Ive had my car for a few years now. i knew when i got it i wanted to play around with the motor. annnywhooo. i have a 96 Z28 with about 120k miles on it. the intake manifold is pretty much pissing oil. i loose about half my oil in a month or so, i figure its time to rebuild it.
this is what i was thinking.

New LT1/LT4 block 383 but go LT4 with AFR heads(all the goodies that go with them) full intake and such. so the main things i have need to know.

with a motor like that with a pretty boring cam would it pass smog? i was thinking if it would pass smog with the LT4 hot cam in it that i would just throw that in there when it comes time to smog. assuming that works, if i usually ran a more aggressive cam than the hot cam and i just changed it would the car run funny? or is there not much of a need to tune it.

The other thing i wanted to ask you boys is would the LT1 wire harness fit an LT4? or would i need a whole new wire harness.

 

That is a lot of work every year and that comes up fast. So, would you really throw a cam in it and remove all that front off the engine just to pull the cam each time? Is this a street car or a weekend warrior?
As long as you lean out the emissions for smog, you can run it rich a lot faster with a fuel cut than a cam swap.

A wire harness is one more wire for a seat or mirror adjust. The same start up telemetry is still there, so yes, it should work.

 

You don't want to replace a cam every year or two. Your best bet is going to be a tune on a more aggressive cam as PA suggested. You can usually run the car lean to for a day to get it to pass emissions and then go back to your regular tune for the rest of the year.

 

so what kind of cam would be good? This car isn't going to be just a weekend car, id like to drive it more than its parked. but i will have an truck too for work.

 

You would want the best emissions type cam. Some cams really lop and you like that sound, but it is fat at the bottom and that sniffer is going to sneeze out heavy CO and OH my, that is a chimney stack-ed against you.

I read but forgot how the F1 driver is limited to his eye sight and one other thing about HP. It was more like, how much HP do you need if your depth perception cannot stay ahead of it.
I keep telling people if they want to really go fast, do not use your brakes. If we were out on the road, could you hold it in the corner with all that HP? Or will a Honda car come zipping around you?

I think you need time like track time to run what you have. You will scare yourself thinking you need more HP. Try it. It's not all about making HP.

 

hotcam is lame...you don't want that. with a 383, you can run a little bit bigger cam and still pass smog. not really sure why you think you need to go with aftermarket heads...i think porting your stockers would give you more than enough power for what you're looking for. www.elliottsportworks.com. contact him and tell him what you want out of the car and he can help you build it

 

The intake manifolds always leak on our cars after a few miles get put on them (ex. 120,000) Its easy enough to take it off and reseal it with a bead of copper rtv in the rear (big Bead) But if you wanna build it, Yo... just put an aggressive cam in it. Do what you wanna do, u can tune almost anything to be streetable and pass emmisions. Do u live in CA? You will not want to be pulling the engine and switching out the cam all the time HARD WORK no fun.
You will be so disapointed if you run a Lt4 hot cam or the edelbrock performer (that doesnt perform)( i tried them both..easte of time!:-D I got numbers for my cam if you want them...its a custom grind from comp. It wont shake the rearview from the glass but it sounds great..good duration and lift. Why all the talk about the LT4 stuff? If you have a die grinder its easy enough to open up the ports on the intake you have and buy a 58 mm throttle body and gind those openings too. Save lotsa cash (make your own LT4 intake). Also i guarantee the intake is leaking at the rear there is alot of space there. If you have any questions about the rotating assembly purchase contact me..It will be internally balanced but make sure you tell the engine builder to build it balanced. Why not stick with your stock block and have ti bored and clearanced for the assembly? If you wanna get rid of it i can always make room for one more:-D