I want to cam up but want to know if anyone has purchased a crane cams programmer. If so does it allow for cam changes with ANY cam, or does it only allow for cranes' grinds??? Thanks, N

 

I saw in you other post you have an A4 do you have a convertor? and if so what stall? You will need new springs also. List all the other mods and I can give you a good idea of what grind to look for, I just went threw all this on my SS. I don't even have the block back yet.

 

I still need to order the converter, as far as springs go, I was just gonna get a set of AFR heads that already come with springs (.650 max lift.) The converter is a 3200 stall. The cams I am considering are in the range of .550 lift with 220 dgrs dur. and with a LS of no more than 112 dgrs. I've seen some of the cams out there like GM's hot cam but the LS is like 117 and thats just way too much for a nat. asp. engine. Thing is, I wanna be able to dial it in with a hand held, I have the predator but all that downloading of tunes seems like a pain in the ***... is it worth it? Would it be better than getting the Crane hand held?

 

117 is basicly a stock LSA. If it were me and you are getting those heads, you might as well take advantage of them and get a bigger cam, like in the .585-.600 lift range and at least 230 dur. at .50. The 112 lsa is going to be great. I would also look at a 3800 stall. Forget the hand help programers, they don't really let you get into enough detail to het the most out of the car. Find a shop or person who has LS1 Edit or a similar program and you will be all set.

 

What exactly is LS1 edit? I keep hearing about it... as for the converter, I dont wanna go too high on the stall as the car is driven quite a bit.(heat) But what about a shift kit? I have heard that ya dont need it. (I firmed up the shifts nicely with the predator.) If I get a converter, it'll make it shift softer... I dont know much about 4l60e's. To get back to the cam thing- I haven't bought the cam yet because I haven't decided whether or not to turbo the car. The turbo is especially appealing to me cause my car is automatic. In which case I would want a cam with around 114 LS. Not much more than that cause I wouldn't run a ton of boost... speaking of- how durable is the LS1? I know the CR restricts boost levels of much more than 6 psi, unless you have a BTM and/or awesome gas. Your car would be sweet with a SC... pick yer boost level with the shifter... hey, you can never have too much fun.

 

LS1 Edit is a windows based program that you put on a laptop and plug into your OBDII port. It allows you to manipulate just about any parameter you want. It will do everthing a Preditor will and a ton more, the down side is the cost, but if you don't change parts around alot just find a shop that has one and dyno and let them dial the car in. It really is a cool program, you can elimate code permanently, for instance if you delete your cats you can either run O2 sims or elimanate the need with LS1 Edit. As for the turbo thing goes, they are nice but as you said our comppression limits how much psi we can run, and the parts in the short block are all cast. I would not worry about the crank but the rods and pistons should be changed out if you really want to run more than 6 psi. The convertor won't really soften the shifts at WOT,plus you can always increase the shift firmness when you get it tuned. I know of alot of people who run 3500-3800 rpm stalls in thier daily drivers, you just need a good trans cooler (which you need anyways) but if you decide to go with forced induction, you will want a convertor that is alittle tighter due to the huge increase in torque that FI produces.I have kicked around the idea of going with a STS turbo set up but right now funds are low and I am on a nitrous kick for the time being. I think in a couple years I may do a turbo, but not a S/C, I like tubos too much to give them up. If I do go that route it will be with an iron block though.

 

Nice. Thanks for all the info.. how tough is that 4L60E? Seems as though I'm gonna have to change a lotta stuff to get to where I need to be. I'd just like to eliminate any worry of getting my *** kicked by certain AWD turbo cars. Pretty childish huh? But thats the truth. If I could get myself into the 11's that would be fine. I love the idea of a turbo, but I sure like the sound of the cam. My 68 firebird has this sound. I'll probly do just like you did and cam up with the AFR heads and a 100 shot. But before I do all that I have to go to a 12 bolt, lift bars, converter and headers with an off road pipe. ...So cam-wise you'd go with something around .580? those cams typically run alot of lift with just average dur. but the Edelbrock grinds have a $hitload of duration (300+) and not much lift... what way should a guy go on that?

 

Those cams that you see with .300 duration are advertised duration, you need to look for "duration @ .50". Cam wise I like alot of lift for a givin duration, as long as you don't run itno piston to valve clearance problems (which you won't an LS1 can take upwards of .600 lift and 240 degrees duration before you worry about clearance issues). As far as I know the 4L60E trans will take deep into the 11's without much trouble. For you suspesion parts I would look towards a company called UMI Performance, they have nice parts and thier prices are reasonable, BMR also makes some nice stuff.