Hey guys im looking to do a top end job myself (i prefer to do all the work on my car as aposed to taking it to the shop). I just need some help picking out a Kit (if they even excist) including valves, lifters, springs, rockers, a cam etc. My budget really limits me and im its a daily driver but im thinking about adding some horses to it. If anyone can point me in the right directions and name a few good deals on these things id be grateful, thanks inadvance.

 

first of all what is your budget? what has already been done to the car?

 

Its compleatly stock, maybe 1500 is the highest i can go. Prefer it to be lower but if you cant really do this with that kind of money i guess ill have to wait on doing it.

Its up to 135k miles now and the lifters are jsut strting to knock, main reason im doing this my dad says if im going o gget into that i may as well replace the cam in it too, i just want something with a bit more of a deeper rumble along with more horses while still being a good daily driver.

 

valvetrain and cam are in 2 completely different areas. you access the valvetrain through the valve covers on top, the cam slides out the front of the motor and requires you to take off the water pump, timing cover, sprocket, and chain, and remove the radiator and possibly AC compressor. now, if you need new valvetrain components you only have to remove the valve covers and anything sitting on top of them.

also, lifters dont knock. I suppose if the motor is in bad shape and the springs are wearing out you could get more valve float, which is the lifter bouncing on the cam (you cannot hear it to my knowledge since it only happens at high rpm and would be drowned out).

a cam and complete valvetrain upgrade will run you around $700, and that includes a cam, titanium retainers, high lift springs, spring seats, seals, locks, and pushrods.you can bring this price down a little depending onthe parts you pick, but IMO the part quality per dollar saved isnt worth it. i think the lt1 guys recommend upgrading your rockers too, not sure on that one, but thats extra cash. you can buy just the cam and the springs and reuse your seats, seals, retainers, and locks, i just opted not to when I did my cam swap.

if you have a little bit of ticking coming from the valves its not that uncommon, and ticking can be alot of things. try checking for a manifold exhaust leak also since it can sound like its coming from inside the cover.

also (and this is the important part) you arent doing urself any good by putting a cam in with no boltons. Get a new intake, longtube headers (or shorties if you have strict emissions requirements) and a 3" ypipe, and get either a catback or weld in mufflers to open up pipeways of your engine first, otherwise you will overcam and the car will just fall on its face = no good

 

thanks for the info, really helpsful. Do they put all of those into a kit or do i have to buy them individually? Eather way a point in the right direction brand wise / web page where i can get these atwould be appreciated.

 

i would HIGHLY suggest changing to 1.6 roller rockers along with everything spec said. listen to spec, he's a smart guy. to be the safest you'd probably want to buy non self aligning roller rockers which means you'd need guide plates with them and will probably need new pushrods. i personally think spec was being pretty soft on his price. i'd push you to more like 1100 to do it right. if you go to camaroz28.com and look in the classifieds you can usually find used stuff at a pretty good price. but like spec said, your cam will do you no good without a good flowing exhaust, headers to catback, and a cold air intake. that's where i'd start. personally, i don't think i'd do a cam swap with 135k on the ticker. i'd wait and put my money towards the rest of my car like suspension and gears and then save money for when the motor takes a dump. that's my 2 cents though. hope i helped

 

Go for a Cold Air Intake and header back exhaust before you do anything internal, the stock intake and exhaust can't breathe well enough at all to support more than stock internals. As Whammer said, if you do anything internal, especially a new cam, get full roller rockers. They don't necessarily have to be 1.6:1 (a 1.5:1 is actually less stressful on the valvetrain, so if you can get a cam that has slightly taller lobes to target the same lift you can have a 1.5:1 and you'd be better off).

 

whammer, i guess i did spend about 900 on mine all together, but no RR's for me since the ls1 uses..... well i cant remember, the rockers are pretty good factory tho.

it was 250 for a used cam with 3k on it, 450 for all of the valvetrain stuff, and another 100 or so for the oil pump or something like that...... dont know if LT1s need a new oil pump tho

 

i can agree with what slvr said, however when looking at the expected horsepower in the specs of a cam, 90% of them are assuming you're using 1.6 rockers. just some food for thought. either of those 2 guys would be excellent to listen to

 

Thanks for the replies, as to one of the above posts I just put new shocks/struts on and im loving it Ill save my money for cold air intake and new exhaust before doing internals like you guys suggested. Thanks again.