ggino85

iTrader: (1)

320 for the cam and heads! that was a great deal!

thanks, i read that post, i just wanted him to let me know the ls2/ls7 where the sameones, i always try to triple check things if i can.........i ordered them about 30 min. ago.....

i dont think the 243's im getting have the lightweight valves, there from a 5.3 motor. i was wondering if anyone knows what kind of springs it should have and if they are going to be ok with the comp cam i have?

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

Yeah, guy sold them on craigslist, didn't really know what he had, they had 30 thousand some-odd miles on them.

No the 243's from the trucks don't have the lightweight valves but who cares, they flow better and that's all that really matters in this situation.

I would buy a new set of single beehive springs for that small of a cam. Call up one of the sponsors and they will get you hooked up. The factory springs will not be strong enough and could be worn anyway.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

If you're having the 243s milled say .030...@ 60 cc chamber volume you'll be
right around 11 to 1 comp and could easily get the TR224 on 114 or 116 ls
to pass if there's a good tuner in your area. I think EPS just ground a 222/230
custom for a cal emissions build. That would cost $400 but I'd bet you could
find a used TR or TSP 224 for half that. My guess is it would be worth 15-20
horse over current stick. Key is the wide lobe separation. just a thought.

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

i will definitely take that into consideration targa........wat hp/trq range do you think i'll be in with the 243 heads and this current cam? i have no idea?

pooter, i was thinking the samething when i read the details about the heads, ''who cares about the lightweight valves for 310$'' im just happy to have some 243 heads coming, should be here tomorrow. im shopping for springs rite now, i really dont want ones that i have to check spring pressure on often as this will be my daily driver.

i painted a few things today, fuel rails (grey), coils(black), the black plastic piece that goes underneath the intake(black). i didnt paint the air lid yet because im going to get the slp lid and paint that one. I'm thinking of putting a the bird symbol where the slp sign is, i saw someone with the chevy symbol there and thought the bird would look cool on there. the ls7 lifters and ls2 lifter tray came in today, sdparts is fast!! it literally took like three business days from order to delivery, awesome! i know everyone wants picsso here they are

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

You have to check the springs often if you have a cam with an agressive ramp rate and/or high lift, I do not believe you fall into either one of those categories with your "baby cam". Call up Thunder Racing or Texas Speed and discuss your setup with them they should be able to set you right up with the right vavle springs for your goals.

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

UPS just dropped off the heads!!!!!!!! i will take pictures of them in a little bit and post them up.......i ordered the ls2 timing chain set from yank this a.m. I'm going to order the ls6 oil pump in a couple days, hopefully i can have her back together by the time I start school on august 15th, if not I'll be catching the bus..........

pooter, i want to get springs that can handle a little bit bigger cam, i plan on changing it in the future.......i keep thinking about that 224 cam '' cough cough, targa'' put in my head

does anyone know if i will be able to drive the car to the tune shop with the new heads or should i tow it? i know im getting ahead of myself but im just curious.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

I'd be guessing on your power numbers with current baby cam, intake change
and stock 243s....manifolds and NO stall ???....355-360 rwhp maybe 370 tq
I'm sure someone will chime in if my guesstomometer needs calibration. ha ha
Legal shorties and a 224 prolly 380 ish....then a 3200 or so stall and HTFO

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

dang! only 355-360?..........

im actually planning on headers, im trying to squeeze them into the budget rite now so i can put them on during this rebuild. i want longtubes, shorties seem like a waste of time, im thinking of smogging the car and then adding them, or trying to find an exhaust shop that can pass the car with the longtube headers. im going to add a stall later on, i think i read stall converters lower hp/trq reading, it raises your e/t's but lowers your actuall hp #'s if i read about them correctly. what else should i do to squeeze those extra ponies out of her? my goal is 400 rwhp.

mike171562

iTrader: (4)

Just went through the same thing , swapping 243's with my 806 heads, good luck with the build. Get an LS6 intake if you dont already have one. I also did ls7 lifters and ls2 trays. My new lifters were ticking for a few minutes on my first startup , but that went away after a few minutes and hasnt come back.

I had some downtime waiting for parts. so packed all my pulley's with new grease. and painted some parts like yourself.


I also did poly motor mounts while the heads and everything was off, it sucks doing them, but worth it.

Also make sure you take the steam pipe gaskets off your old heads or get new ones. The steam pipe under your intake will leak coolant without them.

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

thanks mike, why do you say good luck with the build? did you run into problems, if so please share......im still wanting to get the ls6 intake, an ls6 oil pump and i'll be ready to start rebuilding. thanks for the heads up on the steam pipe gasket, i probably woulda missed it! It sounds like my setup will be very similiar if not exactly like yours (if i get the cam), what numbers are you pushing? more importantly, how does it feel? was it worth all the work?

mike171562

iTrader: (4)

Most of my problems were with doing the motor mounts, thats was a real PITA . everything else went pretty smoothly,


I did the cam, springs, OP , LT's and timing chain a few months back and put down 388 on the dyno with the stock 806 heads. It made a big difference in power , then I had some bad luck a few weeks ago and ended up doing the 243's, I havent tuned it yet with the new heads, but I'm hoping to be around 400 hp.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...nto-motor.html

Your also going to need new coil pack brackets to mount your coils on the valve cover
was it worth it...absolutely!


