Kind of new to the world of speed associated with the corvette, so I maybe asking a no-brainer question. What exactly is considered a cam only vette? I see builds all the time that say Cam only, but have a ported TB or Intake, some drag radials, a torque converter, and complete new exhaust, just to name a few.

At what point does a car become something more than a cam only car?
I ask this because I am playing with my car to see how much I can get out of it before my next logical step would be a power adder.

 

cam only in my mind....cam, springs, lifters but you probably wanna upgrade the timing change and oil pump while you are in there

 

Can only refers to a mods that consist of normal bolt ons and just a cam swap. Tb, intake, headers, cat back, intake, etc with just a cam and no heads.

 

Cam only is boltons+cam.

There are distinct classes of cars in the LSX world.

Stock
Boltons
Cam Only
Heads/Cam
FI/Nitrous

Each adds to the previous

 

100%

Some see the phrase 'cam only' and might think that it designates a car with ONLY it's cam swapped out for another one but it almost never does. You generally wouldn't install a cam without also having other supporting bolt on pieces such as a cold air intake, headers and of course computer programming/tuning (otherwise the car might not even idle/run). And of course one would NEVER swap to an aggressive cam without also installing new valve springs, retainers, timing chain/sprockets and maybe even pushrods.

 

What about haed work?

Could i remove the stock heads and port them, maybe do a valve upgrade or grind the seats?

Would this be cam only still? Or would this go into the cam/head cat.?

 

Nope. Not as I understand it. Anything other than stock heads puts you at heads/cam.

San

 

True.
Generally speaking, the heads of a 'cam only' motor would have never been removed or had any reason to be.
The only time the valve covers/heads would even be touched is to install the valve springs/retainers.
Any kind of porting/polishing/milling/decking or even a basic valve job is considered 'head work' and would keep a car out of the 'cam only' category on most LSx racing or dyno lists.

 

 

IMO, to remain a cam-only car, the heads need to be on the car as they came from the factory during production. Any removal, even if nothing has changed, puts you in the heads/cam category.

I also think the standard gas needs to be/should be whatever fuel is available in your area from any run-of-the-mill gas pump. 93, 91, 94, whatever. E85, while not as drastic of a difference for N/A cars compared to boosted cars, still allows some extra performance in the tune and as such, does not count IMO.
I think any fuel besides pump gas disqualifies you from being cam-only.

Just my $.02

 

Lol, what about people who can get 94 from the pump?

I don't think any pump gas should exclude you.

 

87, 91, 93, 94, whatever is fine.

E85 comes from a pump but I don't consider it pump gas and I think it differentiates you from others. I think the same thing with meth in an N/A motor(although it is much less common).

 

Is 94 octane (Sunoco Ultra 94 is what is being referred to I assume?) even still available anywhere in the U.S.?
They did away with that in our area like 7 or 8 years ago I think (it's Ultra 93 now).

 

My whole point was that the fuel for the car should be pump gas, not race gas or race gas equivalent for comparing dyno runs and timeslips for a given set of mods.

E85 comes from a pump, but that's not "pump gas."

 

I would have to disagree. e85 in some areas is just as popular or even more so than any other pump fuel whether it's going in a grocery getter or 1000whp car.

I do not personally run the stuff, but it is certainly widespread and available so much so that the government runs it in their cars.

As for if the heads come off the car means it's heads/cam car, that is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. So my car is a heads/cam car with 100% stock heads/gaskets because it has new lifters and arp bolts because it had a lifter problem with the originals?

 

We can get Sunoco 100 out of the credit card pump at PBIR.

Very handy.

 

I don't recall any vehicles in the government motorpool that run exclusively on E85. Flex fuel vehicle =/= E85 vehicle.

Would you consider a car that is tuned on race gas to be untouched or not modded at all?

Should the "bone stock" category apply to those who only have an E85 tune and nothing more, but pick up an additional 15-20whp compared to those with stock computer? I mean, they're just using pump gas, right?

E85 is essentially race gas and as such there is a substantial difference in cars that are tuned on it, and those that are not.

It's all really a moot point anyway because E85 will be gone, or at least the cheap prices will be gone, in the near future.

 

I draw my line a little differently, I don't think you can consider a car with thinner head gaskets in the same category as a car with TrickFlow heads.

I think putting on thinner head gaskets is essentially the same as adding a lighter flywheel, or electric water pump, or porting an intake, in the realm of gains it provides. These things are all commonly considered in the "bolt on" category.

Thus I believe changing head gaskets does not put you in the Heads/Cam category.

Adding aftermarket heads, or even ported stock heads, is a different category from thinner head gaskets as a matter of indisputable fact...when it comes to the gains provided.

Others disagree with me, and that's fine, as these criterion are sort of bald men arguing over a comb....much ado about nothing as it doesn't matter!

OP a more salient demonstration would be my graph of my car showing results as the mods go up the ladder:

1. stock
2. bolt ons (headers, ported intake, tune)
3. cam only (including thinner head gaskets, which are smart to do with a cam to keep DCR up)
4. FAST
5. AFR 205 heads

My track results are in my sig, except stock with slicks which was 12.9@109.

Here is my graph:



And here is my thread with more information, including the effects of 4:10 gears on horsepower at various speeds...if you are interested.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...ast-heads.html

 

IMO, any change to the heads as they came from the factory, to include thinner gaskets, changes the category with which you fall under. If you remove the heads to replace lifters, or clean up the ports, or put in thinner gaskets or what have you, you no longer fall under the 'cam-only' and/or untouched heads category.

You do make a good point Joe as it really doesn't matter and there is a substantial difference in a .040 Cometic vs CNC ported Trickflow 235s.

Even the Corvette Forum fast list does not differentiate between cam-only and heads/cam, but I still maintain my opinion that to remain a cam-only car, the heads in their entirety need to remain untouched.

 

That raises a good point and can lead to a never ending debate on the topic as well. One could even argue that their engine had a bottom end issue necessitating that the heads be removed/reinstalled in order to fix it and done right at the dealership under warranty, and done so without altering the heads from factory stock in anyway.
And even on the subject of the bottom end/shortblock, excessive oil consumption requiring a re-ring job or whatever, is that even still considered a 'stock bottom end' (again using all factory OEM parts)?
ARP bolts aren't factory of course but also offer no real power gain by themselves either, but the truth is they're still not 'stock'.
I don't have the answers either, but these types of discussions have been going on in the LSx world for at least 14 years now LOL.






I'm not sure if Atco has 100 unleaded (I know they have a 104 and higher) but I know Englishtown used to. And we even have a couple of regular gas stations that have 100 right at the pumps (off on it's own little island/area of course) as well.