Ok guys, i figured id ask this now since its winter and a lot of my car is taken apart right now. lol

Anyway, im looking for suggestions on cams and rockers.

Id like a nice upgrade from stock that does NOT require tuning of the computer but will still offer me a nice prformance upgrade. Im sure this limits my options but im trying to do what i can without doing to much electronics/tuning tinkering.

Thanks in advance for putting up with my stupid threads. Ive learned so much from you guys and its greatly appreciated.

 

Delta cams, I just put one (260 re-grind) in my car about 2 months ago. You can get the lifters and cams for 110 bucks or so shipped. Its a good deal, heres there website, and just call them and tell them what your wanting and for what car.

http://deltacam.com/

There is a few ppl on here that have the delta cams, the 260 grind doesnt require a re-tune but it does help as i tuned mine for the cam, and it idled much smoother afterwards. I know that any bigger of a cam then the 260 from delta cams will require a re-tune.

 

What rockers are you running? From the sticky up top running full roller rockers diesnt require any mods aside from fiero valve covers. Correct?

 

Im running stock rockers, I just replaced the springs, valve seals.

From what i've read 1.5 rockers are ok, as thats what our engines have already. But 1.6 rockers, i've heard that they might hit the stock valve covers, requiring you to get fiero valve covers. Also full rollers rockers are $$ and for our engines I would think just roller tip rockers would work for a much much lower price...IMO though.

You will want to pick up some heavier springs as your lift will be greater with the cam and larger rockers.

I dont know if you thought of it...but if you have the abilty to port those heads, you should do it. I spent alot of free time porting the heads, and i know alot of power i gained was from the heads, cam combo.

 

Ive been looking for some fiero covers and will be hitting up some salvage yard within the next week to try and find some. Roller tip rockers do seem to be the way to go after some searching and they are affodable. I think ive got the springs covered. Porting and polishing the heads would be great but i am VERY limited on resources right now most of the time. If i could find a place to do it for me at a reasonable pice i would though. Problem is i dont know much around where i live since i havnt been here long and will be moving in a few months as well.

While im at it i may as well look into swapping the crankshaft and pistons as well (if i can find any). Id really like to avoid taking everythign aprt over and over again. lol

Thanks for all the help!

 

If you want to port and polish the heads, do it yourself. For the amount of $$ youd have to pay someone, it woulndt be worth it. Its not to difficult, you just need some carbine tip bits and some dremal attatchments, i spent about 60 bucks on the stuff i needed and jsut worked on it a hour here and there. Took me about 40 hours in all to get the heads done up, but with a little guidence i got them done.

Do you have a 2.8L??? Swapping out the crank? Might as well just rebuild it.. add forged pistons and such. But if you on a budget, thats prob not gonna work.

Its a big job im sure to pull the motor and such for the crank replacement if youve never done it.
I just did everything while the motor was in the car for the cam, heads and such.

 

Yeah i have a 2.8. The crankshaft and pistons will probably be done later on, long after i get everythign else done. Im working on stuff that doesnt require removing the engine right now. Already had it out once and dont feel like doing that again since it takes a while. Im not a great mechanic by any means. Ive tore down and rebuilt a SBC in my 81 camaro (lost interest in it since it would have cost me a ton to finish it) and a few other odds and ends but thats it. Oddly enough the thing im most proud of with my car so far is the fact i redid my seats (my grandfather did upholstery his whole life and helped me through it).

 

Thats sweet you got the seats redid though. I wish i knew how to even attempt that.

If you want a little power gain, get working on the cam, heads if at all possible, and headers(they cost alot though) ECU Tuning goes a long ways, i just started doing it a few months ago, and i can say i know the part throttle and idle tuning well.
(WOT is a different story, as im just now getting a wideband o2 sensor kit)

 

Yeah, if i did seats again i would probably do them 100X better but they still look great (i didnt mess anythign up, id just know how to do it easier). Better yet is they are PMD open headrest seats which look great to begin with imo.

I already have some headers and am about to order a catback exhaust setup. The MPFI intake is taking some work but i think ive got it all figured out (dont hold me to that lol).

Tuning kinda freaks me out which is why im trying to avoid it right now.

 

Wana do my seats?LOL

Tuning i think is a great thing to learn, I had alot of guidence which helped ALOT, but for wide open tuning, i AM freaked out alot, i dont wana fry my lil 3.1L with a bad tune and a turbo. But in all honesty, the tuning isnt to bad once you get your hands on the equiptment and software.

I think the only reason im so worried about tuning my car after the turbo is becasue i dont have confidence in wide open throttle tuning at all(since ive never done it)... And since not a person i know arround here does that stuff, i solely rely on ppl on this board and such for tips and hits.

 

lol

Im sure tuning isnt all that hard to figure out, i just dont want to screw anything up. I wanted to do a turbo setup but right now its on hold until i get a somewhat permanent living situation.

 

I totally understand. Im doing the turbo now before i move away from here for a dif job this summer. So i gotta get this done(right) and have fun with the car.

 

with a 2.8 car the 260 cam will work great,the maf ecm wont reguire as much tunning to get the most out of the cam since the ecm directly reads the engines airflow unlike the 3.1 ecm

roller tip rockers are a waste u might gain 2-5hp with them if that.

if u want the best mod for that 2.8 car get a set of 4:10 rear gears for it,

 

Thanks for the info! Any suggestions on what/where on the gears? Depending on what deals i can get on the rockers i may or may not get them. Well, that and my budget at the time i do everything else.

 

Summit. Has gear sets for 150 bucks pluss 100 for the install kit. Whick includes new bearings seals and shims.

The typical guy can't install the gears though they need to be setup by somone who knows what they r doing and had the right tools

Labor at a shop should be 2 to 300 bucks. Anymore then that and u r getting ripped off


4:10 gears in a v6 camaro is deff worth the cost

 

I apologize in advance for asking more newbish questions. Engines really arent my thing and im trying to learn so dont throw stones yet. lol

I was reading around and a few people posted that you can use full roller rockers from a V8 as long as you swap some other parts out. I know this would be an expensive route but what would i have to do to use said rockers. Also, is there any benefit to using roller lifters (i think thats right) and if so how much work would that involve. The sticky didnt go into detail aside from saying mechanical roller lifters require the use of locking stud nuts.

 

The benifit of useing roller tip/ or full roller rockers is that they reduce friction from the rolling action when it hits the lifters, also they may weigh less/ be stronger/ and given the ratio you want they can offer greater lift for the valves. Our stock ratio is 1.5:1 IIRC.

I have no idea about the full rockers, but I know that SBC rollers tip fits, you just have to reuse the locking nut, as ours are 10mm studs and SBC studs are 3/8" And be carful of fitting larger ratio rockers as they may(so im told) hit the valve covers if the ratio is 1.6:1 or higher.

My 2 cents.. they are not worth the $$ for the Hp increase youll see, unless you add a cam, port and polish the heads, tune it and so on.

 

u cannot use a set of sbc full roller rockers unles su buy the conversion studs which are 16$ a pair and u need 6 pairs.

if ur dead set on rockers get a set of stamped roller tip rockers for a sbc, what u do is take the new rockers and throw away the rocker ball and the nuts, then u reuse the factory rocker ***** and nuts

 

Thanks for the info guys, i appreciate it. A little OT but i mentioned it earlier so i figured id ask. I have an early 2.8 but plan to use a power adder at some point and know that the crankshafts in these are questionable. Is there anywhere i can buy a new one that isnt going to destroy things. lol thanks again