lt4 cam questions
12-26-2009 | 07:50 PM
#21
well now i'm in a little bit of a different situation... the guy basically sold that motor out from under me, but he also has a lt1 out of a caprice with about 40k on it that he is selling me along with the trans and wiring harness and a bunch of other random stuff.... so.... got a few more questions
first of all, should i re-use my heads on the motor i took out of my car that are aluminum and then the intake, or should i use the iron heads off that motor and the intake on the caprice motor? so far i've read that the iron heads flow a little better, but then again they are iron and won't dissipate the heat as well as the aluminum...
secondly... for head gaskets, which ones should i buy if i do swap the heads? just the basic felpro set from auto zone or any other special ones?
thirdly, what else should i look into doing to this motor before it goes in the car? i'm def. gonna check compression, but should i look into buying new valve seals or anything like that before it goes back in? from the reading that i tried to do to research before i basically picked this motor up it sounded like the only differences were the intake manifold, heads, and the cam being just a touch bigger from the caprices, and maybe something about all the opti drives in those were the dowel pin style, but not sure about that part
first of all, should i re-use my heads on the motor i took out of my car that are aluminum and then the intake, or should i use the iron heads off that motor and the intake on the caprice motor? so far i've read that the iron heads flow a little better, but then again they are iron and won't dissipate the heat as well as the aluminum...
secondly... for head gaskets, which ones should i buy if i do swap the heads? just the basic felpro set from auto zone or any other special ones?
thirdly, what else should i look into doing to this motor before it goes in the car? i'm def. gonna check compression, but should i look into buying new valve seals or anything like that before it goes back in? from the reading that i tried to do to research before i basically picked this motor up it sounded like the only differences were the intake manifold, heads, and the cam being just a touch bigger from the caprices, and maybe something about all the opti drives in those were the dowel pin style, but not sure about that part
12-28-2009 | 11:03 AM
#22
What are the accomplishments of the guys arguing with me?
You have one guy who lists no ET BUT is listed "12 second club" after admitting to cammed and nitrous. If that is accurate you need to see that as a suggestion NOT to listen to him.
Then you have a guy who thinks the HOT only goes to 6000rpms and that valve weight does not impact spring selection.
I understand wanting to save a dime BUT I also learned the HARD and expensive way that cheapest is almost never least expensive.
Look at AI's complete kits.
http://advancedinduction.com/AiProductsCK.html
Yes it is nearly twice what you are looking to spend but it has gaskets, studs, pushrods, valve seals and install tool, and then the rockers, springs retainers etc are all higher quality. A LOT of it would be reusable later should you decide to do a full engine build, the ProMagnum rockers will probably be the last you buy, as would the studs and probably the guideplates too.
I went down the "cheap" road, cost me a LOT, on my third set of rockers, 4th torque converter, 4th set of gears, second tranny build because the first was "cheap", second fuel pump setup, 3rd set of injectors etc. All because I tried to go cheap the first few times. That is a huge amount of money wasted.
Take what you are looking at spending on the HOT stuff and then start adding in things like gaskets, valve seals etc. It is NOT going to be cheap as you think.
You have one guy who lists no ET BUT is listed "12 second club" after admitting to cammed and nitrous. If that is accurate you need to see that as a suggestion NOT to listen to him.
Then you have a guy who thinks the HOT only goes to 6000rpms and that valve weight does not impact spring selection.
I understand wanting to save a dime BUT I also learned the HARD and expensive way that cheapest is almost never least expensive.
Look at AI's complete kits.
http://advancedinduction.com/AiProductsCK.html
Yes it is nearly twice what you are looking to spend but it has gaskets, studs, pushrods, valve seals and install tool, and then the rockers, springs retainers etc are all higher quality. A LOT of it would be reusable later should you decide to do a full engine build, the ProMagnum rockers will probably be the last you buy, as would the studs and probably the guideplates too.
I went down the "cheap" road, cost me a LOT, on my third set of rockers, 4th torque converter, 4th set of gears, second tranny build because the first was "cheap", second fuel pump setup, 3rd set of injectors etc. All because I tried to go cheap the first few times. That is a huge amount of money wasted.
Take what you are looking at spending on the HOT stuff and then start adding in things like gaskets, valve seals etc. It is NOT going to be cheap as you think.
Did you not read my entire post? Of all people Dwayne, I would hope you would do that before starting to troll around like that.
Read through my post again-- I didn't say the LT4 Hot Cam Kit was god's gift. It is easy, and it works. I said in hindsight, I would probably do something better with my selecting my own parts.
I have posted in 2-3 threads in the past week regarding the hot cam, and didn't want to constantly be posting my numbers to make it seem like I was bragging about them.
My car ran a 12.84 @ 108 on motor and 12.07 @ 117 on a 100 shot.
@ mechanics for 30 years now working at Autozone. 
12-28-2009 | 12:54 PM
#24
Teching In
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 25
Likes: 0
I'm currently running the HotCam kit on my car with a set of GTP Stage2 heads. I'm having some issues with tuning and other things, and the last time I was at the track my car managed a 12.401 . I think the HotCam is a pretty descent cam. It's not the latest and the greatest, or the biggest and the best, but it'll fit the bill if you are looking for a well mannered, streetable car. Hindsight, I kind of wish I went bigger when I had the time and money to mess with the car more. But come on, everybody always wants to go faster right?
