What do you guys think of this? I know that most people think if you get an LT4 that you should leave the engine alone. I think putting the LT4 HOT cam in there would be looked at as a really good thing incase i ever sell the car. It's a GM cam and it was made to go with the car. It should at least not hurt the value of the car. I'm a little more worried about the C6 taking away from the value of the car, lol.

What have you guys with LT4's and the LT4 HOT cam's seeing in dyno gains? I'm guessing around 30rwhp ?


[Modified by GlockLT4, 5:01 PM 1/10/2004]

 

I think 30 rwhp is high for the cam alone, I think 20-25 is more like it. But a good mod.

--There are some (and I have seen this IN WRITING in "how to buy a used car" books) who say "don't buy a modified car" because they figure you must have raced it and ragged it out somewhat. There are a very few who look for modified cars (like equiped with super charger) so they can get the modded car they want and not pay for the mods!!!

--So, in terms of resale, modding the car is not going to help. It might even hurt.

--That said, I modded my car to enjoy it, the next guy is not going to get it until it's nearly ready for the junkyard.

 

I should add that there are other cams out there. The hotcam has enough lope that it might bother some.

I picked a cam with less duration and more lift.

 

Great cam. A little custom tuning and higher idle speed takes a lot of the lope out at idle but make no mistake...you can still tell the engine isn't stock.

My sig shows my mods. Absolute bone stock was an even 300 rwhp. With the mods listed I'm at 342. Doing the heads in a couple weeks and hope to crack 360 :)

 

what are the specs for the cam? its something that has crossed my mind ... but first i want to get headers! :D

 

My 96 LT4 dyno'd 304 rwhp and 313 rwtq with just corsa exh. I recently installed the gm hot cam and hooker shorties. I will post dyno numbers when I catch the next dyno day. The sotp test says there is massive improvement in the mid range. The car feels like it will pull up tree stumps at 3K rpm now. My guess is that I picked up at least 20 rwhp.

 

In my sig are my numbers and specs,lt1 though

 

Most people don't want a modified car... When you don't know the previous owner, modified usually equals abused...

I walked away from a few Vettes when shopping for my first base soley on the fact they were modded... Seeing mods made me look at the car more and I found things I did't like...

 

The Hot cam in a LT4 is a nice all around cam. See my sig for my results with it. :cheers:

 

I know you had a modded car before this one, and I think you will love your present cat with the Hot cam.

I have the Hot cam kit in an LT1, but the job was done in two stages. Like you I reasoned that the Hot Cam was spec-ed and developed by GM engineers so it should be a good match for the engine setup. Never mind what others say about the cam having to much lope, or being too mild to be worth doing. It just plain matches the LT1/4 engine very well and gives a mid range bump you can feel, without destroying the bottom end or weakening the top end (relatively). That is a tough job and the factory engineers did a develop a great compromise.

I did my mods in two stages. I got the cam installed and the heads ported by a speed shop, but left the stock monifolds and exhaust on the car. It had an interestig lope at idle, was about 30 Hp stronger, but still felt like the base engine while driving. Just more power all the way.

The second stage was to put on headers and a full 3 inch exhaust. That really woke up the engine, and gave a BIG boost in the mid range that shows on my dyno curve. In road driving I don't need to go to max revs in any gear to go like hell. It spins beyond 6 grand in 1st and 2nd gears so quickly I need to install a shift light. It just has such a boost in mid range that I don't need to go to max revs on the road.

Now how does my LT1 engine compare to what you would get with an LT4? A ported LT1 will out flow a base LT4, but the torque curve will be similar. Your LT4 block is capable of spinning to 7 grand and the Hot cam will get you there. I'm rev limited while you will not be. You will be all smiles.

Why with C4 prices plummeting from the new car discounts does any one of us worry about what the next owner is going to think? As long as the car is still tractable and not made into a dedicated race car, who cares? Enjoy it to the max.

 

Ditto with everything. Yeah, i'm not too worried about immediate value of the car. I LLLOOOVVEEEE some lope to idle. That's really what I want, lol. The HOT cam in my LT1 383 was nice. The only thing that i didn't like was that it was an automatic, so the torque converter would slow down the engine too much that I couldn't keep the idle low the way I wanted to... had to keep it around 950 i think. With the 6spd I can keep it down around 800 probably, and more of that lump will show up.

The only thing that I'll have to worry about is keeping emissions happy. I don't think it should be THAT big of a problem with all of my ECM programming knowledge... but that's the only thing I'm really worried about.

Does anyone know where there is a "how-to" on just the cam swap. Last time I was deep in an engine it was completely rebuilding my 383, haha. So i don't want to do more work that I have to. Not sure when I'm going to start doing it, but now that I'm out of work I'm really wanting to get started :). Plus I have the WHOLE 2 car garage to myself now, muahaha.

 

Glock... is this your car now???? if so enjoy it as you'd like to enjoy your car now.. or sell it and go back to a less value sensative edition of the C4. I have an LT4 collectors edition that is sitting in my shop right now with the motor out and it will be getting some very friendly mods in the near future. the thing is people always worry about the resale value of a car with limited production numbers because way down the road they will be classics perhaps. if your worried about your investment, look at it like this your investing in your enjoyment and happiness, if you bought the car to make more money with it in the future you would have been better off buying something your not affraid to play with and putting the other money in CD's or other low risk investment stocks and buy one down the road someone else put in a bubble with the money you earned in interest over the years while you were enjoying the car you bought to have fun with. just my philosophy on life.. you can only LOOK at a car with no scuffs, mods, or mileage on the original tires before you lose interest in it, at least for the people out there like me who are more hands on oriented... enjoy your car.. if your that worried about it add another C4 to your collection.. :cheers:

Chris
Drive it like ya stole it!


[Modified by lcvette, 2:45 PM 1/11/2004]

 

I'm not worried about the car as an investment, more so just to see how many people I would eliminate from wanting to buy the car if I have to sell it for some reason. I'm definitely going to put a cam in though, because i love a cammed car :D :yesnod:

 

:cheers:

 

I always figured when I put in a cam it'd be an LT4 hot cam and this discussion has cinched it. Sounds like just what I want, lope and all. And I don't care what someone will give me for my car because it's NOT FOR SALE! Mod on............

 

"I don't care what someone will give me for my car because it's NOT FOR SALE! Mod on..........."

WORD!~! :D haha I definetly Agree

 

I'd love to put one in my car, but i'm fund limited at the present time... I'd like to do it myself as well, but i'm not sure of my abilities to do the job right the first time.

 

Everytime I talk myself into saving money, I get on here and you guys are talking about how much you love your hot cams. I bought a hot cam kit 3 yrs ago, and until last year never installed the forst piece. Last november, after an opti swap, I installed the rollers. That proved to be a simple install. At that time, I did a lot of research into the hot cam swap, only to find that the extreem duty timing chain would not work with the 93 optispark that I had just purchaseedx and installed. Now that being said, does anyone know of a timing chain that will both fit my 93 opti and be strong enough to handle the hot cam? I had heard that some camaro guys had mananged to find a older timing chain that would work. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of this. thanks.

 

I plan on sticking with the Heavy Duty chain that comes with the LT4. Should be fine for me. :thumbs:

 

Actually the factory LT4 chain looks like a bicycle chain. I always use the extreem duty chain. I have some picks if I can find them.