vortec cam
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Semper ubi, sub ubi
Cruise-In VI Veteran
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Re: vortec cam (chuckb01)
I vaguely remember seeing something along the lines of 285 to 295 hp at about 4300 rpms. The cam in the thing is a fairly sedate low lift unit designed for torque and towing. The Vortec valve springs won't handle more than about .460 - .470 lift without getting into coil bind.
A Vortec pickup engine is a good bases to build a high performance engine. It has a 4 bolt main crank, and you can put in the GM Hot roller cam in the thing and it will smoke the tires, but you are going to have to change the valve springs, which is going to probably require machine work. The valve guide bosses are too large for dual spring high performance valve springs. In fact they are too large for Z-28 single springs with the flat wire damper. The spring seat is only 1.230" wide and will have to be machined out for larger diameter springs too. You should also pull the pressed in studs and install screwed in studs. The Vortec heads come with stamped steel rockers, which are pretty good for stock pieces, but if you want to uses roller tip rockers you're going to have to get special self aligning roller-tip rockers.
The Vortec heads also require a special intake manifold, GM sells several types and Edelbrock sells 3 different models for it too, Performer, Performer RPM and Victor Jr. (They might have a Performer Air Gap model, I'm not sure.)
If you are looking for a good basis to build a nice fairly high performance engine, then the Vortec engine is a good start.
Good Luck.
A Vortec pickup engine is a good bases to build a high performance engine. It has a 4 bolt main crank, and you can put in the GM Hot roller cam in the thing and it will smoke the tires, but you are going to have to change the valve springs, which is going to probably require machine work. The valve guide bosses are too large for dual spring high performance valve springs. In fact they are too large for Z-28 single springs with the flat wire damper. The spring seat is only 1.230" wide and will have to be machined out for larger diameter springs too. You should also pull the pressed in studs and install screwed in studs. The Vortec heads come with stamped steel rockers, which are pretty good for stock pieces, but if you want to uses roller tip rockers you're going to have to get special self aligning roller-tip rockers.
The Vortec heads also require a special intake manifold, GM sells several types and Edelbrock sells 3 different models for it too, Performer, Performer RPM and Victor Jr. (They might have a Performer Air Gap model, I'm not sure.)
If you are looking for a good basis to build a nice fairly high performance engine, then the Vortec engine is a good start.
Good Luck.
