ok, I have a few things to ask, so I'll get it all over with in one post.

1. As you can see in my sig, I have a 99 SS. It is very well taken care of, and has just over 62,000 miles on it. I'm doing the whole cam swap thing shortly. My car has AMAZING oil pressure. 50-60 at idle when cold, swings close to 75 when I get on it and its cold. When the engines warm and has been running for awhile, it will idle around 40-45 PSI. I don't recall it ever going below 35. When warm, at around 2,000 RPM or more, its a good 50 PSI at the minimum, even when I've been driving it all day. You guessed it, my first question is: Should I really replace that pump?

2. With the above factors in mind, should I replace the timing chain? I'm not going with some crazy cam with huge lift and mega aggressive valvesprings that will put alot more stress on it, and I doubt in the remainder of the time I own this car it will ever go North of 6,000 RPM.

3. So far, I've been thinking about going with the Hotcam kit. I like the idea of a cam coming with springs and retainers, I love how this cam sounds, and I love the price. I know most of you think this cam is a weenie cam and I should go bigger, and if I save some $$$ on the chain and pump I may put it towards a bigger cam and better springs. What would be a good cam for a daily driver, thats not too crazy, still has a lopey idle, and can run well on the factory tune?


I know I sound like a cheapass, but I'm 22, I'm in college (that I pay for) and I pay my own rent, I own 2 cars, which means that I have 2 insurance bills, I pay for my cell phone, and I have to eat, and I have a girlfriend (she's not cheap either, she loves to dine out). I'm almost entirely self sufficient, so please don't give me any crap about being cheap. I don't go to the dragstrip, (I might once or twice this summer) I'm really just looking for more power, for the occasional stoplight brawl. That and I have a friend with a 97 SS that I have to stay faster than, and hes doing heads/cam this spring

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

tr224 112 - 429
manley spring kit - 178
rollmaster double - 75
tsp ported oil pump - 129

alot more expensive but im of the mind of doing things right the first time around.

 

Springs for LS1's are too damn expensive

 

A few years ago when oil pumps in 98's & 99's were failing, I would have said yes do the pump. All of the oil pump I'm aware of that failed failed before 35,000 miles. Doing the oil pump with the engine in the car can be tricky and if you drop a bolt in the oil pan it won't be fun. If you think not having a new oil pump will make you worry then you should get one. I don't think a ported LS6 pump is needed a new LS6 pump should do the trick and have nice oil pressure. If you do the pump take care with the O-ring or you'll end up with oil pressure problems.

Really depends on what you want to do. Personally, I don't like the stock chain and I think it's a POS. Several people broke stock chains - more than have broke aftermarket ones. My T/A has a Rollmaster 2x Jwis on it but the new LS1 for the 91 RS will get the Comp timing set. Two friends that are helping with the project that have do lot's of there insist the Comp is better to deal with if you going to do another cam swap. We plan to do several on the engine dyno. Likewise many folks ended up upgrading cams later on. I'd replace the chain personally. BTW if the tach says 6,000 your probably spinning to ~6,200 cause that's were the factory rev limit is set. A few more hundred rpm up to 6,500 should be fine.

To get the most out of any cam you'll need intermediate or long tube headers. If you have either the car will tend to be rich and cam won't deliver at it's best thru out the powerband w/o tuning. I'd go with a used TR-220 or TR-224 for your set up. The 02 LS6 cam & springs shows a nice gain over the stock LS1 cam but won't have lope like you want. It wouldn't be expensive - probably less than the Hotcam kit. Should be able to find a good price on either as many are upgrading to bigger cams.

Pesonally, I'd get tuning and get a used TR-224 on a 112 for your application.

just .02 worth