Billy the Great

iTrader: (2)

well i finally go it running sunday morning and have put about 200 miles on it so far. Besides a header leak at the flange and the fact that its running hot it runs awesome. The header leak is going to be fixed when i find the time to put some felpro header gaskets to replace the ones that came with the headers(flp's). And the running hot should be fixed when i install the 160 thermo i got today and lower the fan temps with lt1 edit. MO goes out tommorrow for the conection cable from akmcables. then i will order lt1 edit and start tuning it.

I apsolutely love the way the motor runs/sounds. Many people told me that a hotcam wouldnt work on a 383 but i did it anyway. I now have a 383 that is awesome on the street and i still can pass emmissions. Plus there is always nitrous

silverado

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad that it worked out great for you. I have the same setup with ported vortecs. My fuel injection sucks, so it wont put down the numbers that yours will, but let us know once you get it on the dyno. With that converter it should launch pretty hard!!!!! What crank, rods, pistons are you running and at what comp. ratio? Alot of people bash on the Hotcam, but hey......its dependable and it serves its purpose. Just take it easy for at least a grand.

Gangly

The LT4 Hotcam is like old faithful, its always gonna be there and its always gonna produce. Its a good cam that you cant go wrong with. In regards to the running hot issue, how often did you bleed the coolant system? I kept bleeding mine and it would stay hot. Finally I decided to stay and bleed the heck outta it to make sure no more ait came out and I wound up bleeding mine for about 15 min straight for it to run cool. Bubbles would come out then stop, I would think its done, let it idle a few more minutes then more came out. I did that till no more air came out and now it runs cool as heck with stock fan settings(actually one fan doesnt work) and stock thermo.

Billy the Great

iTrader: (2)

silverado....scat 9000 crank, eagle forged rods, srp forged flat tops, 11:1 comp. i wont be dynoing it till prob spring cuz this is the first car i will be tuning myself so itll take a while to get a hold of it

gangly... as far as i know we bled the sytem completely but when i swap in my 160 thermo this afternoon i will take ur ad vice and bleed the heck out of it.

thanks guys

Gangly

cool deal....good luck with the tuning, it takes time to learn thats for sure

Vendetta

sounds great! I like what Gangly said about the Hotcam. A buddy of mine on this forum (Evilstang) recently got a 95 LT1. All he did was hotcam, LT4 manifold, and Hooker supercomp LTs, and with dynotuning he put out 370 RWHP Gotta love the LT1/LS1's potential

lt4malibu

iTrader: (39)

i cant wait to get my motor running, hows the idle with the hotcam? does it sound good?

FastWhiteTA

I'm not sure that's possible Super mario, considering the LT4 intake manifold doesn't match up with stock LT1 heads. So he probably has ported heads or some machining done to the heads. Which would make since that he's putting out as much power as a cammed LS1. Hot cams are decent cams, but a Comp 305 will put out more power and it's a smoother cam, which means it's more of a sleeper

silverado

iTrader: (1)

I hear people say that other cams will put out higher numbers, but where are the dyno graphs? I think that GMPP has all the performance mags wrapped around their finger. I've read countless articles noting the Hotcam as if it was the best cam ever. Where are the dyno tests showing how much MORE power is to be gained by going to.....lets say the comp 305, in comparison to the Hotcam? If the comp 305 is within about 10hp then Its understandable why the Hotcam is so popular. If I could gain 15-20hp with a similar cam (as far as durration etc.) Then I would definitely consider it. But hey, its worked for me (even though I dont have and LT1)

Gangly

the 305 wouldnt make monster power in comparison to the LT4 Hotcam, but put the 306 in its place or possibly a 224/236 and yeah, you will see a significant increase in power.

FastWhiteTA

I didn't say monster power compared to a hot cam, but it'll make more power than a Hot cam. And yes, a 306 will make a significant amount of power over a Hot cam

silverado

iTrader: (1)

So what would be decent power for a Hot-cammed 383?

Billy the Great

iTrader: (2)

im hoping for (440-450) 350-360 rw and heres how i figure
lingenfelters 383 crate lt1 is rated at 440hp(360 rw) and it has a cam smaller than the hotcam (218/218) so i would hope i would atleast be able to match the numbers they get from the motor

Gangly

you better hope you get more HP than that. mild heads/cam combos are getting more than that.

silverado

iTrader: (1)

Sounds reasonable to me. It sucks when you get your hopes up and dont put down a certain #. With a good tune I'm sure 360-380 would be no problem. Besides, strokers are for more torque. With my setup I'm only looking to get 330rwhp. Mainly because my intake manifold and fuel injection perform so poorly.

JurisAg02

my friend's 385 LT1 with a bad *** set of ported AFR's and a 306 cam with ALOT of tunning finally made around 445rwhp....I do not see a hotcam 383 making more than 400, I would guesstimate more like 360ish.....the small cam for that motor will pass emissions and will be VERy streetable BUT for the price of power and ET, that is for sure!

I have been around H/C LT1's and cam only LT1s with both the hotcam and the 306...the hotcam car ran great but didnt put down more than 311rwhp at an MTI dyno and could never break out of the high 12's.....the 306 motor put down with a set of GTP stage 2 heads 419rwhp and ran 11.3's @ 121 mph...

I would say even if the hotcam motor woulda had heads it would not have touched that 306 H/C motor....IMO and based on my real world experience I would say there is a BIG difference between the cams performance wise

The Big Show

iTrader: (2)

With a mild port and the hotcam my car laid down 330ish at the wheels with bolt-ons, a stock intake and 2 on tha left exhaust. Thats with an Ed Wright tune.

Hotcam isn't a bad little cam, but its all about what you want and what your willing to sacrifice.

flippindabird

old post but...
hotcams are cheap... and if its to hold you off until you can get a custom cam... then why all the naysaying? you built the 383... throw the dam LT1 cam in there for all i care and save up for a custom cam...

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Errrr yeah... like 8 YEARS old post...
There wasn't a big "custom cam" market at that point.

GREGG 97Z

iTrader: (4)

Holy old post revival...that's might be a record