Figuring out a cam
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Figuring out a cam Good Evening ladies and gents,
I am curious here and i am a noob when it comes to big cams.
I am building an LY6. I am at the point in the build where it is time for piston, rods, and cam selection. I am running 823 heads that will have a valve job and guides redone. My question is. How do I start to figure out rod length, piston design, and cam duration and lift.
I know there is a magical formula somewhere when it comes to this but I have a feeling this may be the best place to go.
As far as what I want to do with the motor. I will be doing a mainly street build. Wanna stick somewhere close to stock compression. Wanna do big cam, and possibly a little bit of nitrous. This is going to be the build for a year or two before I move on to building a turbo motor.
I will be very appreciative of any insight yall can provide.
Thanks in advanced.
I am curious here and i am a noob when it comes to big cams.
I am building an LY6. I am at the point in the build where it is time for piston, rods, and cam selection. I am running 823 heads that will have a valve job and guides redone. My question is. How do I start to figure out rod length, piston design, and cam duration and lift.
I know there is a magical formula somewhere when it comes to this but I have a feeling this may be the best place to go.
As far as what I want to do with the motor. I will be doing a mainly street build. Wanna stick somewhere close to stock compression. Wanna do big cam, and possibly a little bit of nitrous. This is going to be the build for a year or two before I move on to building a turbo motor.
I will be very appreciative of any insight yall can provide.
Thanks in advanced.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 22,303
Likes: 3,619
From: Central Cal.
The stock lower end (pistons, rods, and crank) will handle 1000 HP.
Keep stock pistons and head gaskets if stock compression is desired. Just get a bowl blend and multi angle valve job.
You want as much cam as will put power in the desired RPM range. Where will that be?
What HP level is your immediate goal?.
Just saying you want a "big cam" means zilch. If you're going to do a turbo motor, the turbo will handle ALL your HP needs on a stock engine with gapped rings.
Keep stock pistons and head gaskets if stock compression is desired. Just get a bowl blend and multi angle valve job.
You want as much cam as will put power in the desired RPM range. Where will that be?
What HP level is your immediate goal?.
Just saying you want a "big cam" means zilch. If you're going to do a turbo motor, the turbo will handle ALL your HP needs on a stock engine with gapped rings.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
i would LOVE to see 700. but I know a more realistic goal is more of 600 on all motor.
the turbo build next year will be completely different from this motor build itself. I am really looking at like the summit stage 3 NA cam right now.
the turbo build next year will be completely different from this motor build itself. I am really looking at like the summit stage 3 NA cam right now.
600 NA at the crank is realistic. There really are not any formulas you can look up to say X displacement, Y power goals, get cam Z. It is not a black art but it is somewhat intuitive, because most of what people describe they want is subjective.
Even the term stage 3 for example is subjective. It does not mean anything other than - we offer upgraded cams and this one is bigger than the previous two. It is like the old school 3/4 race cam, another term that means exactly dick.
You picked your heads. You have a bottom end. I would leave the stock bottom end alone unless you are gonna build for cubes. Rpm is hp. So beyond the cam, think the whole valve train. Your valve train will be what limits your rpm for the most part. Big thick pushrods, light valves, spring pressure will depend on lift and rpm. Likely you will want Johnson 2110 lifters at a minimum. Now if after you go look up the price on those and you say - gee I do not want to spend that much just on lifters, can I not just use cxxxx lifters - then stop your NA build right now.
You are going to build the motor twice if you are not careful. Once for NA power and once for boost. For 600 NA you will want 12:1 compression. Good luck with that with a turbo.
Bottom line - decide what you want and do that first and only. Put the coin into hood NA parts and make badass motor or slap your 823 heads as they sit right now onto your ly6, put a mild cam in with wider lsa and larger split and put the coin into the turbo.
That is my $0.01
Even the term stage 3 for example is subjective. It does not mean anything other than - we offer upgraded cams and this one is bigger than the previous two. It is like the old school 3/4 race cam, another term that means exactly dick.
