I am new to this site but have been reading up on your information on the LT-1 , I have a 62' chevy II convertible with the 2nd Gen. lT1 and 700R 4 tranny and 9" rearend , I am currently running it with the chevrolet intake for carburation with a 750 Holley and MSD ignition , it runs great! I am still thinking of getting an injection unit for it . Right now I am going to do a cam change , I am looking at the LT-4 hot cam , I will be running 10125320 heads lightly ported , stainless valves with shaved stem , 1.6 rockers , ( on the car now) with LT-4 springs and retainers . My Question is will I have to cut the guides down , I was told by my engine machinist I would have guide clearance problems ( spring bind ) if I didn't cut them ? Off the subject any excellent injection deals out there ( injecton, harness , computer ) ? Set me straight Guys ....Tim

 

I've never heard of that. All the LT4 conversion stuff/cam kit is all bolt on--unless these valves you are running are radically different than stock. BTW, there are much better cams available than the Hot cam. With a carb, I would definitely run something a little wilder.

 

What do you recommend for a cam ? Go with a comp cams 305 roller ? I'm only running a 2300 converter with my 700r4 , don't want to go much higher stall and I do want a decent cam sound and still plenty of lowend power , the stock cam has loads of bottom end but just seems to fall off flat around 4500....Tim

 

Sounds to me like you have an 'old school' machinist from WAAAAAAAAY back in the day. Do yourself a huge favor and find a modern day machinist right now..... Let me guess, did he recomend a 3/4 race cam for your application? ROTFLMAO.....

Nuff said.

Mike

 

Believe it or not he is an up to date drag racer , that musn't know a whole lot about LT1's ,thats why I'm here with the experts! For my self I have been building cars for years and I like to research stuff before I buy. Thats why I ask questions because there is people that may have already bought a certain cam ,carburator or heads and either loved them or hated them ! I 'd Like to know , saves a ton of grief . Thanks............ Tim

 

Honestly up to date racers often know little about modern engines, not that they are all that different just they break a bunch of the old rules. This is just one of them, even the LT1 iron heads with pressed studs and taller guides can run the HOT cam with 1.6 rockers without issue, and is 10:1 and runs on 87 octane(just as another set of rules that no longer apply).

 

the Hot cam kit is a drop in it is a good choice for what you would like.

One guy here is running 12.00s in his Duece(Chevy II) with a hot cam in a ZZ4 motor

 

TimSS,
I am a cyl head guy and have installed a few hot cams and never had a guide issue. Now, do take the tops of the guides down .110" just for safety and possible future upgrades. It just beats having it done later. As for the bigger cam thing, a Comp 305 or 306 will be awesome, even with the lower stall, especially in the lightweight car you have. Being in that low weight car, the rpms will climb real fast due to the amount of Tq the LT1 puts out at low end.

 

That is pretty good considering the ZZ4 heads are crap compared to the LT1 heads, something like 15% less flow.

The HOT cam might be a good choice here but remember there are a lot of other choices, while the HOT cam is probably the most popular that does not mean it is best just means people didn't bother to look any further into mods before they bought parts.

 

look around at other cams first

 

True, True. there are too many cams to choose from when your carbed. F/inj requires alot of tuning to get it just right. When your carbed, set the timing, jet it right, and have some fun.

 

Actually I totally dis-agree. I used to be a hard core single plane manifold with a 750 DP guy. I spent waaaay too many weekends tuning that carb than I would've liked. If the temp droped 15 degrees it was time to re-tune, if the humidity rised one day, it was time to re-tune, if the dog pissed on the left rear wheel, it was time to tune...... You couldn't force me to go back to carburation after having FI. I think FI is way more tolerant as far as tuning goes, especially if it's MAF.

TIMSS, as for the machinist, he may have thought you talking about the old LT-1 heads from the early 70's. In that respect, he may be correct.

