1994, 6spd, 186,000 miles, 4.11 gears, no mufflers or cats, hooker long tubes, AIR delete, intake, stage 2 clutch, stock flywheel, tune... I don't track the car. I beat on it a little but not much. I have no idea about cams. All I know is they give a LITTLE HP and sound amazing. I am after the sound. Whether its a big cam or a little I don't want to have to have it tuned again. I plan to drop it in my self. I want the nice lope but again don't want to have it tuned again. Can anyone recommend me a cam that is not high in price and wont need a tune? Is this all possible? I was looking at the LT4 hotcam but again I have no clue about these things. Thanks

 

Any cam that gives you a decent loup will need to be tuned..Only the very mild cams can get away without a tune, and in my opinion even these will do better with a tune...WW

 

is it worth to have someone else put the cam in or should I put it in then have it tuned?

 

It's fairly easy to do a cam exchange by yourself if you have a little experience with engines. If you do decide to do it yourself, just make sure to hold the cam near the engine so the lobes don't hit the front bearings. Most manuals will give you a rough idea on how to do this.

 

I dont know what lobes are? Which cam would be good for my LT1?

 

If youve never done it have someone whos experienced help you it will be a pain in the *** and easy to screw something up.

 

Changing the cam in the car is pretty involved. Alot of people oversimplify it, but it really is a big job. If you have no mechanical experiance, I would recommend paying somebody that know's what they are doing install it. There are alot of things putting it back together, if you make a mistake, you will have big problems.

Edit: Ron you posted as I was writing up my response. But we are both on the same page!

 

Lobes are the sides of the cam that push the lifters up. As WW7 said, any cam that gives more lope will sound better, but will need to be tuned.

 

If a lope is all you are after, try pulling a spark plug wire or 2.

 

As everybody has said if the new cam is worth putting in the motor it's going to require a tune.

A good friend of mine ended up having me completley rebuild his LT4 because a fellow (who didn't know what he was doing) install a hot cam for him and the motor ate the cam brgs which ate the mains and rods.... He has one heck of an engine now but it cost a lot of $$$.

If you want a cam recomendation it's best to call a good cam grinder and give them a little information. Mine is Mike Jones. He is over in Dover, NC.

http://www.jonescams.com/2006catalog_001.htm

That said - With 180K on your engine I would suggest you look at building a new engine. I have seen MANY, MANY, MANY LTX's destroy themselves after head and cam work was done to a high mileage stock short block.
Will

 

 

In your position it would probably be best to track down a mentor. Someone who cam walk you through the procedure. To tackle it on your own is bound to be filled with a lot of stress. I remember the day . . .

Jake

 

I agree. The internet makes everything seem easy.
There is more to it than physically installing the bumpstick.

Proper phasing (or degreeing) should be done to confirm all parts were manufactured correctly.
Proper pushrod length needs to be confirmed.
Correct valvesprings need to be selected, and "set up". Setting up includes measuring the installed height of the spring, and adjusting it via parts changing, or (if your lucky) shimming.
To do a real textbook job, the cylinder head should be removed to confirm sufficient piston to valve clearance.

Add it all up, and it requires someone with a skill level of 8 on a 1-10.
If you feel this is within your ability, I say go for it.
Don't forget to get it tuned when complete.

 

Best info I have gotten on a thread yet ! thanks guys.

I mean yeah the sound is great. But after driving the car since new, I am numb with the power. I need some new toys on her. Well thanks for the info. I will NOT be doing this myself. I like to work on the car when I can but I do not want to destroy the motor.

 

Here's an example.

My son is a Newbie, not knowing much at all about engines. As he was growing up he was into computers and computer games and KNOWS the ends and out about those, but now that he has a 96 Vette his knowledge base on engines in general and the LT1 in specific is hovering near ZERO.

So I've undertaken being the "teacher". I send him periodic emails on difference aspects of our engines. First learning the vocabulary and how to identify the various parts we so often discuss. The lastest thing I've written him was on his new block; how to identify it, what is meant by "mains", "main caps" the materials they're made of (cast or forged), caps, crank mounting differences, bore, on and on and on.

