As far as I can tell I am the 7th owner of my car. I was thinking about installing a hot cam kit this winter but thought what if there was already one in it. So my question is how could I tell? Is there anything from a data log that would indicate this? Are part numbers stamped on the cams? If so how far down would I have to tear apart the engine to see it?

 

The first thing I'd do is pop the oil fill cap off and take a peek at the rocker arms. If a cam replacement has been done it's highly likely the rockers would have been replaced as well. If you see stamped steel rockers, it's likely stock, although that's not 100% certain. Someone could change the cam and keep the stock rockers but that usually doesn't happen. On the flip side, someone could have upgraded to 1.6 aluminum rockers while keeping the stock cam.

How does your car idle? The hot cam has a slightly lumpy idle, if you have a nice smooth idle then more than likely you're stock.

 

I checked under oil cap. I was so excited to find out I got out of bed and went down stairs to the garage. LOL. Well, they look stock, flat tappet with a lock-nut. The finish was kind of strange to me. They look like they were coated with something. Grey in appearance. The car sounds great. It has a nice sounding idle, not real lumpy. It probably sounds so good because it doesn't have mufflers, just cats, and resonator. No headers yet.
Forgot to tell everyone its a 95 Lt1

Its probably stock. Thanks for the tip. That was a good idea.

 

Glad to help, I'd say it's extremely likely you're stock at the moment.

 

You've never mentioned miles but being the 7th owner it would be assumed that it's been "driven" so I believe a responsible recommendation would be for you to do the same and "just drive it".

Your cam change could certainly open an entirely unmanageable set of circumstances that would/could certain put a hurt on your wallet.

 

listen to a stock car on youtube compared to hot cam. Hot cam sounds wayyyy different.

 

I certainly respect your views WVZR-1 but I don't understand what you mean by unmangeable set of circumstances. I understand tearing into an engine can lead to breaking things etc. and it does get costly. i think that is what you meant.

Anyhow, I need everyone's opinion/tech advice on another question. The engine leaks a little oil. Doesn't appear to burn any. I figured I could kill to birds with one stone while I'm in there and replace some gaskets. My question is the engine has 120k on it. Would this amount of mileage constitute a major overhaul? I'm thinking gaskets, cam, lifters and springs. I know everyone will say water pump while I'm at it. Maybe I will add that to budget. Timing chain? I know,I know...it ads up.

 

Sounds like you're in about the same state I was when I did my hotcam. The only real difference is mine's an LT4 so I was able to install just the cam and reuse my springs, rockers, and lifters. You'll need the entire hotcam kit with the springs and rockers. Some will tell you the springs in that kit aren't really sufficient for use with the heavier LT1 valves, I can't really speak to that since I was starting with the LT4.

Mine had 125,000 miles and had a leaky front seal so I too took advantage and replaced all the seals and the intake gaskets. With 120,000 miles I'd say absolutely do the timing chain while you're in there. I went with the extreme duty set, which is pricey, but since you can't buy a stock-style LT4 set anymore it was really my only option. With an LT1 you may have a stock-style replacement available, I'm not sure. My water pump seemed fine so I went ahead and reused it. I did replace the opti with the same brand that SAC City sells, didn't buy from them as I found it cheaper direct from the manufacturer. Big mistake, it turned out to be crap. I ended up putting the stock opti back on but used the new cap and rotor on it.

The cost for this project will absolutely add up. You're going to need the cam kit, lifters, all the gaskets for the top and front of the engine as well as the one for the oil pan, fluids, timing chain kit, maybe the water pump and opti. You're also going to need a tune to make it run right.

 

Rocker arms are not a good indicator of what cam is inside. Over the years I have done and have seen a lot of cam changes while keeping the stock rockers. I have also put higher ratio roller rockers on a stock cam.

The gray coating that you mentioned scares me a little. I have never heard of people treating stock rockers with some kind of coating. Usually they would just buy better rockers. Frequently a sick motor coats everything in a gray film or sludge. Just looking at it can be hard to tell. Did you try wiping it to see if the coating comes off or moves around?

Like pologreen1 said try listening to cars with the hot cam or other aftermarket cams and compare it to yours. Particularly at idle the stock cams are very smooth while the wilder the cam the more "lumpy" the idle will be. There are some exceptions, but a good general tendency.