A friend of a friend of a friend is building an 88 Mustang (Notch) from the ground up. From what I've heard, he's spent over $10,000 of his parents' money and doesn't really know what he's doing. He overbored it 0.030" to 306 (weak sauce) and thinks calling it a "stroker" will instill fear in me. Haw. I know very little about the car other than it's definitely N/A, but I'm guessing it will put down somewhere between 300-330rwhp from pics on the net.

There's no replacement for displacement.
The challenge: Hot-Rod my 96 Z28 M6 to 1-up his ugly Ford for as little as possible. I will not be pushed around by dinky little Mustangs.



What I was thinking...

Exhaust:
Pacesetter Long Tubes (emissions hookups)
Unsure about Y setup due to sniffer... However, I do have an inside man at the service station down the street
Magnaflow Catback (3" all around)

Intake:
Moroso CAI (will be buying used, no way I'm paying $200 for some slowly melting plastic)
52mm TB

Comp:
PCM Tuning, probably Ion's

Cam:
LT4 Hot Cam Kit (I know, I know -- It's a cliche but I'm not made of money)
or CC306 and the like if I can get it for cheap, kudos to this man: YouTube - ‪lt1 stock heads cc306 dyno‬‏

Etc:
Underdrive pulleys pending price

Any second opinions? Looks like it should give me 330-350.

 

When you do a cam, you can't just do the cam because the stock springs and ratio of the rockers won't allow the higher lift to be at its best. The stock springs will fully squeeze and bind. I've done ALOT of research for my Z and I'm doing this in the next couple months or so.
COMP Cams: XFI™ Xtreme Fuel Injection
If you click on each link for each cam, you will find that they have related links for full lifter and cam kits (minus rockers and pushrods). Then take the part # of the kit and google it and shop for cheaper. Like I'm going to do the XFI 292 cam lifter kit. On their site and Summit, the kit is $750. I found it for $660 doing my method.
CAMSHAFT KIT, LT1 292XFI HR-13
As for the rockers and pushrods...
Crane Gold Rocker Arms, NSA, 7/16 stud, 1.6 ratio [CRN11755-16] - $319.99 : Dave's Total Performance, Custom Car Performance
Comp Cams 7808-16 High Energy Push Rods
I know the rockers are pricey, but that is because they are non-self aligning and 7/16" studs which means they are stronger.

If you did a kit like one of the above and did the other supporting mods you listed, you should walk the crapstain no problem. Also, for like another $200, since you're a 6sp, get yourself a ring and pinion set from either Richmond or Motive. If you DD the car and take it on the highway, I would say 3.73s would be good for you, but if you only do city and don't care about gas, then go 4.10s.
Camaro/Firebird 82-2002 New Motive Gears GM 7.5" & 7.625" 10 Bolt Ring and Pinion Set
An install kit for the rear should be another $100 or so. Hope that all helps!

 

Almost forgot, if you get NSA (non self aligning) rockers, you will need guide plates. Check out summit for those, they are cheap.

 

you have to be really careful with the XFI cams the lobs on them are extremely aggressive and with out the proper setup will beat the crap out of you valve train. Im not saying dont use them they are a great cam. im just say dont cheap out on part and make sure you do a proper set up.

Im not an expert on cam set up but iwas told over a certain lift and rpm range you want to run NSA rockers or you run the risk of one jumping off. but you would have to talk to someone who knows more about it.

I ran a cc502 cam. Lot of guys like the cc503 but i heard they give up some bottom end power. As i have never ran one im unsure of this. I wanted a cam that was fun light to light. The cc502 was supposed to be just slightly better then the hotcam and only in the mid range from my understanding.

loyd helped me pick my set up. Im running a cc502 cam 300 bucks, Howard springs the dampeners need to be removed think i paid 100-150 for the spring, stock retainers and seats, stock push rods and SA 1.6 com mags 200 for the rockers.

all in all i have 500-550 in my cam with out gaskets and timing chain. I rebuilt my whole engine at the time so im not sure what gasket kit you would need as i got an entire gasket kit. your going to need a torq converter if its and auto and you get a big cam. and you will need a tune as well.

By the way i like the performance of my cc502. But your not going to get the nice lope most people like. I like the fact there is no lope it fools people a little into thinking its stock. I like the preformace its noticeably better in the mid range and is fun light to light which is what i wanted.

 

GM Performance 12480002 GM Performance Small-Block V8 Camshaft Kit

Jegs looks unbeatable. It's $90 less than Summit for the LT4 Hot Cam Kit and seems to have all bases covered for a great price. Is it really worth another $300-500 for a better Comp setup?

 

The thing is with the LT4 hot cam kit, or just the cam for that matter, it is overpriced for the performance it offers. You could spend the money for this kit and get some performance for it, but if you look at Summit or the link I said in my above post of the Comp Cam kit, the Comp Cam kit is around $750 because it is also coming with a timing chain set, but the Comp kit doesn't come with rockers so it basically does even out. I'm not sure if you ever did your timing chain once before, but if you haven't, then you are not going to want to do the cam swap and keep the original timing set, opti, or water pump at least.

Just saying, the Comp kit is more expensive, but compared to the hot cam kit, you are getting a better bang for buck IMO. And yes, Adam is right about the XFI 292 Comp cam. It is a pretty aggressive and high-revving cam, but they have the same exact kits with the less aggressive XFI cams. Check out Jegs, Summit, and especially Google. Go on Google and type in LT1 cam kit. You will find pretty god stuff on there.

 

Every time I try that my mind is melted by nonsensical numbers.

 

Lol I know what you mean. Knowing how a valvetrain works and the benefits are difficult to understand at first.

**LT1 Camshaft/Valve Train Selection Guide** - LS1LT1 Forum : LT1, LS1, Camaro, Firebird, Trans Am, Engine Tech Forums

Read all three of the main posts on there. It will tell you the basics of the valve train, as well as the most commonly used cams and other parts needed in LT1 cam swaps. After reading that, maybe you will be able to decide which exact parts you need and know what your shopping for. I mentioned the kit to you only because it has mainly what you need for a cam swap.

 

Here's another idea:

LT1 LE2 «

Those with some Pacesetter LT's and a tune from Solomon. Possibly injectors and a fuel pump.

You're looking at about $3000 total (including incidentals) and I can guarantee that you will smoke his sorry 4th point of contact!!!

Good luck and kill Rustanks!!!!


x01660

 

I was trying to avoid touching the shortblock... and Lloyd's are the best but I'm too poor for that :/

So basically I need the best cam for the money w/o new heads. What will jive the best with my upgrades and won't drain me of all my funds?