LiveForSpeedZ28

My 98 z28 a4 is my everyday driver, but i only drive about 10 miles a day. I have long tubes, ory, borla catback, lid, ported tb, wires, bolt-ons. See, I am wanting to do a cam on my car and keep the stock heads. What is required to do this, and if i do this, how hard is it to maintain. People keep telling me that if I put a cam in my car it is going to screw everything all up and I am going to constantly having to work on it. Can someone please explain to me whether i should or shouldnt do a cam swap...How much difference does it make on the MPG too? i know the springs have to be changed about every 10,000 miles, but it is going to take me two years to put 10K miles on that car. I could use a lot of recommendations since my mechanic isnt informing me of the details involved in a cam only swap

thanks
sean

02TransAm/Batmobile

iTrader: (32)

i havent heard of any maintenance with a cam only car, . jus changing the springs and all, . . if you want peace of mind, upgrade the entire valvetrain and stick with something under .600 lift, . . . . . . . thats what i plan on doing

kruthes1

iTrader: (2)

Changing springs every 10K miles? I don't think that is right unless you get a 600+ lift cam and weak springs.

Boostaholic

iTrader: (4)

Not hard, as said above checking the springs every year on a mild cam car is about it, you could probably even replace them and sell the used springs if you were really paranoid

Ellis Fox

I think that as long as you get a small cam, the only thing you will have to do is check the springs really, there shouldn't be anything abnormal to worry about.

after you get the cam installed though, I would definitely go get a tune to "not screw everything else up" and make it run correctly.

LiveForSpeedZ28

thanks for the replies, i am going to do it, any suggestions? I was thinking a 228/228. i dont know what springs to get, i am knew to this whole thing and have a friend that is going to be helping me do it. he said he would help me if I bought the parts, plus he can dyno tune it. any suggestions would be great, or links to the springs and cam i need. thanks

~sean

wilddawg

set it up right the first time and just enjoy the power.

LiveForSpeedZ28

also, how much will the cam affect my MPG, not that it matters really, just curious.

jlashley2001ss

iTrader: (5)

what kind of lift(.588?) and cam lobe(XE, XE-R, LSK...in order of less-more aggressive) you plan on doing with the 228 setup? just need to know this stuff when picking a spring. I have a XE-R 224/228 w/ .581/.588 lift aand using the Comp cam 918 single springs if that helps any

you2slo

My MPG has actually improved since installing the 228R. I was running VERY rich before the cam swap and tune. ~17 mixed, 22+ Highway.

slow trap

iTrader: (22)

even some people with cams like the ms3 and similar i've heard of people going 20 k or longer and not having issues.of course that is not the norm and alot of people replaces them before then but you can always pull a couple and have them checked.a cam with an xe lobe even with a spring like the 918 should last a very long time with no maintenance whatsoever.

SSPEEDY

iTrader: (4)

23k miles on my 224 cam. 63k on the car. No issues at all.

Have a new set of ls6 heads that i'll be doing soon (new 918's). Also am changing the lifters.

Car is well maintained, track driven and shifted at 6500 rpm WOT.

calongo_SS

iTrader: (7)

If you go w/ a good dual spring, they will last at least 20k pretty much regardless of what cam you are running. Valve springs are really the only added maintenence. Gas mileage will get worse the bigger you go. Stick w/ something in the mid to high 220's and you'll still get decent gas mileage.

LiveforSpeed, I see your car is an A4. Don't do a cam w/o doing a stall first. That will also hurt your MPG depending how big you go.

Something like a 3200 stall, and 224 cam would make a great DD and not hurt your mileage too bad.

jlashley2001ss

iTrader: (5)

I was told with a mild cam(224-228 range) that the 918 springs would last 100,000 miles.

calongo_SS

iTrader: (7)

Depends on what cam lobes you are using. a 224/228 XE-R will kill springs relatively quickly.

jlashley2001ss

iTrader: (5)

how many miles you think i should look into changing them?

calongo_SS

iTrader: (7)

I would at least check them at 20 - 25k. 918's are pretty cheap, so I would just change them if you're going to be in there anyway.