Hi all,

I grew up working on my own cars with my dad as my teacher. This was before computer tuning and other new technologies were standard. You know, back in the days of points, plugs & timing. Some of you older guys remember this I am sure.

Anyway, although I worked on my own cars I never suped them up or hot-rodded any of them. I have gone as far as replacing head gaskets and a clutch and that's about it.

What I am getting at is I don't have much, if any, experience with camshafts. I'm a camshaft newbie and am trying to learn all I can about them before purchasing. I'm pretty sure I want one as part of my engine package as it seems the stock cam will leave a lot on the table when making other modifications. In the research I have done in the past couple of weeks I have learned a lot but still can't seem to put it altogether. I understand lift, duration & LSA or overlap but am having a hard time trying to determine what specification cam I need for what I am looking for in my car.

I have some questions I am hoping some of our more knowledgeable members either might be able to answer or point me to articles for answers.

My goal: I want a car that leaps out of the hole, has a fast 0-100 time and yet be used as a reliable daily driver. I understand that compromises have to be made and I can't have my cake and eat it too.

Current set-up: A4, 3.15 rear, stock TC, Halltech Stinger, LGM LT's & Borla Stingers.

I imagine I will get comments that I need to change out the rear to get the hole shot I am after. If this is the case, what are your recommendations? Will I need to upgrade my TC? If so, to what? Why? I plan on swapping out the heads as the final engine mod. Do I need to consider this when upgrading my cam? Can I get a cam now that will work with both my current heads and new heads when I get them?

I understand that new valve springs, pushrods and sometimes rocker arms are required but in my research I also read to "Never reuse old lifters with a new cam, even if they've only been run for five minutes. Lifters and cam lobes develop a unique wear pattern almost immediately that won't be compatible with a new camshaft." Then when reading the article on cam installation on ls1howto.com I see no such mention. So which is it?

Any and all comments and/or suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks guys!

 

In my humble opinion,, and because of a little bit of research, I think, depending on the hole-shot your after, that the 3.15 gears with a Yank 2800 stall tc is about all the hole-shot I can stand, along with the upgraded heads/cam package I've had installed in my Vette. It still makes a great daily driver. By the way, if you have too much power and your tires are too sticky, drag radials, etc, you stand a real good chance of blowing out your transmission!

Also, I think you only have to worry about changing "solid" lifters when you change a cam. The ls1, I believe, has roller lifters. Someone will correct me, I'm sure, if I have this wrong.

Lots of guys do only the cam first with great results. Especially since you already have longtube headers. With the right cam, you may not ever want to upgrade the heads. ls6 intake manifold helps alot too! Keep researching until your sure what you want to try.

From what I've read, and been told, and my little bit of experience; You will have the best street drivability if you are willing to also upgrade to at least a moderately higher stall tc.

Someone with more knowledge will chime in on this subject. I only answered cause I wanted to keep your thread up near the top where those someone's will see it, and because I love showing my signature! Plus I want to give advice like I really know what's going on.

 

On the Head and Cam, I'm in the process now...do your homework. Thank God I have a good shop helping me I trust. Your going to get different opinions, but this is what both MTI and HorsePower sales have shared with me. 1. Your tearing the engine apart to put the cam in you might as well do the heads if your planning to do that mod, unless your doing all the work yourself, this will save you labor cost twice. 2. Your there put a LS6 Oil pump(ported/polished) 3. New hardened Pushrods 4. Depending on the size cam you probably need to use the 3200 TC 5. If you plan to upgrade rear gears, again just get it done while your putting the TC in, save on labor charges. Some extras that are a good idea Tranny cooler, Double row Timing chain and Intake/TB. I know it's a lot of money, but you do save a lot in the end on labor cost. Unless like I said your doing the work yourself. Good Luck. Just my .02 as I'm going through the process now.

 

I agree with everything you said, except I really don't see how you are doing the work over again if you wait to do the heads till later. You don't have to take the heads off to install a cam. The most you would have to do is make sure the valves don't drop if your changing valve springs or lifters fall out. Those two considerations are not that hard to compensate for. Might be cause the two tuners you mentioned are removing the engine to do the work. If he was doing the work himself, or even if the tuner was not removing the engine to do the cam, I don't see why the work would be replicated if he waited to do the heads????

