alright well i finally made up my mind... and i'm for sure going with the lt4 hot cam... i know, i know... go big or go home...but i just want something small and noticeable and can still drive to school and back with... not a track car... but i have some questions

so i could take the easy way out and buy the whole kit, but the valve spring issue makes me kinda worried... so i figured i would pick up the vs2700 springs, but the rocker arms are what are getting me....

i am just wanting to get self aligning rocker arms, but for some reason my head is telling me not to cheap out and just buy the proform ones at $185... and i found a set of comp magnums for cheap, but i was reading on them and they don't include polylocks... and the polylocks seem to be cheap insurance.... can i just pick up some cheap polylocks for them (if so, what would be the part number for them)? or is there another SA rocker arm that i can go with where i'm not going to spend a ton on and still have a good quality rocker arm? for instance, i wondered if these were any good... http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SU...6/?image=large

also, i know the pin coming out of the cam has to be different lengths depending on the dowel pin or splined shaft drive... what will i need to do with that because i am running the shaft style on this motor

also, would i be alright just to run the springs that are included with the kit and go that route? it seems like the price for building this on my own are going to be around the same price as the kit, but i really am on a budget for this and i'm not going to have a whole lot to spend anyway... i mean the kit is right at 600, or else i've got

cam = $210
valve springs = $140
RR's = ~$250

coming to right at 600

it only makes sense to put the kit together yourself with the optimal parts, but i really dont want to cheap out on the RR's and pick the wrong ones that aren't going to last for me or whatever could happen.... anyone mind to help me on this one?

have a good xmas everyone!

 

just get the kit. they are all GM parts made to work with each other, the springs are matched to that cam perfectly. the rockers are also solid. Get the kit new and save yourself the headache of tracking everything else down

 

The LT4 had hollow valves so while the springs might be "matched perfectly" in the LT4 in the LT1 with it's heavier valves they are not.

 

I didnt buy the kit I used Comp springs Comp Magnum roller tip rockers on mine.... sure its not the best.... but like you I drove mine everyday for 8 years and 70k+ and had zero problems.
It sounds goood runs good... not the fastest but it works and I like my car.
Thats my .02

 

the GM roller rockers are nice pieces. No reason not to get them. They will work just fine. Theres No reason to spend $300 on roller rockers when the GM ones are very stong and reliable. the springs will work but arent the best. I personally have had no problems with them. over 17,000 miles and just over 2yrs on the HCK. 25 passes down the track. Runs great, sounds good and really hasnt given me any problems.


i know it says your car is a 94, are you running the vented or non vented opti setup?? The hotcam comes set at the vented opti dowel length. its always important to double check with a measuring tool.


w/ something like this.

 

yeah i'm running the non vented one.... what exactly are you supposed to do to make it work?

 

Biggest issue I see with the GMPP rockers is when you decide you want motre power they are very lift militing .550-.575 depending who you trust. A LOT of us with daily drivable setups are running more lift than that.

 

wouldnt you want to switch to a NSA style rocker anyways if your gonna be running higher lift like that?

 

I have the RR's off of a hot cam kit and love em... If you TRUELY believe you are not going to "WANT MORE" I say the HOT CAM KIT will fit you just fine.. if not, just pick u up a set of better Valve Springs...

 

your coming right at 600.00 bucks... i would just buy the lt4 hot cam complete kit then. only thing u have to do is grind down the dowel pin on the cam a tiny bit cuz u got the non vented opti. and looking at your prices u listed... i would never pay 210.00 for a lt4 cam, being new or whatever. im sure there are plenty of lt1 owners on tech that have a lt4 hotcam laying around from when they first did it and realized it wasnt worth it lol... put up a wanted ad or look in the for sale secton. i swear i saw a lt4 hot cam recently.

 

You came out to $600 but still havent bought retainers, shims, or keepers. I just picked up a kit with a used cam and rockers, but new springs , keepers, and retainers. All I have to buy are the shims and Ill have less than $350 in everything.

 

From someone who ran a LT4 Hot Cam kit for 4 years, and on nitrous. I put almost 40k miles on the kit on my '94 Z28. I will give you some advice:

Dwayne has been saying for four years now that the LT1 valves are heavier than the LT4 valves, and you are going to have issues with the LT4 valve springs with the LT4 Hot Cam. I can say from experience, I never had issues with mine. Doesn't mean you won't, but my personal experience was not negative.

If you are going for ease of choosing parts and simplicity, just buy the kit. All of the parts work well together. 'Nuff Said.

If you are planning on running different valve springs, and NSA Rockers, you might as well buy a different cam too. You can find another cam with just as good of street manners that makes more power. Check out the XFI Grinds from Comp, and do a lot of searching. People have posted their numbers on the off the shelf LT1 grinds for YEARS now. You are bound to find what you are looking for.

I ran the SA LT4 1.6 Roller Rockers and never had an issue, however when I hadn't re-checked my valve lash and had a nitrous backfire/stutter, it sent the rocker arm sideways and collapsed a lifter.
So basically, if you have the time, patience, and ability to do some reading, you would be better off searching through the classifieds and piecing together a better cam kit. In hindsight if I still had my LTX, I would most definitely do that.