Later I'll send him more on blocks - ours in particular - and at some point I'll finalize the "block" lesson. Then I'll move on to another topic, maybe heads (the materials, flow, valve train options, leaders in the field, etc., etc).

I break it up into small segments so as not to over-load him with too much information to quickly. I keep reminding myself how difficult this all can be to grasp and, especially, the vocabulary we use. Most of the words we use are foreign to someone who's a computer geek. Ask 'em about "deck height" and their eyes glaze over. They'll probably think you're talking about a boat.

Here's a hands-on example:

Last year he wanted to do a cam, head and valve train swap, so after selecfting the parts and buying them, we had at it. When it came time to adjust the lifter preload on the new cam here's what I did:

I first had him stand near me and I SLOWLY showed him how to identify each valve/spring/ rocker. How to identify which number cyinder it was and how to tell if it was an Intake or an Exhaust. I did it in a simple matter, going straight down the line from front to rear, then switching to the other side of the engine and doing the same thing.

I then had him to first to go over each one with me, one at a time and on any he "missed identified" I had him stop, I corrected him, and had him go over all of them again from the beginning. You miss one and you go back to the beginning. Sort of as a mild punishment and as motiviation to NOT make the same mistake again.

I then had him walk away - go grab a couple of bottles of Gatorade or something similar - then, when he returned after several minutes, I'd have him do it all over again - go through all 16.

Once I felt he had become comfortable with the down-the-line identification procedure I scrambled them. I'd point to one of them, one of the valve springs, at random and ask him to identify the number of the cylinder AND whether it was an Intake or an Exhaust. It did this until I'd gone through all 16. This took him several attempts because, at first, he'd make a mistake, but as time passed he began to nail them. BANG, BANG, BANG, and got COCKY!

Once he was able to identify all of them without error and I felt comfortable with him feeling comfortable, we moved on the adjusting the preload.

I followed the same procedure, first with me showing him how to do all 16 while he watched and then asking him to do it with me observing. Sure, he made mistakes, so we'd start over. Once he was able to do all 16 I quickly re-did the first test; the random "identify this cylinder and which is it Intake or Exhaust" test again.

Back to preload: Once I felt he was comfortable in doing them all, time for more Gatorade. While he was gone I scrambled all 16 back to the NOT SET stage. I'm a little hazy on this part but IIRC, I asked him to set the preload of all 16 but AT RANDOM, not straight down The line as he had been doing. This tested not only his ability to find ZERO lash but also to identify whether the one he was adjusting was an intake or an exhaust - sort of combined both teachings into one.

Yep, at first errors, so we'd start over from scratch - which means any he'd set CORRECTLY were scrambled and he's have to go back to square one and do all 16. Over time he was able to comfortably set the preload on all 16.

Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but not regularly setting preload can result in a loss of memory of what he'd learned. Since we did all this last summer, when we get to the point of doing the lifters on the new engine I expect he may have forgotten some of what he'd learned last year. So we'll have to have a re-refresher course, LOL.

I only shared this to give you an idea of what I did in teaching my son and how extensive the teaching process can be when dealing with some areas. Your mentor/teacher may use a different technique, but if it works, it works.

Hope this helps.

Jake

 

There is no zipper when it comes to replacing the cam.It involves R&R of the radiator,possible condenser,waterpump,opti,crank pulley/balancer,hub on crank that holds balancer,front timing cover,oil pan gasket,timing chain,etc.This is whats needed along with other steps I'm forgetting.It is not a quick job & special tools are needed.My understanding(correct me if I'm wrong guys) is engine can go bad after cam replacement because the cam bearings wore a certain pattern on the old cam & installing a new cam on old bearings,the wear pattern(s) do not line up & cause excessive clearance causing engine damage.Also installers nicking cam bearing(s) when installing new cam causes excessive clearances as well meaning low oil pressure & possible movement of cam inside of bearing(unlikely).Correct me if I'm wrong guys

 

I forgot how big of a deal it is on the Lt-1. You'd probably do better with a rebuilt engine, and new cam bearings as the guy above said, I've seen quite a few old engines destroy themselves after a new cam.