I'm still running the stock converter so the Cam I have pulls the brakes a little, the Cam your looking at shouldnt be too bad with a good tune.

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

hey everyone i was cleaning some stuff on the engine and i have always noticed the writing stamped on the pistons, i just never took the time to read it..... it says H868CP .25mm, then under that there is 20106-13-C, i looked at some pics of stock ls1 pistons on google and these dont come up........does that mean these are aftermarket pistons? if so, does anyone know what the letters/numbers mean? thanks, any info is appreciated.

i just realized i never put up pics of the 243 heads, i'll take some now and have them up in a bit. i started my automech class so im going to be taking them in, cleaning them up, checking the valves and milling them myself. should be fun stuff!

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

hello everyone, its been awhile since i updated this thread, i havnt put her back together yet, im still waiting on valve springs. i had a few questions i wanted to ask here before i order some. i've decided to go with double springs just for the security. (incase i wanna swap cams later after i pass smog) im currently going to be running that small comp cam (212/218), i know its not very big so i was wondering if there a possibility of overkilling it on valve springs? meaning will they be too much spring for that small cam? just want to make sure before i order the doubles.........

Where im at with the install.......
i have put the oil pump, timing chain/sprockets, front cover, balancer and water pump back on. all i really have to do now is the heads. i just ordered some 99+ valve covers, coil brackets and msd wires. im trying to get everything i need all together that way i can put the heads on and fire her up. i painted the front cover, water pump, balancer and the front face of the heads, i think it looks really good. i'll post pics tomorrow. i also did some calculations and figured out that my car is a 347 ci. the .010 bore gave it one cubic inch lol. i know i wont see a difference from that but its still kinda cool none the less.

i also had to take the cylinder heads into a machine shop because my teacher at school didnt think it was a good idea for me to work on aluminum heads for the learning experienc. i took them to a local shop and they resurfaced them .010 and gave them a valve job. i was talking to them about milling the heads .030 so i could pick up compression but they did not recommend it. something about the intake not lining up or something. after reading on the forum about all the people having success with milling i wish i would have had them do it........then again i guess i can just have that done when i have them ported someday. thanks for reading and i will post pictures of the heads and the motor tomorrow.

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

There are multiple beehive springs out there that can handle .630-.640 of lift. You don't need a cam with .8537538 of lift to make power. It will all depend on how good the heads flow anyways whether or not the cam makes power past a certain amount of lift etc. Look up PSI beehive max life endurance prepared spings. That's why I'm using on my setup.

If you mill those heads some more they will fit fine with no problems aligning the intake.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

Don't focus too much on the magic 400 but rather getting the combo you
have right. Those heads will make a big difference even with the lil cam now.
Then later when you do the bigger cam perhaps have the 243s cnc ported.

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

unfortunately djfury i already picked up some comp cam double springs.......#26925-16, i picked up just the springs though (no hardware), so now im looking for somewhere to get the seats, locks, and whatever else i need to run them in the 243's.......i wish i would have just picked up some beehive's so i could use all my stock hardware....o'well, too late now. i was thinking of milling the heads some more but then i was thinking it might be a good idea to leave some of the extra meat on there that way it can have something to mill or resurface when i get them ported later on like targa mentioned. what would you do? mill now or later when they get ported?

thats exactly how i just started to think targa....i should just perfect this setup and then later on when i get the heads ported and put a bigger cam in i'll worry about the numbers.

ok so heres another question.......do i absolutely need to get a tune to be able to drive the car safely? i DEFINITELY plan on getting a tune i just dont have the money for it at the moment. i was going to send my pcm to frost but i really dont think i could afford to do so until the begining of next month. i am by no means cheap and i am trying to get out of tuning it i just have been car less for over four months and i just about have all the parts to put her back together. It would suck to have it all together and not be able to drive it at all. im not talking about hot rodding it, im talking about driving it to and from school, maybe even to a dyno shop to get it dyno tuned. if its not safe, its not safe and i dont want to push it. i honestly wouldnt have even asked this (i woulda just not driven until it was tuned properly) but i just read in a gm magazine about them doing a cali legal head and cam swap (243 heads and z06 cam) on a 99 z28 and they didnt tune it in order to remain completely legal, so i was wondering, could i drive mine around until i had the money (and maybe more go fast parts) to get a full dyno tune?

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

here are some pics, sorry it took me so long. and yea that broom stick is holding up my hood, i got the car with one of the struts missing

i wanted to paint or clean up the alternator but didnt know what was safe to use on it.

can anyone tell if those are the stock 243 valve springs?

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

if your not changing the injector size you will be fine without a tune until you can afford it.. it just won't be at optimal performance until that which is no biggie cuz that cam is a baby anyways

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

I ran over 2000 miles on stock tune w/218/226 cam....It did feel much
better after the tune however. How much were those springs ???
The Lunati gold duals kit is $225 (springs, retainers, locks, seats, and seals)

ggino85

iTrader: (1)

i paid 170$ for just the springs, the retainers, locks and seats cost me another 95$ so 265$ total, not bad i guess but 225 would of been better.

im glad i can drive it around before i get it tuned, i would rather pay the money and get a dyno tune when i can afford it. although i might just get a tune from frost for this setup and when i get a little bigger cam and port the heads i'll have it dyno'd.

my valve covers came in yesterday, im taking them to school today to sandblast and then im going to paint them red to match the front of the heads and timing cover. i will post pics later when they are painted.