You picked your heads. You have a bottom end. I would leave the stock bottom end alone unless you are gonna build for cubes. Rpm is hp. So beyond the cam, think the whole valve train. Your valve train will be what limits your rpm for the most part. Big thick pushrods, light valves, spring pressure will depend on lift and rpm. Likely you will want Johnson 2110 lifters at a minimum. Now if after you go look up the price on those and you say - gee I do not want to spend that much just on lifters, can I not just use cxxxx lifters - then stop your NA build right now.
You are going to build the motor twice if you are not careful. Once for NA power and once for boost. For 600 NA you will want 12:1 compression. Good luck with that with a turbo.
Bottom line - decide what you want and do that first and only. Put the coin into hood NA parts and make badass motor or slap your 823 heads as they sit right now onto your ly6, put a mild cam in with wider lsa and larger split and put the coin into the turbo.
That is my $0.01
600 NA at the crank is realistic. There really are not any formulas you can look up to say X displacement, Y power goals, get cam Z. It is not a black art but it is somewhat intuitive, because most of what people describe they want is subjective.
Even the term stage 3 for example is subjective. It does not mean anything other than - we offer upgraded cams and this one is bigger than the previous two. It is like the old school 3/4 race cam, another term that means exactly dick.
You picked your heads. You have a bottom end. I would leave the stock bottom end alone unless you are gonna build for cubes. Rpm is hp. So beyond the cam, think the whole valve train. Your valve train will be what limits your rpm for the most part. Big thick pushrods, light valves, spring pressure will depend on lift and rpm. Likely you will want Johnson 2110 lifters at a minimum. Now if after you go look up the price on those and you say - gee I do not want to spend that much just on lifters, can I not just use cxxxx lifters - then stop your NA build right now.
You are going to build the motor twice if you are not careful. Once for NA power and once for boost. For 600 NA you will want 12:1 compression. Good luck with that with a turbo.
Bottom line - decide what you want and do that first and only. Put the coin into hood NA parts and make badass motor or slap your 823 heads as they sit right now onto your ly6, put a mild cam in with wider lsa and larger split and put the coin into the turbo.
That is my $0.01
Even the term stage 3 for example is subjective. It does not mean anything other than - we offer upgraded cams and this one is bigger than the previous two. It is like the old school 3/4 race cam, another term that means exactly dick.
You picked your heads. You have a bottom end. I would leave the stock bottom end alone unless you are gonna build for cubes. Rpm is hp. So beyond the cam, think the whole valve train. Your valve train will be what limits your rpm for the most part. Big thick pushrods, light valves, spring pressure will depend on lift and rpm. Likely you will want Johnson 2110 lifters at a minimum. Now if after you go look up the price on those and you say - gee I do not want to spend that much just on lifters, can I not just use cxxxx lifters - then stop your NA build right now.
You are going to build the motor twice if you are not careful. Once for NA power and once for boost. For 600 NA you will want 12:1 compression. Good luck with that with a turbo.
Bottom line - decide what you want and do that first and only. Put the coin into hood NA parts and make badass motor or slap your 823 heads as they sit right now onto your ly6, put a mild cam in with wider lsa and larger split and put the coin into the turbo.
That is my $0.01
This is It
The stock lower end (pistons, rods, and crank) will handle 1000 HP.
Keep stock pistons and head gaskets if stock compression is desired. Just get a bowl blend and multi angle valve job.
You want as much cam as will put power in the desired RPM range. Where will that be?
What HP level is your immediate goal?.
Just saying you want a "big cam" means zilch. If you're going to do a turbo motor, the turbo will handle ALL your HP needs on a stock engine with gapped rings.
Keep stock pistons and head gaskets if stock compression is desired. Just get a bowl blend and multi angle valve job.
You want as much cam as will put power in the desired RPM range. Where will that be?
What HP level is your immediate goal?.
Just saying you want a "big cam" means zilch. If you're going to do a turbo motor, the turbo will handle ALL your HP needs on a stock engine with gapped rings.
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Banned
Joined: Oct 2020
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Bored 😫... 1000hp 🤔 💭 500 na Hp x (2)*14.5 psi = 1000.
👇 Ole Math formula still works
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/amaz...543-hp-turbos/