Hey guys, just wondering what everyone's opinion is on selecting a cam for my car. I want a mild cam only setup that doesn't require a terrible amount of tuning. I will be running with stock a4 and rear for awhile with this setup so I don't want anything too aggresive. Street manners are important, it is my daily driver. Any opinions on tried and tested cams out there?

Also any guestimates of "hours to install" on these cars would be great too.
Thanks.

 

this kind of thing comes up at least 10 times a week.

i suggest a custom grind. something around the 228ish range will be great for what you want, very drievable, and through an auto 390ish rwhp should be easy (would be 400+ through an M6). also, correct me if im wrong, something like a 110 or 111 LSA will bring the powerband down so you dont have to spin it so high and there is plenty of low end. just find a tuner that knows what hes doing with that kind of LSA. do you plan on adding a converter at all?

 

imo,with any cam you select u need to have all the supporting mods to get full potential of your setup such as a stall and long tube headers. that being said,im really happy with my tsp 228r@112 lsa. keep in mind also that your gonna need hardened pushrods and upgraded valve springs to work with that cam (or any aftermarket cam). also if your car has a lot of miles its good insurance to add a new oil pump and timing chain to your parts list. u can call texas speed and they can help recomend you a cam to suit your needs and goals for your car. good luck either way. let us know what you decide on.

 

i would not get a cam unless you have longtubes and a stall first

 

+1

To the OP, your current supporting mods don't lend themselves to any of the flavor of the week cams around here. Are you planning for headers and a stall? If so, you should probably do the headers first, then save up for stall/cam/tune all at once.

If you're asking what cam works with a stock A4, Stock stall and stock exhaust manifolds, there are several out there, but you must keep a few things in mind:

Stock A4's don't like to shift above 6100-6200 rpms. The more you rev it, the shorter it's lifespan will be without some upgraded internals.

Stock converters are already a limiting factor for these cars, and a cam with a decent amount of overlap will need to idle fast enough to pull through the stock converter.

Stock exhaust manifolds don't like any positve overlap, power production will begin to fall off as you pass beyond negative overlap with increasing duration or decreasing lobe separation angle.

There are several directions you can go, but more info is required to make any valid suggestions.

 

Okay thanks guys, very good info as expected. Hammertime, that's the first time someone actually explained why the stock stall and upgraded cam don't make sense, thanks. So if someone from Cali wanted to cam their ride they'd have to go with a fairly mild setup with the existing manifolds correct? Just curious. I would love to have a stall but had someone at a local tranny shop talked me out of it, something that flies in the face of "looking to scalp me"! I just don't want to blow up my tranny lol, whether it be death by grenading tranny or camtacular over-loading

I guess the voice of reason would say to just stall it and throw some long tubes on. I 'd want to go catted y with a fairly low stall.

 

LTs, 3600 stall, and a cam like a TR224 are tried and true streetable combos.

 

since longtube headers arent street legal in cali, you may try high flow cats and upgraded Y pipe. your stock cats are worth $$ so dont throw away.

 

hit up PatG or PreditorZ on here for a custom cam.

 

A good stall can shed up to half a second off your 1/4 mile times. I ran bolt ons with a 4k stall and stock gears and ran the equivilant of low 12's high 11's. I say equivilant because we only have 1/8th mile tracks around here and using the 1/8 mile time x 1.555= 1/4 mile time formula puts me in this range.

 

ASA cam or Hotcam with your current mods. Add some LT's and at least a 3200 stall and a 224/224 581/581 cam on a 114lsa would be right up your alley.

 

Look at a TR cheatr cam if you wanna stay stock exhaust and vertor.

 

Futral cam 3600 stall and supporting mods.

 

i would definitely do atleast a 3600 stall and atleast a TSP 228R cam. lots of people running that cam.

 

I agree with the other members, gotta get a good stall (talk to Circle D) then build from there.

 

I'm guessing your trans shop wasn't thinking that the tuning could be changed to accomodate the higher stall. Most people get a tune after installing a converter to fine tune the drivability and shift points.

If this is truly your daily driver, what mix of city and highway driving do you drive? For a mostly highway car, you may not notice a big difference in fuel economy. If you do a lot of stop and go driving, be prepared for your mileage to take a hit.

What is your ultimate goal? Make some more power? Turn a certain ET? Just amp up what you already have? Be honest with yourself about how you use your car, and choose your mods wisely - you be much happier in the long run.

