KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

I've been looking into a cam swap on my 98 for some time. I started out wanting a 224 cam of some type, but then i fell in love with the various torquers that TSP has put out. My goal is to stay around the 6500-6700 rpm range. My biggest reason for loving the torquers is the dyno numbers. It seems that if you've got a couple of cam supporting bolt-ons then you're most likely going to make above 400rwhp, while staying around the 6600 rpm range.
When i first started asking questions about cams, people always said "either get a VHP or Crane cam that works with your VHP tuner", or "get any cam you want and get a real dyno tune". I know that i would see a better dyno if i had a custom tune, but i bet i can get fairly close to 12.5:1 with the tuner and a wideband. It might not be as good because its an adjustment accross the board, but still adequate.

So, with the tuner in mind i started looking at VHPs cams that were pretty much made to use with it. I ran accross " THE BEAST ". This is about the closet VHP cam to the torquer that could find.
DUR @ .004" 290*/ 294*
DUR @ .050" 228*/ 232*
LIFT .600 /.600
OVERLAP 68*
LSA 112*

This isnt actually the beast, its just exactly like it but with .600 lift instead of .551

My question...HAS ANYONE EVER USED IT?? What Dyno number have you seen? Or should i just get a widely used cam like one of the torquers and get a real tune. The VHP cam would be different, you have to admit...but there may also be a reason for that. Let me know what you think.

black97ss

iTrader: (6)

if you ask me Trex all the way. i love my trex! it just makes cars a entirely different level

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

i was actually looking at TRs webpage at the trex when you posted. Aside from what THEY say, where do you actually shift with stock 98 head and block?

MNR-0

Thats the cam I have, and I seriously daily drive in it 2-3 hrs a day in peak hour traffic - no worries. If you have an auto you will need 3200+ stallie and 3.73+ gears. Manuals will benefit from 3.91s with this cam.

I ran 122MPH on 26.5" ET Street Radials, GTO. 3400 stallie and 3.73 gears, ported LS1 heads, open headers. Killer idle...

Personally, I would retard the cam 4* based on their specs. or get one ground with 1-2* advance only. 918s or duals are a must.

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

are you talking about the beast or trex?

Billdog350

iTrader: (3)

The 228/232 is a highly recommended cam from most of the forums I have seen. It's similar to the G5X1...VERY streetable and still huge gains. That's what I'm going with...plus a set of ported LS6 heads...should be killer.

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

i wish that i could do just a cam, lol. Theres so many other things needed, like an intake, gears, clutch, oil pump, etc. Im going to have to wait a while before i can do anything to it, and in that time im sure that i will change my cam wants too. I wish i could drive a cammed ls1 first to feel what i want. I wish someone offered everything in kit: oil pump, chain, springs, cam, spring compressor, p-rods, gaskets, etc. I havent seen a FULL kit ever.

But i guess my goal for a cam is still to not spin very close to 7grand, and be able to drive it every day, and make at least 415rwhp cam only. I know the torquer V3 would do that for me, but that intake lift is a spring killer in a DD car. Id like to stay at or below .600 lift if i could help it.

black97ss

iTrader: (6)

with my trex cam i should shift around 7000, my shift light only has plugs for 6,800, but lately the only time ive been hitting those high of rpms is when im street racing

LS1IMPULSE

iTrader: (42)

He is certainly not talkin about the T-rex, to be honest The T-rex is defiantly a good cam but from what youve said it is not the cam you want. Its power really starts to come in at 4K+, 2K and below is useless and is some cases (mine) the car will cam surge if you go below 2K,its really made to live in high RPM's.

Check out some of the other vendors cams to, I just bought an FM14 and Im waiting for it to arrive, also a buddy of mine has the TR 230/236 and that is a great cam, he put down 412HP with full exhaust, and lightly ported heads. Another good cam people have been talkin about lately is the Trak cam, altohugh that will have most of its power in the higher RPM's aswell

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

I saw the trak cam, im going to do some more "searching". The only reason that i posted a thread was because "beast" gave me nothing except for "man i tell you what this cam is a beast", over and over. Im kinda lookin at the VHP cams because they're suppost to be extremely compatable with my tuner, for that matter any CraneCam would be.

Im so confused about cams, my first car was a 1968 BB pontiac with a 244/244 292/292 .490/.510 110lsa and it didnt sound nearly as nasty as say a 228/230 ls1 cam. Oh well, two different animals.

So has anyone used VHP "The Beast"?

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

I have the 056 VHP cam, which gave me a solid 40 hp cam only.

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

To the wheels? Nice, thats a significantly smaller cam with less durration too.
DUR @ .004" 278*/ 286*
DUR @ .050" 216*/ 224*
LIFT .551/.551
OVERLAP 53*
LSA 115*

You may have just really peaked my interest in the 049 cam

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

So, has ANYONE EVER used the 046 cam?

MNR-0

Yeah Im talking about "THE BEAST" cam, not TREX. TREX will make more power higher in the RPM band, but its not really streetable as a daily driver. You can, but it would be a bit much for me...

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

I was in the same boat as you at one time, and got to drive one once (but this also had Patriot Heads, and the cam was a Magic Stick 3). The low end was pretty soft under 2k RPMs, and it needed a little more gas from a stop to get going (probably due to the huge cam size). Get it over 4k RPMs, though, and it looked like a cat did when I shot it with a paintball gun - it just squatted down and took off. Pulled clean all the way to 7k RPMs, and that was untuned at the time.

It is hard to explain, but I can see why cams are so addicting, and why a lot of people do them.

Byter

iTrader: (1)

I drove the .551 lift version for about 500 miles with 1.8 Crane cams after originally having the cam in my sig. I really like the cam. It is a beast between 3000-7000 RPM. I only switched back to my sig cam because it has a little better daily drivability (but I never did have a computer retune for the BEAST).

My current cam has a tick more low end SOTP feel (last dyno 420 RWHP/ 400 RWTQ). I never dyno'ed with the BEAST but from my SOTP feel, I'll bet the RWHP would be in the 440 area and RWTQ around 410, but probably not as flat a curve as my 224/228 (just a guess, though).

All in all, I liked the cam. If you decide to go this route, I can sell you mine for $200.00 plus shipping.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

Yes, to the wheels. Just my opinion, but for a street driven car, bigger is not always better.

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

If i do get the beast then im after the .600 lift version, but thanks for the offer, byter. I wish that with every cam that was sold on the internet had a dyno graph with it. Maybe the guys at VHP have a dyno graph tucked away somwhere. Thanks for all the help yall.

vettenuts

iTrader: (4)

Contact either Joe or Roger Vinci, they are very helpful

NBMgreg

iTrader: (7)

i have a g5x1 cam coming to me next week, VERY similar specs...

228/232 .588 .574 114lsa

i did extensive research before buying it, and asked quite a few gurus, and it seemed to be perfect for what i want, EASILY daily drivable, for those days where i'm not in the mood to have my car surging and stalling, and it will still make GREAT all around power for the days where i am in the mood for it lol. i also have an electric cutout, so with the cutout closed, it should be fairly tame and quiet, but when i open it, it will have a pretty good lope to it and will be very loud.

other people who have the g5x1 have dynos with the cam, ls6 intake, and full exhaust right around 390-400rwhp.

i say go with "the beast", the specs look perfect for a good DD cam, and if it works with your tuner, thats even better.