I apologize to all if these questions seem ridiculous, I am a bit of a noob to "real" engines (more than 4 cylinders).

I've got a '98 TA w/ about 80k miles on it that I've had about 6 months. Engine had a mild cam (don't know specs), some minor port work in the heads, and full exhaust when I bought it. I put in a K&N filter and SLP lid shortly after buying it.

Car is currently in the shop awaiting an engine, as I spun a rod bearing. Figuring that if I was going to spend the money for a rotating assembly anyway, I opted for a 383 kit (Callies 4.000" crank, rods, 3.905" stroke, unsure of what pistons are going in). The machine shop also finished porting the LS1 heads and is putting in a bigger cam (again, I don't know the exact specs, I asked what they've had good experiences with in their LS1/6 builds), along with new springs, rockers, retainers, etc.

As soon as I get more info on the cam, anticipated compression ratio, etc. I'll post it up, but for now my questions:

I'm shooting for 500 hp (conservatively) eventually, and from here I'm wondering where my money will be most effectively spent. I know I'll need to upgrade my fuel injectors, and I've been looking at a Walboro 255 in-tank fuel pump with a direct wiring kit, just not sure how big I'd actually need to go on the injectors. I'm thinking 42-46 lb/hr based on some equations I've been able to dig up, I'd just hate to buy a set and then need to bump up another size soon.

I'm expecting my first modifications past getting the fuel injectors/pump and a tune will be to upgrade to either an LS6 intake and ported stock tb, or perhaps aftermarket intake and tb setup. I've read lots of people talk about the FAST 90/90 setup, is it worth the money? Just for budget reasons I've looked at the BBK SSI aluminum manifold and an 85-90mm tb, but haven't really read about anyone's experiences with the BBK manifold. Any recommendations on tb size, manifold? What other modifications would be necessary that I'm missing (MAF, etc)?

Finally, I'm eventually going to be upgrading the heads, looking to the AFR 205's currently, just wondering if you guys have any others that you would suggest I look at.

Sorry if I'm asking questions that have been asked thousands of times, I've been reading around the forum for a couple of months now and there's just so much information to dig through.

 

I have a 383 to begin fine out what cam are you getting what are the specs? that is very important because you want a cam that will work with the AFR 205 heads so you can get out all the power from them!! I will get the fast 90/90 set up that is what i have and flows all the air that i need on you injectors i wouldn't go higher the 42lbs and i will get a racetronix fuel pump kit it comes with Walbro T6 aluminum pump and is a nice setup

 

thanks for the reply. as for the cam specs, i'm still waiting to hear back.

i took the car to Century Automotive (Century Transmissions, link to shop can be found in the advertiser's list on the right) b/c I've had Mike work on my old truck before (nothing but good things to say about his work), i know he has quite a bit of GM experience, and his shop's in my neighborhood.

anyway, in my discussion with him (pre-build) I asked about cam recommendations and he said there was one in particular that the machine shop favored in their ls1/6 builds, and that they were routinely seeing about 425-435hp at the wheels in 6-speed ls6 vettes with stock bottom ends. he thought the cam would be a good match for the 383 bottom end, so not wanting to waste a couple of weeks to make a decision based on my own research, i deferred to their "expertise" on building ls engines. talked to mike yesterday about getting the cam specs and he said he was waiting to get the cam card from the shop and he'd get back to me.

 

Im running an ms4 cam for now but im very happy with the results 477rwhp w/ a 4l60e but im planing to get AFR 215 and then i will get a custom cam I just want to get all the power out from my investment!! good luck with your built start saving fr a rear end and post the cam specs when you get them

 

look at a vengeance racing head/cam kit.get a cam for a 383 not for a 346,talk to Pat-G for a great custom cam ,you can have it at you door in less then a week.I would consider the AFR 215 ,PRC 215,TFS215 at least or bigger.get a fast 92mm or 102mm intake with a matching TB.get the cam last to tie your combo together.

 

jeez it's been a long time, but i finally got the car back from the shop last friday.

[for anyone keeping track of things like this, I took the car in June 14, got it back Sept. 24]

As it turns out, upon looking up the cam specs that were in the car, the machine shop found that the cam that was in the car when i bought it is the most aggressive street cam that Comp Cams sells (i'll post exact specs tonight), and rather than talk to me to see if i wanted to keep it, they just threw that one back in. Nevermind that I had already told them I wanted a more aggressive cam than what was in there...

So anyway, right now I'm running a 383 ls1 block (callies compstar 4" crank & rods), ~.520/.xxx at ~240/xxx cam [i'll put actual numbers this evening], fully ported ls1 heads, lid/k&n filter, 1 5/8" long tube headers, no cats, FAST 36# injectors, and a (soon-to-be installed) high flow fuel pump. I've got an appointment with LMR to get a baseline tune tomorrow morning, and will go back (hopefully) in a week or so and get the full dyno tune after getting the fuel pump in.

i'm hoping to upgrade to the FAST 90 intake and throttle body over the next year, along with a transmission build and 3500 stall converter.

as happy as i am to have the car back, it took way too damn long, and was way too expensive for what i ended up with. as angry as i am about the down time, i'm even more upset that i didn't just wait a week or two and do the research i should have done in the first place so i could have told them specifically what i wanted rather than just give them a very general outline.

 

cam is part # 54-444-11 grind #XER273HR
.581"/.588" dur 224/230 @.050

 

imo that cam does not belong in a 383. I would go bigger if I am spending the extra money. Dont get me wrong it will make some power but not the type of power i would brag about having a 383.

 

I definitely second the recommendation to have PatG custom spec you a cam once you've 100% decided on which heads you want to go with and any particular characteristics you want to get out of it (low end torque, peak #s, lope, etc).

 

yeah, i'm pretty upset that they kept that cam without letting me know, especially after i told them i wanted to go bigger.

anyway, dyno tune came out 396 hp, 405 tq with a nice flat, wide torque curve.

guess i'm going to approach this the way i should have to begin with and pick some heads, corresponding intake, and size the cam off of that. right now i'm leaning towards afr 225s and a fast 102mm intake setup.

i'm definitely going to be leaning a lot more towards tq. than peak hp since this is still an automatic street car and i'm not willing to sacrifice much hwy fuel mileage by going with really high rear end gearing. i'm currently leaning towards a 3.5x...

 

for anyone interested, got the dyno chart i got with the tune scanned in

 

Thats interesting. I would go with the new AFR 230 V2, which is an updated 225. Hell, even if you order the 225's, you'll be getting the 230's. From there, have Pat G spec you a cam. You could then get a 102 intake and TB.