050 duration using 1.6:1 roller rockers only peaks at ~5,600 rpm with a single plane intake.

 

To me what the L31 '395 Marine cam aka Ramjet/HT383 cam did in my Express van is falling off. It was floating the valves but it still hit a wall before 5,000 rpm even with good springs. With good springs I still shifted it at 5,200 rpm for best acceleration. This setup dropped 25 RWHP in 200 rpm!

 

 

The Hotcam/180cc Dart head car I recently tuned peaked about 5,000 rpm and was table top flat in HP from 4,700-6,000 rpm. It was within 10 HP of peak from 4,700-6,000 rpm with the stock TPI intake, base was port matched and the upper intake had the EGR dams ground out. EGR was also deleted. LT4 Hotcam that was degreed in at 5* total advance (drop in is 3* advance).

 

 

Another Fast355 thread that defies what everybody else has experienced.