jmgtp

Hi Everyone,
Planning a cam swap for late 2018, researching now and slowly collecting parts. Lots of cam options...

A bit about the car...
1994 LT1 ZF6
115k and I know I'm taking a risk on an aged motor
4.11 gears
Short tube headers, stock cats, x pipe, no resonator, stock mufflers
Ported cylinder heads, more info on those in a bit
1.7 RR, 7/16 studs, hardened pushrods and guideplates
Meziere HD Waterpump
Fresh rebuilt suspension, poly bushed
Fresh rebuilt brake calipers with new pads/rotors (non j55)
Currently a turnkey car, needs nothing mechanically
Have new clutchset to go in when I pull it apart
I plan on pulling the motor to do the work

My goals:
Fun. This is a street car and will never see the track so fun factor is what matters. I don't have a specific power goal in mind or 1/4 time. I just want more power and good street manners. Would like some chop in the idle but that isn't a huge deciding factor. Revs.... 6k or below. I'd like to keep it under that in an attempt to keep the rotating assembly intact.

I do plan on stepping down to 1.6 RR (currently 1.7s) for better geometry. I also know long tubes are ideal, but I like the exhaust sound as is and would rather avoid the expense of long tubes for now (maybe the following year). With the electric water pump I could eliminate the gear setup and run a better timing chain, but I want to retain that so if I ever decided to I could swap a mechanical pump in. Limits me on timing sets, any recommendations here? Also wondering if I should replace the oil pump, no problems with the current one but this would be an easy time to do it. Any advantages to a high pressure variant?

Info on the heads. I've had them on the car for probably around 5 years. They are stock LT1 castings ported by Loyd Elliot which I bought 2nd hand. They have oversized valves and corresponding ported/matched intake manifold. I installed them with a thinner headgasket. Flow numbers in image below.



I'm having some trouble picking a cam out, which is something I'd like to decide first since that lines me up to buy the other supporting items. I think the CC503 is appealing, but to take full advantage I think I'd have to rev closer to 6500 and I'm not willing to do that. CC502 looks like it may be a safer bet. It might not have as much lope as I'd like to hear, but it seems like it would keep me in my rev range and make for an all around very street friendly motor. Also considering the Crane 227 but that seems to be most popular in the Impala crowd for its low speed torque - might not suite the vette so well, especially with 4.11s. I'm actually wondering how any of these cams will do with the 4.11s if I am limiting myself to a cam that keeps the revs at or below 6k. I prefer an off the shelf cam as I plan on a mail order tune (at least at first) and figure an off the shelf grind has been tuned many times over vs a custom setup would have more guessing. I've done a considerable amount of reading on LT1 cams the past few days and am fairly certain the CC502 would be a good fit but thought I'd tap into the knowledge here to see what you all think?

STL94LT1

I ran a similar cam to the 502 with almost your same setup. It peaked at ~5800 rpms, ran strong, and a nice little lope. For what you are asking the 502 should work well.

gdl2165

Since you have Lloyd Elliot ported heads you may want to give him a call to get his input. He has a "sleeper cam" which may be just what you're looking for.

jmgtp

Thanks for the replies. I may give LE a call but the CC502 is so far my pick. Any other CC502 users on a 350 cube LT? Seems like a good street cam and in the rev range I want. I’m still debating if the 4.11s are going to be trouble. They’re great on a stock motor but I worry that adding torque down low will turn the car into a tire shredded, but maybe not they hook just fine until temps go below 40 and then they can’t put the power down.

Any input on timing sets? They seem to range from $80 to several hundred for LT motors. I’d like to keep the water pump drive gear so it limits my choices but what is the difference between an $80 cloyes or spending 4x that? The stock setup, though I’m sure aged and stretched has given me no grief. Will a low end timing set do? Low(ish) revs, probably not insane springs, wht is your recommendation? Or should I say screw it, put a plug in the water pump drive and go for a beefier set? I did want to leave the option open to go back to a cam driven pump but with the few miles I add on each year the electric will probably last forever.

vette196

I would call Lloyd, he may have a better set up with your gearing