ok well my plans for my 89 GTA w/ L98 are to have my engine and procharger setup about done in a year and a half since itll take me some time to save up that kind of cash and i need to beef up the suspension as well. However i dont want to have a slow mainly stock car till that time. I will be going with a stealth ram intake for my future motor so i figure i can buy that and put it on now. i figure the stealth ram will be about a grand for parts and about 400-500 to have installed. I know porting the heads or getting new ones is probly the most important thing to making moe horspower with this engine but i dont want to spend any more money on this than i need to since the $1500 AFRs are coming in the future.

So question #1 is- IF i change the cam, what other parts do i need to buy? Also how much can i expect to pay a mechanic to do the cam and related parts?

Question #2 is- Which cam would you guys recommend to work well with my HSR and bone stock L98 heads? I was looking at a comp or crane cheap cam for like $120 because for the cam and all related parts i dont want to spend more than $700 on just the parts, the ideal situation would be i could just buy the cam by istelf and not need t buy any other parts at all. After everytings is installed i will of course be getting a good prom tune. i will also have a 2400 rpm stall converter.

I would hopefully like to see my car in the mid 13sif its possible with just a stealth ram, cam, and tune, or at least high 13s which will go down as i do suspension work.

also how much power do you think this cheap combo would provide/

Right now my car has a 12 bolt rearend w/ 3.42s, hooker shorties w/ a cutout, and a 9 inch K&N custom intake setup, w/ turbo 400 and 2400 stall converter coming very soon

Thanks for reading this long post and helping me out
Armand

 

An 89 came with a hydraulic roller cam, so re-calculate the price (I would NOT go to a standard flat tappet hydraulic cam). You'd definitely need to change valve springs - not just stock replacement - ask cam maker for suggestion (I don't even want to say "want to change"). Get some roller rockers if you intend to actually use the new RPM afforded by intake and cam (think pro-mags). Pushrods are necessary too. So is a new timing chain set. Gaskets and "the Right Stuff."
Cam:
Intake duration in the 214-224 range, I'd go about in the middle of that if it's a daily driver and have that converter in there. Keep the LSA 112 ish (supercharger in the future).
You'll need to gasket match the heads to the intake or you'll be disappointed (1204 stock heads to 1205 intake = port mismatch = brick wall). Can be done without removing the heads if careful.

 

ok well i just added up the price of all those parts on summit and the total for cam, valve springs, pushrods, timing chain and rocker arms comes to around 650, so looks like im definitely gonna go ahead and do it. i think i might go with this cam

Crane Powermax- Duration @ .05 214*/220* , Lift .452/.465
what do you guys think?


i was wondering though do i really need to change the timing chain and pushrods ?because the motor only has 60K miles on it and i noticed for the pushrods that the only difference with new ones would be that they are heat treated- for this mild setup does it really matter? i dont want to take any chances though with hurting my block and if it needs to be done then ill do it.

and i cant gasket match
the heads to the intake because i dont know how to do porting and dont really wanna spend money on it.

when i go to have these parts installed, generally how long does it take a mechanic to do?

all suggestions welcome

 

A cam change will take a long time, since soooo many things have to be removed from the engine. But, if the guy is good, and you don't want to risk doing it yourself, it's worth it.

I wouldn't risk saving the price of a few hours of labor on stock pushrods and timing chain. They won't cost any extra labor, since they have to come off and go back on, and new ones are relatively quite cheap compared to having to do it all over again when they fail.

That's the cam I chose for my engine. I have had it for over a year un-installed, since I've been in China, but I think it's a great choice. I work at a fuel injection company and will tune my setup on a dyno (and burn my own chips), whenever the heck I get back. I'll let you know what it takes to make that cam happy if you'd like.

 

How many miles are on it? Are you going to modify the intake to support the cam? Why don't you get a cam that will be better matched to the heads you're going to buy in the future? Why not wait to do the cam until you get the heads?

 

ok well looks like ill buy the pushrods and crap for the peace of mind. and ya definitely let meknow what the cam likes when whenever u get it up and running.

Dialed In- it has 60 k miles, if u read my first post it said im going with a holley stealth ram, and im looking for a streeetable cam that will work with just my stock heads and a HSR till i throw in the race engine im planning on building and i dont want to drive a mainly stock car for the next year and a half probly more while i save money for the new motor

gpt any suggestions thow them out there