cam question
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Intermediate
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 34
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cam question
Hey guys I was wondering what's the highest horsepower gain that can be had with a smooth idling cam. I will also consider cams that can have their idle rpm increased to be smooth. Thanks in advance.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,796
Likes: 1
From: Annandale VA
Typical gains from a cam are in the neighborhood of 20-40 peak HP. However, peak HP only tells part of the story, it's the average power across your usable power band that makes a difference.
First, what are your other mods? If you are thinking of installing a cam with absolutely no other mods, you might be lucky to get a 25 HP gain. If you have a 427 c.i. stroker of LS7 engine with aftermarket heads & headers, & higher than stock compression, you might get well over a 40 HP gain.
Also remember that what is a smooth idling cam to one person, might be intolerable to another. Do you have an M6, or an auto tranny? Do you plan to have the car tuned with a computer?
There are dozens of threads on this forum from members reporting their results from cam installs. Do a search. There is a current thread from a member reporting a 55 HP gain from a 224/228 cam PLUS headers PLUS a tune. If you figure 20 HP from the headers and 10 from the tune, that's 25 HP from the cam.
First, what are your other mods? If you are thinking of installing a cam with absolutely no other mods, you might be lucky to get a 25 HP gain. If you have a 427 c.i. stroker of LS7 engine with aftermarket heads & headers, & higher than stock compression, you might get well over a 40 HP gain.
Also remember that what is a smooth idling cam to one person, might be intolerable to another. Do you have an M6, or an auto tranny? Do you plan to have the car tuned with a computer?
There are dozens of threads on this forum from members reporting their results from cam installs. Do a search. There is a current thread from a member reporting a 55 HP gain from a 224/228 cam PLUS headers PLUS a tune. If you figure 20 HP from the headers and 10 from the tune, that's 25 HP from the cam.
Last edited by HITMAN99; Sep 13, 2007 at 07:32 AM.
