8cylinder6speeds

As I'm going to be selling my lt1 this winter rather than store it I will be buying an ls1 in the spring. I've been researching aftermarket cams as well as heads. Compared to lt1s the ls1s have freakish power and I think i would be satisfied with a cam only ls1, however I see these awesome 400+ cars that are cam only and wonder. Lets say for instance you have a cam only car making 410 to the wheels and along comes a head and cammed car with only slightly better numbers with the same cam and bolt ons. Are the peak numbers telling the whole story here? Is there a significant difference between the area under curve of a cam only car making similar number compared to a heads and cam car? Question i ask is I've seen several guys here making 410-420 with only a big cam, my buddies heads and cam car with basically everybolt on other than an e-pump made only 407 to the wheels. If you matched his car up against a big cam only car making 410-420 which would win at the track?

Bowtieman4life

iTrader: (1)

To many variables to consider. Average power is much more important. Think about the converter you plan to run and what rpm band you will run in. Example: I have an M6. With 4.10 and E.T. streets I cam launch at 3500 rpms so I want a cam that will pull well from 3,500 and up. To big of a cam may not get into its power band until 4500 rpms. Well, your 60 ft is the most important part of the race and the big cam blew it for you.

Also, how high do you wamt to rev thhe motor? I have seen a lot of baby cams outperform the big cams in the 1/4. They may not have the peak # but they have a better powerband. Also, if you notice the TQ # tend to be very close on cam only cars. I run a small cam and have run better than a lot of big cam cars while short shifiting my ride. Even with my small cam, I should be shifting at 6600 rpms and that's not going to happen.

Just some food for thought. Bigger is not always better. You need the right combo to run.

8cylinder6speeds

Why wouldn't you just launch higher with a bigger cam, when my lt1 just had boltons and a small cam I was launching at 4.5k-5k. I'm not concerned having to launch at a certain rpm, it will get launched it what it needs to be launched at. From the few dyno graphs I've seen the bigger cams do indeed make more power under curve than the smaller cams though peak numbers of the smaller cams aren't to far off, like I said i just started researching so i've only seen a few. As far as how high to spin the motor, I would prefer to keep it no higher than 6700rpms as I've heard once you go past that on the stock rod bolts longevity of them is greatly decreased. Even with a big cam as far as i know the rpm band to a certain extent can be altered through the lobe seperation and the intake center line angles. Correct me if i'm wrong on any of this guys.
Thanks

Reckless

iTrader: (9)

It's actually the combination of parts that is important. My car peaks at 400rwhp, but does 11-flat all day thanks to the combo. You can take a look at my dyno (link is in the sig below). No big peaks there, just good solid power from the initial hit.