 

Well I don't have a nearby track, I don 't street race *(but love to get on it from time to time, and hey you never know when you'll need to accelerate from a light real fast with a Cobra coincidently beside you accelerating equally as fast ). In all honesty et is not really important to me I guess, since I have no way to measure it. Just looking for a little more of what I already got is all. Thanks again guys. Are Hotcams really worth it?

 

Some will say no but I can't see a 219/228 duration grind not gaining something over stock and since its ground on a 112 it will give it a really good choppy idle that will make it sound a little bigger than it really is. I think the lift is .525/.525. so a set of LS6 springs would get you good to go. Really though I would get a 3600 yank SS stall and a 224r or a 228r on a 112 lsa if you want a choppier idle since your a A4 and don't want to spin the crap out of your stock tranny a 224 or 228 on that LSA should be peak at 6100-6200 rpm. While a 114 will give you a smoother idle and be easier to tune to some degree it will also push your powerband up a good 300 rpms which wouldn't be good for your stock tranny's longevity. Go a little bigger because I've heard so many people saying I wish I had gone just a little bigger always on the boards. The TR Cheatr cam is also a very good cam to look into as SOMbitch said. I think its specs are 215/230 if I'm not mistaken not sure on lift or what LSA its ground on.

 

Your profile says you are in Ontario, do they have the same emissions constraints as California (Cats in the stock location)? If not, I would recommend you do the following mods, as time and money permit, in this order.

1.) Long tubes and catted Y
2.) Pulley
3.) Test pipes or cut-out's (if the first step isn't loud enough, either of these are easy to reverse)
4.) Ditch Diablosport/SLP tune for a good dyno/drivability tune

At this point you've made your car marginally louder at cruise, but it should give a little extra thrill when you mat the gas. In the process, you can gain 25-30 rwhp, and give up little to no fuel economy at light throttle, where your daily driver lives.

The last steps you can make with minimal compromises include intake swaps and or a head swap. Here your budget will largely dictate the results. Switching to a FAST intake can gain you a few more HP, but doesn't necessarily come cheap. Bolting on some stock LS6/243 heads should get you another 15-20rwhp, while aftermarket castings can step up from there, up to around 30 or so rwhp. It would be tough to make much more without a camshaft.

From here, a mild cam that works around the stock auto and converter could gain you another 15-30rwhp, and shouldn't stink things up too much. Expect to lose some of your city fuel economy though, 10% to 20% depending on the size of the cam.

On the otherhand, a converter will get you a much better holeshot, at the expense of a 15% to 30% reduction in city fuel economy (again depending on how high the stall is). You should notice a nice SOTP improvement, provided you can put the power down.

Any of the above would best be combined with tuning, so you may opt to do them as part of the 4th step above. Of course heads, cam, intake and a stall would be ideal, but at some point, it's easy to go overboard, and we are still talking about your daily driver.

If you throw your credit card or check book at your car and do everything you can in the interest of making it fast without being obnoxious or to friendly at the pump, you could push 380 to 390 to the rear wheels, dip deep into the 12's at a stock weight, and still maintain 90% of the daily drivabilty. A converter will hurt your fuel economy more than a cam, but then a good cam will need more converter

The old adage still applies "cheap, fast, reliable - choose any two"

 

Wow more good info. Thanks guys, I've heard much about these cheater cams and might look into that. I am in Ontario and no we don't have the same constraints as Cali. I am thinking pacesetters with catted y, leave the dual dual catback, leave the slp tune (no tuners/dynos around here, four hour drive away ) since I did notice a nice sotp improvement and better shifts etc. Took off torque management etc. I will go with a 3400 stall with 2.1 str. Heads and cam I'll be doing together of course, so I need to look into how a cheater will work with 243s. How worth it is porting the ls6 castings? Ls6 springs (if they will cut it?), and I'll leave in the stock 323s.

Side note: what's the best way to increase tranny longetivity? Built 4l60e? Or 4l80e? Just wondering for future reference.

So.... if I go with lts, catted y, stock slp catback, same lid/intake man, 243s (maybe ported), hotcam or cheater cam with springs, I should have a good daily driver with a little extra zoom right?

Thanks again guys, some of this work will have to wait till next spring so I'll start with the bolt ons. Maybe a ported tb and pulley if money permits, but definitely lts.