Good evening ladies and gents, I've been an avid reader of this forum since I acquired my first f-body (88 camaro 305 TBI) Now that I have the LT1 I actually have a reason to sign up here. Anyways, I'm looking to buy a cam for my car, the install is a hairy procedure and no shop will even attempt it near me (MA) for less than $600, so I want this cam to be the one I stick with for a while. Anyways, what I'm looking for is power with minimal sound and idle. This car is my daily driver so I still want it to be driveable. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I read about that custom grind somewhere on here that netted 318hp at the wheels, if i remember correctly, does anyone know how much that cost, or what a similar cam would run me? Thanks in advance!

 

318hp at the wheels on stock heads is prety weak. If you want a nice idle stick with a cam on a 114, do you have to pass emisions? If you want to put a blower on it or turbo, plan to rebuild your LT1.

 

Thanks. I'm completely new at this as you can probably tell. I don't know much about cams, I just know that I've already got my bolt-on fix for now. My car came stock with the full ram air setup and a decent exhaust system (not sure what brand it is). I just want my daily driver to be fast enough to stuff most the cars in my area. Yes I do need to pass emissions, no I don't plan on getting my heads done at all, so best cam for stock heads and bottom end is what im looking for (perhaps a rebuilt bottom end eventually). I'm debating wether to go for the cam or a set of hooker/jet-hot long tubes (whichever is cheaper, can anyone give me emissions info on these?) I just want the best bang for my buck at the moment and the cam seemed to be the way to go.

 

ZZ4 for nice idle and good increase in power.
Now best bang for your buck??, and say to ***** with Idle and the gas???
No questions the GM 847.
I bought a second car as a beater. And am contemplating the GM847.
My suggestion to you??? putting your preference aside, for the work, the money, and aggravation......... THUMP and go for the GM847. It's the no regrets cam.

 

Well I need to pass emissions, that is a huge part of my selection. I might be able to get away with something a little heavy because i know my local emissions guy and we are pals . How unstreetable is the gm847? I'm hearing that the most gains are had from the lt4 hotcam or the cc305, on stock heads. What kind of increases are we talking about, becuase if I dont go for the cam, i'll cheap out and go with 3.73's. I just want the cam to be worth it, I'm not trying to build a 9 or 10 second car. In a shootout out between these cams, what are the pros and cons of them? (streetability, power, sound, etc.)

The LT1 gurus!

BTW I still need to check on that zz4, if anyone has info about that it would be appreciated too!

 

CC305 will work and idle nice since its on a 847. My buddy Brett has the 847, it isnt bad once you get the car tunned, but that cam wont pass smog. Stick to a Hot Cam or CC305, they will both idle nice, sound good and once tunned pass emsions. Their real close in spec, Hot cam will sound a tad more agresive since its on a 112lsa. Stock heads both cams will work fine.

 

Have you done any simple bolt-ons? Intake?, Headers?, Ignition?, start with the basics, you won't be taking advantage of the cam if it does'nt inhale and exhale freely.

 

I've got the fully functional ram air + K&N filter combo right now, and a "Chokemaster" catback. Both came with the car when I bought it. The guy who owned the car before me did not treat it correctly at all, (day glow yellow foot pedals and a hacked interior that have since been taken care of) but it may have more done to it im not sure. Headers are on the way (BBK's since i haven't found any LT's that will pass emissions) But if you know of any, hook me up! What kind of gains are seen with the hotcam + tuning? It's sounding the like the one I'm going to go with.

 

I have BBK's on a 94z with a 383 and like them, but if I were to do it again I'd get a set of hooker or jethot longtubes. I believe you can buy both versons with all emissions hookups. Longtubes are the only way to go, better results than what shorties can offer.

 

Longtubes before cam.

The 305 is about as big as you can go and still pass emissions

 

You want sleeper baby cam?? XE 218/224. There's a couple of guys on CZ28.com making mid 340's on power AND torque. No need to spin the motor to the moon, good idle, power on tap, no problem passing emissions.

The Crane 210/224 also does very well with stock heads, and is even more mild.

 

Fastbird, how is that 224,230 XE cam? I'm considering between the LT4 Hotcam and that particular Comp cam, but just do not know what to go with. I want the best out of my cam install but I don't want to comprise driveability since the car is my daily-driver. Which cam would be semi-decent without a tune? The only reason I ask is because I won't have enough money up front to get the computer tune, but I will in a couple of months. So for the meantime I will have to drive around with either cam untuned. I'm going with 1.6 roller rockers and Comp R lifters on both. I have headers and all the bolt-ons, so any advice?

 

All I can say is oh yeah!!!!

With ported heads, my car was straight nasty with this cam. So far as I know, on a stock bottom end I've got the record right now at 375/363. Not that it's running anymore. It was loud, had the fattest torque curve I've ever seen, and just ripped.

It's a good cam for stock heads, but not as well suited as the other ones I mentioned. On a 112* LSA it is a bit lopey, about like a hotcam, and definitely isn't stock sounding.

Great power though.

 

I like this thread it came in perfect timing too. I'm new to the LT1/GM group. Does anyone know the numbers of the GM847 cam??? I like to pass emissions as well. I don't want to be taking my cam out ever two years, just to pass emissions.

I want a cam that barely can pass emissions. What cam will that be and what are the numbers on it? I want to cam to be good for spray and s/c. I really don't feel like changing cams all the time like i did with my exhaust.

 

The main reason and aftermarket cam will not pass the sniffer is because of HC excess. This is caused when you increase the overlap period, as some of the fuel is pushed out of the exhaust valve. If you want to pass the sniffer buy a cam with a small overlap like the 218/224 fastbird mentioned.

I saw you were looking to get the cam installed by someone else. Are you aware that it is really just a labor intensive process that you can do on you own.cam install

Oh and longtubes are still a no go with emmissions fittings. It is illegal to change the number or location of the catalytic convertors. Longtubes require the cats to be moved so they WILL NOT PASS inspection unless your buddy can help you out a lot.

 

About the emission thing. It is different for every state. Here in IL. you can have LTs and pass emissions as long as you have cats.

 

I had a cam only motor in my car for about 4 years. It had longtubes, stock heads, stock rockers, stock tb and a Crower 212/219 474/495 w/1.5 rockers 110lsa. With that setup I made 361/359 rwhp. The car drove like stock with LOTS more power. The cam loped when it was cold but after the motor warmed up it was smoooth. You could barely hear it.

The car weighed 3692 with me out of the car and a full tank of gas and I ran a 12.32 @ 112.08.I never tried to pass emissions but the car did get 26 mpg on the highway and about 18 in town.

The 210/224 479/518 112lsa cam that Thunder Racing offers is a bad *** cam. Frank Benoit ran a 11.4x @ 116 with that cam, longtubes and a stall. His car weighed about 3200 with him in it though. If you want an off the shelf cam that has the best potential to pass emissions I would deifnately get that over any other cam. A custom grind will still make the most power and have the best driveability. But they are more expensive.

Scott

 

Hey Solid, thanks for the info, that setup sounds exactly what I'm looking for, though I have since decided to go the beautification route before I dump all that cash into speed (the damn gold stripes and rims on a green car is starting to get tacky ) I'm very impressed by the numbers that you listed, Did you run that 12 on the stock 10-bolt?

 

Yeah, Those times were run on the stock 10 bolt with the original 3.42's (which are still in the car) and dumping the clutch at 6200 rpm on ET Streets . Luckily the 10 bolt has held up very well

 

Just curious, how is 375rwhp for a heads/cam LT1 a record?
Do you have any track times? Im running the same cam but with
stock heads, looking to run a new best next week at MIR