Well after breaking a valve cover bolt off in the head i decided to push my top end rebuild to now. The heads i want to go with are vortec which is also paired with a vortec intake mainfold. Here is the link to the parts. Im also going to be putting in a better cam. But the cam will have to wait till july.

Cam
http://www.jegs.com/i/Comp-Cams/249/CL12-600-4/10002/-1

Heads
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-151124/overview

Intake
www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-2116

So will it be fine running just the heads and intake for a month? Also is that camshaft good?

 

Wait and do it all at one time. The intake and valve covers have to come back off to install the cam plus R&R the distributor can be a hassle. Make it easy on yourself. You will appreciate the end result that much more.

 

I concur with Casey Jones. When you do the cam, you'll have to re-do everything you did with the head and intake swap, except the 34 bolts that hold the heads on. (Which is probably the easiest part of the whole thing, anyway!) Save yourself some aggravation and do it all at once. There are ways to remove a busted-off bolt, either do that, don't drive it for a month, or do what you have to do to get the cam now. You can get that same cam from summit for 12 bucks cheaper, plus no shipping, if that helps.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-cl12-600-4

Personally, I think that's a pretty big cam paired up with a performer manifold, here's what I'd go with, depending on your diff gear and transmission. (But I'm a cheapskate!!!)

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/su...make/chevrolet

BTW, how do you snap off a valve cover bolt? The torque spec is 3 ft-lbs.!!!!!!

Scott

 

Ummm i kinda forgot my spacer on the bolt so when it was technically all the way down i still saw some of the bolt so kept going and bam lol. Dosent leak though so i guess i can wait.

 

That cam probably will fit me better lol. Thanks man!! Defiently will help me get it faster. Any other part you guys would advise swapping out? Im gonna run long tube headers with true dual straight pipe lol

 

I just sold that Thumpr cam new for $85 after reading about what a poor performer they really are compared to other cams in its size range.

 

What would you suggest?

 

There ya go, if it's not leaking, you're all set. Have fun doing your upgrade in July, and let us know how things work out. And maybe take a few days off from the gym next time you're gonna be turning wrenches!

Scott

 

Haha alright. Im still curious as to what camshaft you guys think i should go with. that one guy said he sold that camshaft u linked because it was bad. Curious as to what he went with.

 

I would go with something like the xe268h or the voodoo equivalent..... You want something that performs well and has good torque in the street driving rpm range unless you got the money for new rear end gears and a high stall converter if you have and auto....
Torque is what throws you back in your seat and what you feel not HP.
The Thumpr cam is tuned to sound good idling and pulling in to the local car show or mcdonalds... its basically a poser cam meant to mimic the sound of a much bigger cam... You will constantly be defending yourself around anyone that's car savvy. t is not designed for performance or to be efficient...performance is secondary to "sounding cool" it reminds me of the fart cans on the ricers. With it, you give up about 3mpg compared to other cams that give you more power .the tight lsa causes much of the gas to go out the tailpipe unburnt. Also the vacuum is poor with it so your power brakes and such won't work well without additional hardware.... just Google it and read about it.... there's a few exceptions like super Buick guy here that seem happy with it but almost all of the reviews are poor and that that arent are bias and don't compare them fairly to a properly set up similar cam intentionally. And you won't find one single review where someone actually swapped a similar sized aftermarket cam for it and liked it.... but you find a few that are the opposite.

 

The whole drivetrain needs to work as a system. The total gearing (trans and rear) needs to be compatible with the power characteristics of the engine and the weight of the vehicle.
Street car = street cam.
Race car = race cam.

 

The one he said was bad was the Thumpr, which was the original cam you found at Jegs that scotty99 found cheaper at summit. No one has said the one scotty99 suggested later in his post was bad

 

Gotcha! I guess i will go with the cam scotty99 recommended since it is the largest cam for stock convertor. Thanks guys! Ill start a build thread when I have all the parts in.

 

Should i order new head bolts? Im ordering new intake gasket and head gasket and already did valve cover gasket, Along with new valve cover bolts. But $80 is alot for bolts lol so wondering if its worth it.

 

Planb, do lots of research on the cam you're going to use. It has the single greatest effect on how the power of your engine will be delivered.
Figure out your compression ratio. This will help decide how much duration and overlap you can go with on your cam. Do searches on this forum there is a TON of info on this subject. The K1103 is an old school cam with a slow ramp for valve opening, good for longetivity of the cam not as good for responsive power.
Figure out what you want from a cam. Quick response, low end torque, high end HP, etc. What rpm range are you realistically going to be operating in? For most of us that is 1500 to 5000 rpms. If you want a responsive torqey street motor then stick with lower overlap numbers and less duration would be my recommendation.
Subtract the advertised duration from the duration @ .050 the result is known as hydraulic intensity. Get a number below about 50 and your talking about a cam lobe that is considered high intensity.
Good for response not so good for cam life span on a flat tappet cam. Like this xe262
http://www.compcams.com/v002/Pages/387/XE262H-10.aspx
Broken down into numbers it has an intensity of 44.
The K 1103 has an intensity of 74.
Big difference in how the two operate the valve opening. This would also increase the time in which the intake and exhaust are open at the same time reducing your cylinder pressure and developing less low end torque.

