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I'm looking to replace the camshaft in my 86 L98. I have upped the compression to 9.3 and want a little better performance without destroying the idle or streetability. Considering a roller or flat tappet.
From: What did the 5 fingers say to the face? SLAP!!
I put the TPIS 700-135 in my '86. It's 224deg @ .050 duration and .495 lift with stock rockers. I honestly didn't notice a whole lot of difference with it though until I later changed the heads, intake, headers, torque converter etc. I don't think you'll be happy with a cam swap unless you do it as a package. When I first did my cam all I accomplished was narrowing the power band. I lost some down low, but the stock TPI still choked off at 4800rpm.
If it was me in your shoes, I would contact Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and ask them about the suitability of their 74212 or 74213...esp. the 212.
I have a roller L98 with stock heads, intake etc., but it is ported, and I went with their 211. It idles great, is responsive and has good torque...though it runs out of steam over 5000rpm.
Without spending a lot of money, I believe big gains can be found with some porting in the bowl area on these heads....might be worth considering while it is apart...Good luck with your project.
Stock cam is 202/206 @050 from memory, more specs are on my website.
You should be looking for something like the TPiS ZZ9 or Accel 211 for the 86, which is hyd. flat tappet, but these are rollers. Roller conversion is up to you and LPE was selling a conversion kit last time I spoke to them. Those would benefit from any intake and exhaust mods you do, as they'll be choked by the stock setup. Neither suffers in idle or anything like that, as long as they get a custom chip tune.
I bought a 86 that had been freshly re-built from a forum member(bills86) who used the crane compucam with excellent results. He had no other notable modifications(jsut the free ones), it gets great mileage and has excellent manners and response...