Mike

 

I am with Mikey. I have NO clue why some people insist on ripping out a perfectly good EFI system to go Carb or refuse to go EFI. Back when I ran carbs I had to carry a jet kit at all times along with a bag of gaskets. To be honest one of the easier ones was my Dual Quad sets. Now that I have gone EFI I have NEVER looked back. I have one car that still has a carb and it is getting converted soon

As far as the Hot cam? Yes there are ALOT of other choices. Hell between the two car I have sitting here we have ran just about every cam you can think of and a ton of custom grinds. From mild to wild Solid roller setups. My Favorite daily cam is a LPE 211/219. GREAT sleeper cam. Passes Emisions and ran deep 12s in an other wise stock Motor. Great low and mid TQ to pull on 3.23 or 3.42 gears and small converter. Getting ready to Slap a new one in the wifes car.

We have found the CXE cams to be a little hard on parts. They like to eat valve springs and wear out valve guides. Not to mention they just seem to fall flat on there face at 6,200 no matter what springs we used.

Best advise is to make sure you use a Billet core just like GM did. They cost $30-40 more but worth it. I lost a bunch of parts to a Comp Cams Hardened core. We actually lost three cams from Comp that year. The first one took out a new motor!

I personally am not the biggest fan of the hot cam. BUT the kit over all has the best bang for the buck thing going on. Where else can you get a decent cam with EVERY thing to install it for that low price? $498.66 is hard to beat for all that.

Most times a custom cam cost $230 or more for a billet core(Which the hot cam is). Add to that springs and retainers. You can get them Cheap for what? $100 but a decent set with titainium retainers (like the HC kit) it is almost $200 or more. That still leaves you Rockers because I am not sure if any of thiese will run with stock rockers. SA rockers are not cheap. If you get NON-SA rockers you need new push rods as well as guide plates driving the cost higher.

So looking at this To me a hot cam kit is a complete yet cheap and effective way for most people to bolt on 60RWHP. At least that is what we were getting when putting them in a bolt on's LT1s with stock heads That is only $7.14 per HP. NOT bad bang for the buck IMHO. N2O is the only other thing that comes to mind for that bang for the buck.


So just to recap.
NO I do not think the hot cam is the best cam in the world.
YES I think the hot cam is a GREAT bang for the buck buy for the amature/novice Player

Enloy all

 

I is amazing how fast some cars are going with "mild" cams the Crane "227" or 210/224 as you f-body guys like to call it, has pushed at least on NA Impala with a stock bottomend to low 12s, the GMPP 845 is another putting down some amazing times and is 214 on the intake side I believe, even the very mild ZZ4 cam puts down good times. It is what I have in my car, even guys that know it is there swear the car sounds stock(stock for my car was 191/195 so the ZZ4 is a big step up) and at low speeds and throttle it drives just like it too, crack the throttle and she wakes right up. The LPE 211/219 has always looked interesting to me, if I run across one I might just try it out, otherwise winter will bring a custom grind.

If looking at other options with my cam I am running Combination Motorsports springs $100, and ProForm 1.5 SA roller rockers$170, rockers are going on 40K about 24K of which has been since I put the cam and springs in a year ago in July(and the car sat for two months with a dead tranny).

 

For what its worth, I ran .550 lift on an XL grind for a few months on stock rockers with no problems.

 

I appreciate everybodies input , I didn,t have alot of choice weather this particular LT1 came with injection or not , it didn't and I really had my heart set on having the injection , still do ! But I am not the least bit dicouraged with the performance , this is the best running smallblock I have had in awhile . Like I had said in my first reply I have the good pt. number 5320 heads for it with excellent stainless under stem valves , Lt-4 hot cam springs and retainers and 1.6 rockers . I will have to wait awhile for the injection , I haven;t found any good deals for it or the harness , so I figure for the 1000-1200 it would run me to install it I can put alot of good quality parts in it and have a darn decent running engine . Like you guys said I will shop the cams a bit more before buying , I appreciate your words of wisdom , you have been a great help........Tim

 

Tim so a search on Mega Squirt