What cam specs are people using with their H/C packages?? How lumpy is the idle?? Is it possible to make good hp numbers but remain "stealth"?? I hear of people making 20-25 more hp by going from 114 to 113 cam, but how much driveability/"stealth" do you lose?? Just trying to educate myself a little more on cams, so any info would be great. :cheers:

 

This is simply not true...the lobe seperation changes the delivey of power. otherwise, the T1 cam would make 40-50 more horsepower than the B1. A 113 would have a peakier curve and pwer would come on a little sooner than a 114 cam, but only like 100 to 200 rpms. Duration, ramp rates, and lift are more important for power production.

T1 peaks slightly sooner than the B1. The smaller the lobe seperation the more lope...

Tony :cheers:

 

Yes and no. You can make power so that the average shmoe can't hear the cam, but most people in the know will pick it up right away. People pick up my cam all the time and it's a small one running through the full exhaust system.

Tony :cheers:

 

Cam technology is often considered a black art...and realistically there are very few hard and fast rules in the world of camshaft selection for a given engine family. Consider the cam the conductor for the orchestra known as the Otto Cycle engine...it is in control of airflow.

I see lots of discussion regarding cam specs....everyone wants to know what the specs are and what the max flow numbers on the heads are.....but in reality that is not an accurate measuring stick for the performance potential of a given package. What is extremely likely is that you will take a friend's recommendation and it will not perform in your car like it did theirs'. That can be in large part to peripheral components that the two cars do not have in common....ie different headers, cats/no cats, intake selection, integrity of engine management sensors, fuel systems, and the list goes on.

I see cam selection as one of the few areas where the "tuner" can really make or break a package/combination. Nilla makes some valid points, but LSA is not the only concern....CL is another important issue, especially on an engine where cam timing changes are not as simple as they are on a race engine with a Jesel drive...or an old school SBC with an offset bushed cam sprocket...or even a multi-index timing set. You have to know that MFG X gave you 114 LSA...but what will it install at? That is the question, and why if degreeing the cam is not an option you must know what the CL is for that cam.

That alone will affect idle quality tremendously....I rarely give out cam numbers because the average customer will have no clue what they mean. Case in point, how many people do you hear discuss cams and only mention lift? As if lift were everything....in my mind, duration is the key to power and the timing of the valve events will make or break the combo.

With all of this being said, decide what you want and express that to the person doing your work. If you want to make 800 to the tires on the stealth package...you better think about moving away from anything NA. Stealth can still make power and is actually what I prefer....but many people want to announce their presence with authority, and I can accomodate them as well.

In all honesty I believe it is the work of my cylinder head man and my experience in cam selection for a broad range of applications that provides the numbers you see from Vetter's car....and hopefully Brent's car if we can ever get it on a dyno. To borrow an economic theory term....we must compare the H/C numbers ceteris parabus...or assuming that all other possible influences remain constant. That is the only way to effectively qualify and quantify the work at hand.

For those that are interested, I will be doing C5 work out of my shop....and will be developing some new combinations that will break from the traditional tuner mode for LS1/LS6 applications. :D :hat


[Modified by houseofspeed, 1:43 AM 10/27/2001]

 

Thank you and EXACTLY! One only needs to investigate the stock eliminator class to understand where the "majority" of the power comes from. Yes it is! In layman's terms, duration is the size/power making ability of a cam, LSA is idle quality & curve shape, lift tweaks the numbers. "Kind of"...to help make sense of this..."black art" It get confusing and can be so clear once you start to "understand"AMEN! Outline your "needs" and be happy with the results. If a shop isn't willing to meet your needs then move on to one that will.Congrats Kyle....hey, I see you are in HALO. You ought to come out with them on Nov 10th for CCB. Those guys are in a tight race for 1st with the fbodys and I'm just trying to crack the top ten list. Chuck Shelton & Noel McGayhey are good guys to hang with and compete against.

Tony :cheers: