ok, so let me start of by saving this, I know a little about cams, but I have never purchased or installed one before. be nice. I'm asking to learn...
although my dad does know a little. He built the 1969 Camaro we have (its the "family muscle car") and operates a machine shop, where I will be having the heads gasket-matched, ported, and polished.

Now to the cam... I wanted something pretty awesome, an F-body, but affordable.
so, my car is a 1996 Firebird v6 with a 5 speed manual transmission, the engine's internals are completely stock, with an aftermarket clutch, flywheel, cat and cat-back exhaust, cold air, and an SLP programed performance chip.

I want to put this cam in,

http://www.3800performance.com/Merch...oduct_Count=12

will it work in my engine? I will be buying the install kit with the springs rods etc as well. I also am wondering if the SLP programed chip will work correctly with the cam? thoughts on that please...

since I will have it all apart, I was also wondering, would these rockers work? what would need to be done to put this together?

http://www.3800performance.com/Merch...roduct_Count=0

I am also looking for other valve-train options as well, I haven't ordered anything yet. Please post!

 

aluminum driveshaft and maybe gears... BIG HELP

 

You can but that's not an ideal cam for most. There are better grinds out there.

Your chip is really doing nothing for you. You should get a real tune by switching your PCM with that of a 1997 V6 car and having that PCM tuned to your needs.

Do you have headers yet? If not, get them. You want the engine to breathe before you put a cam in or it will be a waste.

How many miles are on your car? I would advise a little suspension work but if you want just power.

Go with the Abbot Racing Heads grind for the 3800. It's a good grind that makes pretty good power and makes up for the crap exhaust ports we have. Also if you're going to port heads, trying to get a newer head casting from the 98+ cars. They are much less brittle than the older ones. Older castings tend to crack.

You will need a good set of valve springs. 105# at minimum. Along with new locks and retainers. You will need a tune for your car to run correctly with either cam in it as I stated before.

You will also want better gears to get into the cam powerband quicker and easier. 3.42s help but 3.73s would be ideal if you don't do too awful much highway driving. 4.10s are awesome but your fuel mileage will go way down. 3.73s are a nice happy medium. You will need to tune for those as well.

 

Ok cool, so I'll add headers to the list.
are the parts from the 3800 series 2 interchangeable with the series 1 parts?
I didn't think to swap to newer heads for that reason.

As for the gearing, I have a 3.23 eaton gear set in, just a stronger metal version of the stock gears. I do a lot of highway driving too and from school. but I would definitely switch to a one-piece aluminium drive shaft now that you mention it. the stock one would probably last 2 seconds.

So as of now, my plan is to go to a nearby junkyard and find a set of heads from a normally aspirated 98+ 3800, get a set of slp aluminium rockers, comp cam pushrods with 130lb springs, titanium retainers, and then I can put it all together and build it. then swap it, with the abbot cam, and headers into the car using factory replacement gaskets in a weekend.

Good plan?

 

With that camshaft you have to start worrying about not having enough vacume for your break booster. I wouldn't use such a heavy cam on a naturally aspirated motor.

 

He won't have any problem with engine vacuum... I have the exact same cam in my NA 3800. It will not cause any problems.

 

Ah ok. I would also recommend suspension work. I would start with some slp bilsteins and some lowering springs.

 

I agree there with the suspension. Just not so much about lowering. Depends on what you want though. New shocks and some larger sway bars are advisable. Do you wanna drag the car, street/strip, or corner carving?

 

I definitely want a corner carver, so the struts, braces, and lowering springs are probably a good idea, I was thinking about making my own braces... since I'm going to school for engineering and have access to a welder.
so I'm gonna start saving my money. lol.

And I really dont know much when it comes to suspensions though... :/ I just know the car has koni shocks on it right now... previous owner.

 

If you want corners, I would recommend larger sway bars, a strut tower brace, adj panhard, adj lca's. Adj torque arm, tubular k member, and some nice upper and lower a arms. Coilovers and subframe connectors and you have eliminated body roll and most of your bank account