I know there is a ton of threads all over the place about these both but nothing I saw was very recent and every thread concludes the same way that there are better cams out there which I am well aware of. I know these are both "baby" cams but hear me out first. My 98 camaro has some scary oil pressue, ive had it checked with other gauges and called my local dealership numerous time but sorry im not happy with oil pressure being around 20 lbs once warmed up whether GM says that is safe or not. Bought a new oil pump and double roller timing chain last year but have not put them on yet. My plans were to do a real nice heads/cam setup with torque converter all at once but the added cost of an intake, injectors, possibly a fuel pump, lifters,dyno tune etc is out of my budget right now. Both of these cams would be an upgrade over stock and I hate the idea of repplacing an oil pump and not upgrading the cam at the same time especially when the hot cam and ls6 cam can be had pretty cheap when they are used. The upside is I can also use ls6 springs which are cheap and the relatively low specs of both cams make me feel more comfortable about using my stock 118,xxx miles lifters. If you hd to pick between the 2 which one would you go with and why?. Im kind of leaning towards the hot cam because the 112 lsa vs the 117 lsa (of the 02-04 ls6 cam) but I can buy a used ls6 cam cheap locally and im sure there are tons of ls6 tunes all over the place that i can get pretty cheap (as opposed to do a $500 dyno tune, or $300 dyno tune). so any opinions please feel free to share, Let the arguments begin....

 

What intake manifold will be on the engine, LS1, LS6, BBK..?

 

Ls1 intake.car has lts btw

 

Well...what exactly is your maximum budget? You already have the pump/timing chain took care of.

 

look at a ASA cam.you can get a great mail order tune from Frost ,for a great price.

 

Honestly I know you can slap a ls6 in and get by without a tune and I'm sure you might be able to with the hot cam. Don't expect much from either cam but I would go with the ls6 for now with your basic setup just my opinion tho

 

Im not sure which cam will make more power but if they are close power wise I would use the hot cam. It will sound better. That would make the difference to me. It would help justify the cam swap everytime you start it up.

 

If you're going to go through all that trouble, why not just have a custom grind done?

 

The hotcam can make some good power and sounds great but if you are going through all this trouble I would advise moving to something better like a 228R or something else in the neighborhood. The only reason I am running a hotcam is that I got is for a fantastic price. I had a friend who had a hotcam, springs, seats, retainers and all gaskets sitting in a box for 10 years and I made him an offer of $125 and he let me have it for that. Otherwise I would have a much different cam right now.

 

You're also probably going to need longer PRs, an I'd recommend doing the trunion upgrade on the stock rockers. Since you're running the ls1 intake and stock stall I go with the LS6 cam, then save up for a ls6 or bbk intake, an finally a stall and mail order tune from Frost.

 

The stock pushrods will be fine, and there isnt any reason to upgrade the stock rockers.
But if he has an auto trans, he will need to get a tune to get it to run right.
I was able to get it in the ballpark with my predator hand held, but it still surged like a bitch untill I had a proper tune.

 

IMO, with 118,000 miles on the engine I'd recommend the trunion upgrade on the rockers. Yes, he can still use the stock PRs, if he verifies their all straight and in great shape, then measures to make sure he will has enough preload.

 

I'd recommend just saving for another year. At 100k+ miles...those liters should be swapped, you still need a stall & intake...and might as well go for a cam that's gonna make a difference/better power. If you want an answer I'd say hotcam....that way least it will sound like you have a worth wild cam.

 

Not to concerned with budget. Ive added up the differences and with a texas speed package it actually cost less than a new cam (ASA or HOT CAM) with pushrods and springs but were talking around a $20 differennce.Without tune the $500-$650 is the range id like to be in.I figure with the install, fluids, gaskets, etc, and a mail order tune my grand total would be somewhere in the $1200-$1400 range which I can live with.

I had not really looked into the ASA cam very much but after doing more research I really would prefer this cam over the ls6 or the hot cam.

I would really prefer to wait another year and get a better overall set-up but my concern is my low psi oil pump. Kind of risky to wait another year and wipe out a bearing or lock up engine because of low/no oil pressure.






------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked more into the ASA cam and really must say I like it and am really leaning more towards it now, much more than the hot cam or the ls6. Bigger duration with low lift that wont be hard on valvetrain, and that 110 LSA will sound awesome. Ive looked at the numbers and the 224r and 228r cams seem to overall make a little more power but the asa is close and down low actually looks better on the few dyno graphs i checked out with similar setups to mine (stock heads, ls1 or ls6 intake, LT's, exhaust, A4,etc. Convince me of why the 224 or 228 cams are better and im all ears,im not changing the converter or heads for a while and rarely (like 2x in 7 years) take this to the track. Im just looking for a bump in power since ill be right there doing the oil pump and want something with useable low-mid range power.

To those who are saying go bigger I would love to do something like a ms3 or torqer V3 but those require decent heads, decent intake, injectors, dyno tune, 3500 ish + converter and drag radials to really hook. Then your risking the transmission and rear as well without building the 4l60E or swappping to a 9 inch or s60 rear. This gets real expensive real fast and i really dont drive this enough to justify it. In 7 years ive put about 11,xxx miles on this car. It usually sits inside my shop in the corner or up on the lift out of the way. I just go to cruises and car shows with it and the occasional trip to the beach or distant family events (cant beat the highway MPGS).

I want a reliable cam thats going to sound awesome and produce decent numbers . Id be happy around 375-400 with a ls6 intake which I think is obtainable with the ASA. If I ever feel the need for more theres always N2o

I also have a lq4/turbo 400 87 notch im working on. That would be want i want to build with a big converter and big cam with some sticky tires. the camaro is just the fun weekend street car and thats how I want to keep it for now. If i feel the need to go fast a 400 hp + Nitrous ls notch weighing less than 3000 lbs with sticky tires should do the trick for that.

Again thanks for the input and feel free to share your opinions.