Are heads necessary with a cam swap?
#1
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Are heads necessary with a cam swap?
Spoke briefly with a guy who has the same car as mine - '94 Z28 M6 - and asked what he had done to it, he advised he had a GM847 cam. I asked him if he had the heads done and he said 'No.' His car sounded good, without being over the top (I think he said he had a Magnaflow exhaust); are heads a necessity for optimum performance only or is it a requirement to ensure the overall well-being/longevity of the engine? Also, has anybody seen those cheap ($50 including shipping) CAI's on E-Bay? I'm looking for a decent and moderately priced CAI for mine, but I have to believe that can't compare to the K&N/SLP/Moroso products out there? Thanks in advance.
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Aftermarket Heads are obviously going to be an improvement over stock, but when upgrading the cam they are not required or anything like that. They do make a substantial improvement when combined, thus Heads/Cam cars. But there are quite a few Cam-Only LT1 and LS1 cars around. Many people also send there stock heads in to be ported by someone like http://www.eportworks.com. I haven't heard too much about the ebay Cold Air Intakes, the main improvement from CAI is in the filter, thus the K&N FIPK is a good system mainly because of the filter, but they are spendy. The overall design of the kit isn't as important as which filter you run, because every kit is pretty similar in design... I bought a K&N just for the reliability and well known proven performance gains... but they Ebay kit would be worth trying for the price, just don't use the filter (if any) they send with it.
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If you just want the sound and a moderate power gain, the cam is fine. You don't need the heads. I expect you will get about 20rwhp with a cam swap. The heads and cam combination makes great power at higher RPM because the engine can flow a lot more air. Heads / Cam cars are a lot of fun to drive. If you have the money to have the heads ported or buy a set that is already done it's great. However, you need headers, tuning, and possibly some better intatke pieces to take full advantage of a heads / cam setup - that's why it gets expensive.
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not required but highly recommended at the same time cause hell when the cam is coming out you've taken off 80% of the stuff you need to get the heads off.... not a job you want to repeat yearly believe me..
#6
With the stock heads, it's best to stick with a smallish cam, like the Crane 210/224. Several people have run low 12's with this cam and stock heads (me included). Frank95Z has been as quick as 11.3 at 116 with this cam and stock heads.