Alright, tons of questions here.

I'm thinking of possibly upgrading my cam.

1: What kind of cam would have a lumpy sound and sick performance, but still be able to run in the winter when everything is colder?

2: Will I need to do other internals to the engine or any other upgrades while I'm at it to do it safely?

3: How much worse will my gas mileage be assuming I have a fairly high performance one?

4: What kind of numbers can I expect from different types of cams?

 

1. Usually you get a 'sick' sound from a closer overlap (for a given lobe size) as exhaust and intake are open, and causes the noise. Or when you just get a stupidly massive cam eg 240/240 @ 0.050" and about a 0.600/0.600" lift. If you have a good tune it should handle any weather

2. You will at a minimum need new valve springs to handle a larger lift and ramp rate and will have to make sure you warn the engine up, more than usual before flooring it. You can also do pushrods, rockers, LS6 oil pump as extras. And then think about a head swap if you have the cash to compliment the cam

3. Worse, but depending on driving. I just been doing excessive reading about cams and such but dont have one yet. So maybe the other guys will jump in

4. Cams all work with the car as a 'package' stock heads, headers, intake and stock gears will offer improvements. You have intake and exhaust which will make a given cam produce a bit more. The only thing is do you want a good drivable car which is fast, or do you want a dyno queen. Bigger cams put down more hp at the top (in general) but there are other factor such as overlap etc. Thing is more hp at top is not as useable as loads of torque with a lower hp figure, as you would get with a smaller cam. BUt if you have a gear in the rear and get up the revs fast you dont need so much torque and can get a bigger cam etc. All the mods much work together. Decide what you want from the car and if you are going to do anything else. Im taking the advice of experts saying I need to think about all other mods and get a cam to go with that, as when i change mods even thought the cam will be 'good' it wouldnt be the best.

I cant really explain too much as im not a expert, but have done a lot or reading. But keep asking and send some dudes emails at TSP, or llyod elliot, also if you want numbers or dynos, check out thunder racing.

hope this helps

 

Ah thanks very much!

I don't have a dyno near me so I'm just looking for a quick daily driver. I was thinking of getting head swap and lifters and rockers but im not sure how much that'll be for all that plus labor (I don't have the tools to do it)

 

have a look Texas speed, thunder racing and llotd elliot portworks and see what prices they come up with. And im sure they will give you a quote on labour if close, if not a good local shop. I would expect to pay $1500 for head,cam,springs,pushrods , rockers are another $200-300. Then labour will be quite a bit maybe $800 or more, im not sure as I try do stuff myself. With a good head and cam you would be 400 RWHP after a tune ($300 or so) If you get heads it opens up the cam choice to the bigger end as your engine can breath more than with stock heads. But the bigger the worse gas milage. For my auto daily driver im going with something like thunder racings 224/227 @ 0.050" with 0.558/0.581" lift (or something) on my stock heads (at the moment) but will full de catted exhaust with longtubes and LS6 intake manifold All in good time though as i need to save up lol

 

if u are having someone else do all the work i would think it would be in the range of 4k. heres a couple places that u can look at for some ideas.

http://www.advancedinduction.com/AiProductsLT1.html
http://www.elliottsportworks.com/lt1.html

 

If you go with a big cam I would switch to standard flat-tappet lifters, they are cheap. And you'll be able to rev higher! Roller lifters dig into lobes of bigger cams with a heavy spring and start whipeing the cam out quickly!

 

i think comp cams would offer a different opinion. how big a cam is to big? what lifters are u talking about? what break in process do you follow? what spring is to strong?

op this is what im using i guess ill find out how it works out.

LT1 LE2 heads
manley 2.00/1.56 6000 series valves
patriot gold extreme springs (155 lbs seat and 400 lbs open)
205 cc intake port flow about 275/190 CFM
bullet racing cam grind #CLT276/281-12HR 223/230 .565/.565 112 separation
comp cam roller rocker arms 1.6 7/16 pro magnum
tpis performance roller lifters

 

No need to change the lifters or rockers it would just be a waste of money on this kind of build. As said above valve springs are a must even if you run a small hot cam like the GM LS6 hot cam. With most of your milder cams you will need some form of tuning (mail order or dyno tune) For a street M6 car i would say a 232/234 with a 113LSA would be a mean street cam with a agressive but not too choppy idle. I dont think it would kill your fuel milage too bad at the same time. If you wanted somthing a little smaller 224/224 with a 115LSA wouldnt be too bad but any smaller then that is a waste IMOP since cam swaps are not cheap or easy.

 

Just so the newer members know the LS1 and LT1 are like comparing apples to orange's dont read too much into the cam durration, Lift, or LSA since they very a lot from both engines.

 

Okay so basically a head swap and a mild - aggressive cam is not required to have a lifter and rocker swap out too, perfect

My break in is just daily driving, with the odd throttle play

I can't look at texas speed or elliot racing being as I'm from Canada :P it would probably cost me more to get the car there than it would to have it rebuilt.