Cam question?
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore & Ft Lauderdale
Cam question?
I am buying a 1998 c5 that has the following mods...
- Granetelli Cold Air Intake
- BBK Ceramic Coated Shorty Headers
- Corsa Touring Stainless Steel Cat Back Exhaust
- LS6 Intake Manifold
- Stock heads ported and polished with Patriot Valve Springs, Comp Camp Push Rods, Titanium Retainers
- Comp Cam Part#54-414-11
http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...6&sb=2Duration 269/273
Duration @.50 216/220
- SLP Performance 2600 Stall Converter
- SLP Performance 3.42 Rear Gears
The car was tuned and on a dyna pack dyno, it made 353 rwhp and 379 ft lbs tq.
My question is do you think the cam choice is good for street and light track use? They say it is a mild cam and it doesn't sound bad but is there any long term effect to using this cam? I know very little about cams and just wanna make sure I am not making a mistake. Thanks in advance for any help.
- Granetelli Cold Air Intake
- BBK Ceramic Coated Shorty Headers
- Corsa Touring Stainless Steel Cat Back Exhaust
- LS6 Intake Manifold
- Stock heads ported and polished with Patriot Valve Springs, Comp Camp Push Rods, Titanium Retainers
- Comp Cam Part#54-414-11
http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...6&sb=2Duration 269/273
Duration @.50 216/220
- SLP Performance 2600 Stall Converter
- SLP Performance 3.42 Rear Gears
The car was tuned and on a dyna pack dyno, it made 353 rwhp and 379 ft lbs tq.
My question is do you think the cam choice is good for street and light track use? They say it is a mild cam and it doesn't sound bad but is there any long term effect to using this cam? I know very little about cams and just wanna make sure I am not making a mistake. Thanks in advance for any help.
Last edited by Topless C5 Vette; Sep 24, 2013 at 08:33 PM.
Supporting Vendor
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 4,408
Likes: 1,415
From: Mesa Az
that is a silly small cam, you can easily go with something larger and being an auto it will drive great as the converter will help eat up the chop/surge. i'm not saying go full crazy but at least do a 228 minimum on the intake duration. if you have any other questions please feel free to pm me.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 22,025
Likes: 192
From: At the beach in little Rhody
The long term negative effects will be more prevalent with a larger cam, not a smaller one. )For example valve spring replacement requirements.) Depends on whether you are happy with the performance. I ran a cam of that size range for a few years. It is well suited for the street if you are not running high RPM all the time.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,922
Likes: 219
From: West Branch, MI
Yeah, with that mild cam, you should be good for a long time unless you feel the need for more HP. Using my very un-scientific method of figuring crankshaft HP, you have about 442 hp at the crank. I've been told that typically, you'll lose about 20% of your HP before it makes it to the rear wheels on an automatic. Manual transmissions lose about 15% so they'll make a little more to the rear wheels if all other things are the same. When you consider that a stock C5 makes 350 crank HP (factory rating), the mods on this C5 almost add 100hp over stock. With the gears and the stall converter, should be a very fun street car if you have the tires required to hook up properly. If you want even more, there is a lot of C5s here on the forum that are running 400-500rwhp without using forced induction. With the setup you have on this car, you could put a turbo or supercharger on it and easily get 500+rwhp. It would be a real sleeper too with that mild cam. So to answer your original question, that cam will not be a problem in the future. IMHO, you'll probably want a little more. 
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore & Ft Lauderdale
Thanks a lot guys. I'm gonna keep that cam setup. Now i wanna take it to the track and see what kind of numbers it will put down. Any predictions? It currently has Nitto Invos street tires on it.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,060
Likes: 290
From: Pasco WA
I predict you'll get alot of wheelspin. Do you know how old your Comp cam is? About 7-8 years ago they had some real problems with their lobes losing their surfaces. I'd go bigger, BTW; awesome size for your gears/stall should be about 228-234@114. Lots of powa left on the table. Depending on your present compression, 380-400 should be doable.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 12,209
Likes: 2,813
From: Fort Worth, Texas
If you're going to go with a bigger cam, then I'd recommend going with long tube headers as well. More lift would take better advantage of the ported cylinder heads and together would net you another 40rwhp I would estimate. Feel free to contact me with any questions, good luck at the track!
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,312
Likes: 8
From: Frisco Texas
That cams pretty tiny. I thought mine was small (Stage II A&A) 
Before tracking the car I'd get used to it a little first. This car can bite hard if you don't respect it. Also I would look into some little suspension upgrades like Endlinks and Shocks.
Ill have Bilstein Sports for sale next week
Before tracking the car I'd get used to it a little first. This car can bite hard if you don't respect it. Also I would look into some little suspension upgrades like Endlinks and Shocks.
Ill have Bilstein Sports for sale next week
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore & Ft Lauderdale
I predict you'll get alot of wheelspin. Do you know how old your Comp cam is? About 7-8 years ago they had some real problems with their lobes losing their surfaces. I'd go bigger, BTW; awesome size for your gears/stall should be about 228-234@114. Lots of powa left on the table. Depending on your present compression, 380-400 should be doable.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,060
Likes: 290
From: Pasco WA
I meant overall CR, not cylinder pressure. You'd need a spec sheet of your head work to know if they were milled, and how much.