renegade123

99 c5 with 154k on it, wanting to eventually put a 'fairly' radical cam kit in it, maybe one of England Greens.......can the motor handle it with current mileage ? last owner took pretty damn good care of the car ..

dlivewyer

Sure you can, but I certainly wouldn't drive it hard.

IDM

I'd say if the last owner drove it easy, it's not a problem at all.

I think the valve springs should be checked if you are revving higher and any other maint. your mechanic sees due fit to make sure the car is healthy before the cam.

choko

some insight.

yes you can do it. should you? why not. i would.

your motor could pop stock at 154k.
spring could break, something could go wrong.

do a cam, and freshen the motor up..

new stronger springs,seals,locks,timing chain. gaskets. and what ever else that may look bad . if you want

your motor may live longer if you do a cam as you may be replacing a part while doing the cam, that could of failed when it was stock.

its a toss up. i wouldnt think twice,. i been there and done it before. with high milage motors. i end up having other issues like. tranny breaking, etc

Rich FTW

If you're putting a nasty cam in it you're going to need to change the valve springs. If the bottom end and is solid, I see no problem in doing this.

rustyguns

keep the lift under 570 and duration less than 230 and lobe separation 114 or higher with new springs. then haul ***. engine is designed to go 300,00 miles!

ps do not use dual springs...go beehive

black98c5

I say go for it! Just make sure you beef-up the valvetrain etc...

BWF07

I am by no means an expert on this, but I have a few questions. Will there be a large hp gain with a "nasty cam" installed, while not doing anything to the fuel flow or the exhaust. By installing a cam you are allowing the valves to stay open longer to get more fuel mixture in to the combustion chamber. You then need to exhaust it properly.

It seems to me to get the true potential out of the cam, you need to make sure you are getting enough air and fuel, which would mean an aftermarket intake and larger injectors. Then a nice set of headers. How about a set of free flowing heads to go along with the cam, air/fuel mixture and headers.

Just a thought.

~Josh

Do it.

Upgrade the oil pump, timing chain/gears.

You'll also get a chance to put new valve stem seals in when you swap the valve springs.

I have a buddy that cammed a 180k mile LS1 (Trans Am) and it was killer all the way up to where he sold the car with 220k miles when he sold the car for more than DOUBLE what he paid!

Vetteman Jack

As long as you freshen up some of the other parts in the motor, why not.

Chris@East Coast Supercharging

Interesting, we always use Dual Springs for any of the larger cams.. Have you had bad luck with Dual Springs?

mojo1

Do it Englandgreen style , I am making 436 RWHP, Mayhemm II stock heads, headers, high flow cats , and I also added cutouts, its fun , loud , nasty Englandgreen power. Their cam kits come with everything to make you motor very fresh!

Gitusum

i have dual springs as well and i have a 600lift cam on a 111 and not a problem 1

renegade123

thats what i'm talking about

mojo1

72,000 miles on my car.

Dominic Toretto

To answer your question, yes you can throw a cam in there. You can put a cam in a motor with any amount of miles. With that said, if you are going to, I would invest in the propper supporting mods (heads, valvetrain, etc) and a tune up would not hurt at all. Main thing is that you want to make sure the motor will be able to produce the power you want for more than 1 week.

-Alex

Chicago1

Worst advice ever with no explanation to back it up. To the op most people have already said what you need I would like to add I would also insure to do a compression check to insure the rest of the motor is still gtg but 150K isn't crap. I have 204k on my DSM with lots of boost no issues their is no "magic" number that says you can't do it and don't drive it hard that's just ridiculous and shows lack of knowledge. Point being make sure eveything is in working order and get a good tune insure you do the supporting mods and have fun!!!

ZR11990fixed

Nasty cams suck. I have them on my ZR1. Put a ECS blower on it and rock and roll.

dlivewyer

The guy asked about putting a cam in it, and if that is all he did, it wouldn't be very wise IMO to push a motor that has 150k on it. More power means more stress on all parts. You guys told him it's ok IF you do about another $1000-2000 worth of work to the motor. That is NOT just putting a cam in a 150k motor. That is freshening up everything but the lower end.

And to the OP, if you want to truly gauge the health of your motor, get a leak down test done. A worn out motor can still have good compression.

jedblanks

curious about that myself.