A friend works at a car lot and they received in an 07 that had a cam, titanium rods, and springs, and nitrous. They pulled all that off and are looking to sell it at a good price.

I've been thinking about upgrading, but don't know much about cam's. The cam numbers are. 231/234 .640 .590 112LSA Tri-Trak 2400-6800 power band. I found out that the 231 is the degrees at which the intake valve opens, and the 234, is the degrees at which the exhaust valve opens, and the .640 is the lift, and the .590 is the duration. (At least I think that's how it goes) But not sure what it means as it relates to power and sound. and will it work well with my LS2. Or if my goal is about 525-550rwhp, do I need a cam? or will NSO do the trick alone, safely, without major strain on motor?


My question is, is the a mild or wild cam? Whenever I hear about cam changes, it usually goes with heads. Will I need to do both? I don't want my engine to sound much different. I've got SLP headers on it now and about to change to Kooks with a off road x-pipe, so it's going to be loud with that alone.

Looks like nitrous is the next thing on the list, mostly cuz SC is out of the budget right now.

Any suggestions?

My current power mods
SLP Headers and x-pipe with high flow cats,
Borla, touring
RAM dual disc clutch, which is coming out as soon as I can. don't like the disc rattle.
Alum. flywheel.
Vararam
street tune
dyno'd at 388rwhp, looking to get to 525-550rwhp after N2O.

 

This cam is between mild and wild. Its not extreme and its not going to get you to 525 rwhp. If you add heads and headers and the other supporting mods you should get about 450 out of it. It will be constant though unlike the NOS which will only be in a burst and it will be good useable power with some good torque too I would imagine.

 

That is the Thunder Racing Trak Cam. While Thunder has an excellent line of cams. I will say that this cam will dyno very good and have excellent numbers, the problem is that this cam just does not run down the track at all. We have tried it, had personal friends try it..etc etc. IMHO you can find a cam that will make less power on a dyno and run faster down the track. Give me call I'll be happy to talk to you about cam design. Just thought I'd give you a heads up on this particular camshaft.

Shawn

 

+0.640 on lift, have fun changing springs every year! lol

 

Reading your post it looks like you are a bit "GREEN" when it comes to understanding cams let alone NOS, you would certainly benefit from taking Shawn up on his offer and letting him help you with some technical information.
The more you understand modding your car the better your results will be.

 

He can get 450 out of it w/out heads, I did.

With heads he could get close to 500 or maybe more.

Nitrous you could get almost as much power as you want but I'm not sure how much nitrous you can spray while not turning your motor into a grenade. Others on the forum can tell you alot more about the nitrous than I.

 

150 shot will get you to your goal. I'd put the money into a properly installed nitrous kit. If you use it on the street, you might want a progressive controller if you are not rolling on r compound tires.

 

The .590" in the cam specs is the exhaust valve lift, not the duration. The 231/234 is the duration for the intake and exhaust valves, not the degrees at which the valve opens.

In my opinion, this is a fairly aggressive cam, especially in terms of the lift. As has been pointed out already, you will need dual valve springs with these aggressive lobes, and your valve spring life could be rather short, say 10-20K miles.

 

If you're going to add nitrous, why not start with a cam that has better street manners? You can get within a few hp of the cam you're considering with one that will be a whole lot easier to live with. If the power numbers don't float your boat, add a little more nitrous. 550 at the wheels should be easy with nitrous and a cam that has stock or near stock manners.

 

Thanks guys, I always seem to get good advice here. I've decided not to pursue the purchase of the cam. I do need a bit more info though. Which cam would you suggest to get the drivability?

 

I would leave it as-is and just spray it like Ragtop 99 suggested. A cam install will be about $1800-$2400, a nitrous kit is about $550 (but without electronics, purge kit, racetronix harness.. so just leave it as $1200 for a good nitrous kit with all the bells-n-whistles). Buy your friends n2o kit if its clean and well maintained, or look here on this site for a used kit. If not, Nitrous Outlet, Nitrous Express, Cold Fusion etc all are good kits. (even TNT if you can find a kit)

I'm at 446 rwhp w/stock heads and intake, but its a pretty aggressive cam.