 

Optimally, you would do the heads and cam at the same time, and put in new lifters and push rods when you did. It is always recommended to match a new cam with new lifters, as they wear together, however many have done a cam only upgrade and been very pleased with it. One thing you will notice right off the bat with the new SBC is that you have to pull the heads to get to the lifter gallery, unlike the old ones where you just had to pull the intake manifold. And since you are "old school" like me you will be very surprised to see the lifter guides are plastic, heh! Depending on your final lift number, after putting in the new cam and if you change the rocker arm ratio, will determine what kind of valve springs you will need. Almost and\y cam upgrade is going to involve higher lift, therefore, new valve springs. These can be changed with the heads still on, providing you have the right tool, and the springes will go in the stock seats. (Comp 918s being a popular choice, good to .600" lift). The stock LS6/2 beehive valve springs are good to .550-.560" lift.
I would say that the measuring stick for upgrade cams, the midpoint, would be a 224/224 580ish lift on a 114LSA. This coupled with a set of Comp 918s or equivalent, significantly improves your power, is very streetable, good if not better gas mileage, no emissions problems. Any thing less than that is usually regarded as a "baby cam" or an "old man's cam". Going to 228 duration is still fairly midrange, but above that you are getting into the "agressive" territory. As you approach .600 lift, you are looking at going to dual valve springs also. Lower LSA will give you more lope.
So if it's do a cam only or nothing, I'd say do the cam. If you can possibly wait a bit and do the heads at the same time, I'd wait.
Whichever you do, one of the keys is getting it tuned right when you are done, this you will want to go to a pro, or get a mail order tune from one.
You can check out my h/c swap off the webpage in my sig.
Also check out ls1howto.com under the c5 h/c swap.

Hope this helps, Good Luck!

 

Go with the Yank SS3200 if you going to keep your 3.15 gears. If you are going to upgrade your gears to 3.42 or 3.73 gears go with the Yank SS3600.

All LS1s come with a hydrolic roller cams, there is no need to replace roller lifters if you swap cams. Old school flat tappet cams required replacing lifters if you installed a new cam.

 

Awesome! Just the kind of stuff I was looking for guys.

loudsam: Thanks for the tip on "too much" hp. I don't plan on running "sticky" tires but am hoping to get at or about 400rwhp when all's said and done. Is that too much? I take it your Lingenfelter top-end kit included heads/cam. Was there anything else included with that? By your numbers I see you are putting down right about the hp where I want to be and have a similar set up. Mind sharing with me your cam specs?

1stC5weiss: As loudsam stated and I agree -- I didn't think that the heads needed removal for the installation of a cam. And yes, I plan on doing all the work with the help of some friends from the forum (stangkiller & C5 KIDD). Although I know it would be best to do it all at one time, my finances just will not allow that. It's going to have to be piece meal or nothing for me. Doing it this way will also allow me to see the benifit of each mod too.

IFLUBYU: Yeah, I was thinking of using the 918's when I did this. From what I've read, that'd be a good choice for the cam I am thinking about. That's great info about the midpoint cam. Right about what I am looking for too. I didn't want to say it in my first post because I wanted to see what others would say first but with my research thus far I am thinking about going with a 225/225 .589/.589 114 LSA. I really don't think I want to get too aggressive of a cam. I might back down the LSA to 113 or 112 for the lope but I thought I read where it is best to get an LSA of 114 for an A4. Do you know if there's any truth to that?

Mitch C: At this point I'll probably just keep the 3.15's. Would it really be worth it to replace them with the 3.42's? I figured I could pick a set of those up off the board at a fairly decent price but didn't feel that I would gain that much. I guess if I swapped the TC out at the same time I would?

Looks like I'll need to do more research on the stall TC.

Thanks a ton for taking the time and giving me feedback guys. I really do appreciate it.

 

chris and i will be awaiting your choice!! look forward to helping you with the install.

if i was selecting a different cam, i would look into the G5x series cams. they are puting down some great numbers!! im def. happy with my cam for the price i paid. couldnt pass up the offer. of course i wish it was bigger!!

good luck!

 

Good Luck.

 

I would love to share my cam specs with someone!!! LPE wouldn't divulge the specs cause they said the cam was a new design and they didn't want the set-up copied by everyone. They wouldn't put it in though unless I also installed a higher stall tc. The hp/tq #'s are with the converter unlocked. I love the way the car drives and the power is GREAT! Lingenfelter does terrific work, period!

 

This might help you out some with the actual install part.

http://ls1howto.com/index.php?article=1

Just ignore the part about removing the intake, you wont need to.

I just bought a LPE profile cam ground by CompCams. The cam card shows:

224/228 581/588 @ 114

Im hoping this is big and small enough to make decent power while still behaving nicely on the street.

 

Brian: Actually, I don't have the LG LT's on it just yet. I'm waiting on the back order. I just put them down as part of my current set up as I will have them by the time I get the cam. Just doing research right now. I'll be down at Chris' for the LT install and am hoping you might be able to join us for that. I'd definitely like to talk to you and Chris in person about the cam.

loudsam: Ahhhh, the secret cam, eh? Yeah, I probably would copy it if I knew what it was.

VetteNoob: Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I have already read that article several times over and will probably be printing it for reference during the install. You cam is almost identical to C5 KIDD's above except yours has a little wider lsa.