This one is for flat tappet has a bit less intensity than the XE series at 46.
http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=219&sb=2
Seems most common lobe seperation used that i have noticed is 110 or 112 degrees.
Many things to consider, this only scratching the surface.

 

I have a carbed 84 Z51. I bought the Summit/Dart large valve cast iron heads part #152123. They come fully assembled with 72cc modern chambers, screw in studs. .525 lift springs and are $630 shipped to your door. Nice heads for sure. Forget the thumper cam, way too much cam. I ran a crane 274h06 218-218 .450 lift cam on a 106LSA. It is an old circle track cam that will give you the rump rump sound but comes up on the cam really quickly and still builds good cylinder pressure for a low c.r. 350. The cam had lots of low and midrange power but with the overlap of the cam it was a little bit much with my automatic trans in gear at 650 rpm. I later swapped the 274 cam for an Isky Z-20 solid lifter cam with 228-228-.450 lift 108 LSA. Isky sells it ground on a 112 LSA also. My idle is much improved with around 17" of vac at 900 and 14" at 700 rpm. Lots of low and mid range. I had a 76 L82 with a T400 and 3.36 rear gear and I replaced the stock L82 with an Isky 264 Mega cam with 214-214 .450 lift on a 108 LSA and it had much better low and mid range than the L82 cam. I have used Isky cams for many years with no problems. Most of their street cams are very easy on your valve train too. Even the old school Comp 268HE cam or Crane energizer 272 cam would give you a big boost in power. I am using a ZZ4 intake and a 600 cfm 1405 Edel. carb but I am probably going to go back to an aluminum Q-jet intake and Q-jet carb. If you already have the Qjet intake and carb I would keep it and try the 152123 Summit/Dart heads. Good luck on your build.

 

I was using a Comp XE262 cam, with Vortec heads. My engine is a 383, but you will get the same tremendous throttle response and low to mid rpm power. BTW, your original head bolts will work fine.

 

Good Idea on the heads. I guess I will go with

Summit dart heads
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-152123

Cam
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/su...make/chevrolet

I want torque. I will be operating in low rpms alot too. Never really over 5000. Also i have an automatic and that cam says it is the highest you can go with stock convertor. You guys think im set to order them?

 

You can up your compression by going with smaller cc heads.Trick flow has some great flowing 56cc heads but they are pricey.With higher compression and better flowing heads you can run a little bigger cam and increased power.Better yet would be a roller cam which will give you a broader torque range.It all starts with the heads you buy.If your on a budget check out Whiteperformance 1 on Ebay.They have aluminum heads with quality parts for a good price.I installed a roller cam to go with the aluminum heads and the L48 really woke up.As stated earlier if your gearing is not match to the type of cam you have it'll be a very disappointing combo.With a 3.08 rear gear and TH350 trans you'll want as much torque down low to get your car moving off the line.My 3.08 rear gear and 3.28 1st gear in the 6spd trans gets the Vette moving pretty snappy off the line.If you decide to go to a roller cam,get the heads with the valve springs for a roller cam.Don't forget to consider the head gasket thickness for the best quench and DCR.I used a .015 Felpro to get the most CR out of the L48 with the dished pistons.Lot's of info here but it all starts with the head choice and then match the other components for best performance and intended use.The best thing I did for improved low end torque was close up that cut down divider on the air gap manifold and go with a 4 hole carb gasket.I use a lot less throttle at low speed and MPG's went up.Matt Gruber has a write on this subject,great reading.http://community-2.webtv.net/MATTGRU/EFIMPG/

 

Here is something to think about:

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Flo-Te...lug,25118.html

You can read up on what Car Craft thought about these heads here:

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles...t/viewall.html

I've never used them, so I can't speak from experience, but Speedway Motors has a pretty good reputation, and in the Car Craft test, they made power comparable to the Vortec heads, they're aluminum, 64cc combustion chambers, and you don't need a special intake manifold, valve covers, and rocker arms. Which means you can scare up an old Performer intake on the internet for about 50 bucks. I'm going to be giving them a try when I do the top end on my engine. Like I said, just something to think about........

Here's a link to the head gasket iokepakai is talking about, it's the cheapest I have been able to find it:

http://www.northernautoparts.com/Pro...tModelId=22765

Scott