Hey guys, don't mean to beat a dead horse, but been searching and haven't found the answer I'm looking for. Can I run this cam and 1.6 rockers without valve clearance issues? Future plan is a bulletproof engine rebuild with AFR195 heads, but for this winter would like to take a weekend to throw in the cam and see how she runs. Also gonna install my SLP headers. This will be in my 87 L98 which currently has an Accel base, SLP runners port matched to a siamesed plenum, and Flowmaster cat-back exhaust.

With the stock heads, no!

Do the bolt-ons. Leave head/cam until you have both together as a package.

You run a LPE 219 cam on stock heads and you will go slower. You'll still be breathing through a Coffee straw.

I would say go ahead and do the swap if you have the valve seal to retainer clearance. You need.640 clearance. There's alot of misinformation on this forum and a lot of elitism. Stock cams are junk. A new cam will help as long as you have enough compression. Your piston to valve clearance should be fine, since that mostly has to do with cam duration and not cam lift.

Listen to Vincent and Thirdgen89 they know their stuff.They have been invaluable sources of info on this site for years.

Right... Like I saida lot of elitism on this forum. I stated actual facts. If you want your car to be slow don't put a cam in it.

An engine is an air pump air in air out .If the heads don't support the flow it's no go.

I ran SLPs big cam back in the day with 1.6 rockers on stock heads. (until I put the TFS twisted wedge heads on a few months later)
Was it the most powerful way to do things? No.
Did it fit and work? Yes.

Right. But if your cam only as .400 lift your not helping the flow of the heads. The heads will flow more air at. 525 of lift then .400. That's just a fact.

You'll need springs and have heads setup to clear the cams lift which i believe is .560 with 1.6's? Once retuned it should run better than stock cam but will make huge gains with afr head swap later

Looking at Lingenfelter's website, they recommend a torque converter of 2,600-2,800 RPM. To me, that indicates that this cam will want to rev, meaning that it makes its power higher in the rev range.

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...-aluminum.html (Please reference post #4)

While the heads may flow SLIGHTLY more at higher lift, I think that those heads will "choke" that cam at the RPM that it would make the best power at. However, as previously stated, you could do it now and save the heads till later, but I doubt you will see a significant power increase, and I suspect you may see a loss of driveability since the low RPM torque will be less than the stock cam.

(Disclaimer: I am not an expert by any means, please tell me if I'm horribly mistaken )

Right its likely not goin to make peak hp at the rpm its designed for, but it will make power thru the rpm range the heads peak at which will be an rpm lower than cam, and then power will flatline thru higher rpms.

This produces area under curve and that does make a faster car. Whenever the head is less efficient than it should be for desired performance, you will need more cam. Whenever the heads are more efficient than needed, you can get away with smaller cam

Be careful Orr you sound like an elitist because you've been there and done that.Your years of experience and know how are showing.

Right. But Have you actually run an LPE219 cam with stock heads? Have you actually seen it pick up power? Maybe it does, I'm just asking. ....because this hobby is nothing if not an example of how bigger is so often NOT better.

...my OPINION.....I would guess the dyno will actually see a slight, insignificant bump, even with stock heads, but none worth the work involved. I would wait until you can do heads and cam together. ...and why the LPE219 cam? ....cams have come a long way since then. Still, it IS a proven performer.

I have a similar grind in the 350 Vortec in my Express van. It is 215/220 @ .050 but ground on a 114* LSA for a tamer idle and more vacuum. The 112* LSA Lingenfelter cam specs a 2,600-2,800 converter but on a 114* LSA with a stock 4L80E converter (brake stalls about 2,400 rpm) and 3.73s I can easily powerbrake the thing and burn the tires off a ~3 ton van. I have Etec 170 heads on it but they are nothing exotic.

Those E Tech heads may not be exotic but their light years ahead of stock.

True enough, but the stock heads will still support 350-375 hp with the right roller cam. I have seen dyno testing of an old smogger 350 from the 70s with a Comp XE268, long tube headers, a low rise dual plane intake and a Q-Jet push out 320 hp and 380 lb/ft.

I swapped a GM 846 cam into a GM 300 hp 350 crate engine in a 1972 Elcamino when the original flat tappet cam lost a lobe. It was running 217 heads which are for all purposes identical to the 083s except used on boats and crate engines. When the performer intake came off a performer rpm went into its place. Also swapped the spreadbore holley for a QFT 700 vacuum secondary. The car has a turbo 350 with a 2,400 converter and 3.73s. No shortage of power and while its plenty lopey it can still sit and idle with the a/c on.