ASA and a old motor
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
From: Houston, Tx
ASA and a old motor I have a couple of questions about the ASA cam I hope you can answer me. First is how will the cam handle a 383? Will that make it so its not feeding enough A/F into the chamber? How well are the stock blocks to abuse? My motor has 180k on it there isn't a lot wrong with it from what I can tell there is a little valve train noise possible a lifter. with that kind of mileage on the block is it better to just get a new block or get the stock one cleaned? With the heads will 66cc heads work or do I need to stay with the stock 72cc? What about Piston types? looking at flat top wiesco the -3cc will those be fine for a NA build with this cam?
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 4
there are alot of better cams for a ls motor,gm grinds are old and limiting .build the motor and get a custom cam.tear your motor down and measure the bores .you should be able to hone it to 3.908.your stock block will work fine .go to TSP and look at rotating kits.are you considering using you stock heads?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
From: Houston, Tx
Thanks for your thoughts. As for the cam it might be old and limiting but it has a good torque curve and good low to mid torque I don't want a monster cam and I don't want to break down the heads to change springs so its right with the lift. I don't want to break down the motor and pay a machine shop to stress test and check for other problems if these blocks are not good at lasting for high miles. As for the heads I was looking at maybe some TSP 5.3 heads. More or less I'm trying to get a good understanding of what will be the best setup for that specific cam
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 4
good torque cams ,thunder racing tr224,comp54-408-11,comp 54-455-11 lsr truck cam 215/223*-112lsa/107ICL,many more if you search.these new cams will out torque the gm ASA grind and are not monster cams..you can buy a spring changing tool for head on swaps for $120,great springs and prices at TSP.go to ls1howto.com for install instruction.the tsp heads are great,tsp will set you up with a great torque cam.
Agreed the ASA grind used old outdated lobes, granted they still make power, you could get a cam ground with very similar if not the same specs on newer LSK or LSR lobes and gain tons more area under the curve due to better valve event timing.
The ASA cam was developed for class racing. Class racing with restrictions we don't need to force ourselves into with our street driven cars. If you like the curve it makes, and want it to be close with the 383, take the specs, add a couple degrees duration on each side, same LSA, and have it ground on lobes that aren't made to meet a lift restriction.
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I actually ran the GM ASA cam for quite a while back in 2000... It used to be a very popular camshaft. VERY choppy idle/low lift/lazy lobes... It did make 400/400 on stock heads and had no problem ingesting a 150 hit... As many have said above though, by todays standards there are much better camshafts with newer/updated lobe profiles etc etc.