If you do decide to go with the LT4 Hot Cam Kit, you definitely wont be disappointed. It is a great setup that is streetable, sounds good, and will make solid power. It behaves pretty well on the spray too

 

awesome thanks a ton for the help guys! feels good to finally have the hot cam people come out and say good things about it lol
i'm hoping in a couple weeks the car will be on the road again

couple other questions.... who would you recommend getting a mail order tune from? i have an aldl cable so i can just have it emailed to me to be cheaper, and i saw madz28 did that.... and his rep on this stuff seems to top most... anyone else that you guys think i should go with?

and also, what in the world is the best way to prime the oil pump on this motor? it has been sitting for like 4 years, so i figure it would be best to do this before i actually start it first...
should i just remove the plugs and pull the pcm fuse and crank it over? or is there a better way to do this?

 

A good charged battery and disconnect the power to the fuel pump and coil. Turn it over for a few seconds at a time since you dont want the starter to burn up. I would say use a pump primer, but I doubt you could get one behind the intake with a drill. Once you see oil psi build up it should be fine to run untill you can check for oil coming out of the rockers.

 

I'm new here. I agree the Lt4 hot cam kit works great on the street. I ran it in the stock lt1 and for a short time in my 383 (12.36@110mph) with stock home ported heads. It gets good gas mileage and has great street manners. LF

 

Yea,this has been beat to death and the guys who want max power will tell you to get 3800 stall and a giant cam,oh course they arnt driving the car to work everyday either.
Im going with the lt4 hotcam simply because vette parts are better,lol
Really though i can get the same or better mileage from the cam,better power,good for spray,everything is matched(i dought the valves being a few grams off are going to mess with the valve springs on a engine revving to 6k)
Ive searched on this and the main arguement comes from b body guys-the cars are alot heavier and it may make a difference,hell the valves inb the cast heads may be different,i would love to see facts on this though.
I was told that a guy HAD a hot cam and that was when the car was the funnest,that sold it for me.

Find a coupon online for summit or jegs and maybe you can get it for less than 6 bills,thats what im gonna do.

 

yeah i think i've got the under 6 bills part taken care of... so i'm hoping now i can save enough to have a mail order tune before i get the car completely back together... but hell the way its going right now it won't be up for another couple of weeks, so i'll have another small paycheck from work to take care of it

 

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.

 

well i mean i have the gaskets i need already and i get 20% discount on most of it cuz i work at auto zone... went ahead and picked up my oil and antifreeze and trans fluid, and i can borrow any of the tools i dont have from a few of the guys i work with that used to be mechanics for 30+ years before they started working at auto zone... i'd say with 27k on the motor i'm getting that my valve seals should be fine along with most of the other parts internally... just bought a new opti that has less than probably 2k miles... i'm not worried about breaking into any certain 1/4 mile club because its not a track car, and i will listen to these guys that have ran the hot cam because they are or were in the same boat i am right now, and most of them probably could care less what their daily driver runs at the track, even though it is fun to go and run it every once in a while, its not a priority of mine while i'm trying to focus on school... its my or anything like that... i mean my buddy has a c6 z06 with headers and a tune adaily driver and hell i mean i even have to drive it in the snow on occasion... i'm not worried about ungodly amounts of power because i'm not shooting for the fastest car in town nd a few other things that would smoke me even if i did get reworked heads and thought about building it huge... another one of my buddies with a 721 rwhp mustang that he just got built with a massive kenne belle s/c and totally forged motor that he can even bump the boost up more to def. be over 800 horse at the wheels... a t/a with h/c/i that put down 475 to the wheels and all kinds of other cars... but i really don't even care to compete with them because i'd rather have a car that i can very mildly build and still be streetable, make it back and forth to school everyday, and not have to worry about tearing up my brand new rear end or having to replace such and such to be able to handle more power... and at the same time, these high powered cars (besides the vette because its basically brand new and totally built to hold the power) have either spent over 30 grand (the mustang) to be able to handle all the power its making and still having small nickel and dime problems, or else they are broke after spending 8 grand and still need a lot more parts to be able to handle the power (the t/a with the stock rear end that is about to take a **** and the stock t56 that has some terribly torn up synchros and a bad slave cylinder and still needs a lot of suspension mods)
i'm not trying to bash you or anything like that, just i will be happy with a small gain in power and still have the driveability that i basically had before, and with most people saying that the hotcam kit is a reliable kit that you don't have to spin to the moon to make power and is still streetable for every day driving i'm happy with that

i'd say if i had a better paying job and was out of school and my motor took a **** on me like it did that i would think about building it like you mentioned, but i didn't really plan on this happening and now i'm on winter break and on a tight budget with trying to pay for school and gas and everything else right now that i just can't afford to do anything too radical, so i think this package fits me just fine... plus, i have this motor that i am taking out of the car that i can have sitting around and slowly throw a little extra cash at it and maybe one of these days throw it back in the car, but i don't see that happening any time soon with school debts and just a lack of time

i don't think it consists of "cheap parts", but it def. is a good and mild package for a budget upgrade over stock, which is exactly what i'm looking for... and heck the a.i. kits for just a few more parts and tools is twice what i have to spend.. and this is even off their website
"If our higher-end cam kits are a little more than you can spend, the GM LT4 hotcam kit is hard to beat."

 

Bro, build your car within your budget and for your driving enjoyment, not to brag onto others. Because that will cost you a lot of hard earned money, and most likely put you into debt.

Good luck.