I bought a 2002 Camaro SS a few months ago, and I'm thinking about adding some cylinder heads and a cam to it. I've been searching online for a few months now, and the information is overwhelming. One thing the people here seem to agree on, is the TrickFlow 215 heads are one of the best you can buy, which is why I am leaning towards them.

This is a daily driver car, with an M6. It won't see track time frequently, so I'm really interested in a car with lots of down-low torque, and I'm not really after a specific HP goal.

I came across the TrickFlow 515hp kit, which appeals to me (this will be my first attempt at replacing cylinder heads, and having the guess-work taken out is a huge huge bonus), but the Vengeance Racing packages seem nice too. When you break them down, it really comes down to the cam as the main difference.

Can anybody comment on the difference between the VRX 4 cam and the TF stage 3?

 

The two cams are virtually identical, with the only difference being the lift; intake lift on the VRX4 is slightly higher on both intake and exhaust side. In all honestly, you're not going to see any real difference between the two in regards to HP/TQ or drive-ability.

 

I see. Thanks for your help. It seems, browsing around, there are a few schools of thought: Roller rockers are the way to go, and then there's the trunion upgrade crowd... I can go with either kit, but each has its own way of looking at things...

I guess I need to research some more!

 

Contact Brian Tooley and let him send you a cam. I'm go say no one knows that particular head better than him cause after all he helped come up with it.

 

Good info

 

 

I was looking at his website a few days ago(granted I was on my cell phone), and didn't see that he sold the TrickFlow heads?


Now, just to get an idea: what difference would the VRX 3 have vs the VRX 4? They have roughly the same amount of lift...

 

The VRX4 is bigger than the VRX3, which means more duration and overlap. The bigger the intake and exhaust numbers, the better the cam is going to do in the mid to upper rpm's. Smaller cams are going to move the powerband down, giving yoj more under the curve power. Intake and exhaust lift should be contingent on your heads flow numbers. If the heads keep making power to .700 lift, then you would want a cam with lift number around .660. Now stock heads, or shitty ported heads, don't need that much lift because flow dies off at lower lifts. Best thing you can do is put your faith in one of the sites sponsors and let them help you with the heads, cam, valvetrain, etc.

 

I had the Trick Flow Stage 3 cam in my old setup and loved it. It isn't going to produce gaudy numbers on the dyno, however there's plenty of power under the curve and it still pulls hard up top. With proper tuning, it had very good manners on the street. You should expect the same thing from the VRX4 because they are similar.

It's hard to compare dyno numbers because things aren't always apples-to-apples, however I will still share: my car put down 390/388 with just the cam, underdrive pulley and full exhaust. Added heads and a ported FAST intake and put down 440/408. Nowhere near the numbers you see on more track-oriented setups, however it was respectable for an off-the-shelf setup with the reliability of a daily driver.

 

Don't forget the PRC 227 heads. Checkout dyno and flow numbers compared to those 215s. The comparison isn't even close! Near 330cfm from the prc 227s, smaller chambers and proven huge power number!

We can set you up with a complete package with camshaft and all the stuff you need for install!

Jason
Texas Speed