Cam question?
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TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 576
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From: En Casa del Carajo
Cam question? What cam and size should I get if in the long term future I want procharge my 98' T/A that is stock right now or should I wait to H/C at the same time. Do I even need heads to procharge my LS1. Sorry I'm a noob
What a colorful array of questions.. 
Well I'll start by saying there are a lot of blower cams out there offered by various venders/sponsors (found over to the right.. ----------->), that people seem to like. I, for one, am not up to date on my cam knowledge and have no experience with them as of yet so I can't advise you on a good cam (same goes for heads lol).
I do know that if you're stock now, there are other hurdles to leap before going FI. Most people tend to start with bolt ons and work their way up from there to cam/heads/intake, to forced induction.
As for needing heads with a procharger or any other form of FI for that matter, you don't NEED heads. You don't NEED a cam either. Will they help you move more air and make more power? Yes. Will the supercharger do just fine on stock heads/cam? Yes, but more power is on the table with a better list of parts.
Should you wait and do H/C with FI? If you have the money then why not.. haha.. just get all the parts coming and throw it together. The thing is, is that the power mods need a lot of supporting mods. With more power you make, then you tend to need better clutches, a beefier rear, more fuel, built transmission, suspension, etc. etc. etc.. So it's not a bad idea to get this stuff out of the way first (or atleast make sure you have funds available if something unexpectedly breaks) and then go from there..
You may be a noob now, just keep reading and looking at peoples results and you'll gain a general knowledge of things. Also, don't believe everything you read
EDIT:
Your goals and purpose (ie horsepower goals and if the car is a daily driver, track car, or all out drag machine) really dictates what components will suit you and you should always keep this in mind. With that said, pleasant modding!
Well I'll start by saying there are a lot of blower cams out there offered by various venders/sponsors (found over to the right.. ----------->), that people seem to like. I, for one, am not up to date on my cam knowledge and have no experience with them as of yet so I can't advise you on a good cam (same goes for heads lol).
I do know that if you're stock now, there are other hurdles to leap before going FI. Most people tend to start with bolt ons and work their way up from there to cam/heads/intake, to forced induction.
As for needing heads with a procharger or any other form of FI for that matter, you don't NEED heads. You don't NEED a cam either. Will they help you move more air and make more power? Yes. Will the supercharger do just fine on stock heads/cam? Yes, but more power is on the table with a better list of parts.
Should you wait and do H/C with FI? If you have the money then why not.. haha.. just get all the parts coming and throw it together. The thing is, is that the power mods need a lot of supporting mods. With more power you make, then you tend to need better clutches, a beefier rear, more fuel, built transmission, suspension, etc. etc. etc.. So it's not a bad idea to get this stuff out of the way first (or atleast make sure you have funds available if something unexpectedly breaks) and then go from there..
You may be a noob now, just keep reading and looking at peoples results and you'll gain a general knowledge of things. Also, don't believe everything you read
EDIT:
Your goals and purpose (ie horsepower goals and if the car is a daily driver, track car, or all out drag machine) really dictates what components will suit you and you should always keep this in mind. With that said, pleasant modding!
If you are planing on running a stock bottom end with a procharger I would leave the stock heads and cam. You can only push the stock bottom end so far and sending a piston in to brand new heads would be a mess. Also you will want to lower the compression ratio with the blower so adding bigger combustion chamber heads on a N/A moter would cause you to loose power untill you can get the blower. My best advice is to buy headers and a full exhaust, and a intake manifold... ls6 or a fast. Then save about $15,000 for a 12 bolt rear end, big fuel system, build a forged bottom end with a blower cam (some thing with more exhaust lift and duration and a 115-117 lsa) and some 72cc heads reuse your headers and intake, then get a blower. FI is not cheap and takes some patience. I'm not trying to scare you away from a blower you can run low boost on a stock bottom end for awhile and it will live but if your any thing like me you'll want more boost in about a week and thats when you start to brake things.
If you are planing on running a stock bottom end with a procharger I would leave the stock heads and cam. You can only push the stock bottom end so far and sending a piston in to brand new heads would be a mess. Also you will want to lower the compression ratio with the blower so adding bigger combustion chamber heads on a N/A moter would cause you to loose power untill you can get the blower. My best advice is to buy headers and a full exhaust, and a intake manifold... ls6 or a fast. Then save about $15,000 for a 12 bolt rear end, big fuel system, build a forged bottom end with a blower cam (some thing with more exhaust lift and duration and a 115-117 lsa) and some 72cc heads reuse your headers and intake, then get a blower. FI is not cheap and takes some patience. I'm not trying to scare you away from a blower you can run low boost on a stock bottom end for awhile and it will live but if your any thing like me you'll want more boost in about a week and thats when you start to brake things.
You really need to do some research before you jump into something like that. You need to figure out what you want. Theres alot of **** you need to do before you just throw a procharger on your car.
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Joined: Feb 2007
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We have been using a 228/232 cam for FI applications with great results. Being a 98, you might have to worry about the bottom end, but we've seen anywhere from 530-590rwhp on Mustang Dyno with stock bottom ends (including 98's). I would do heads, just so that you could lower the compression to about 9.5:1, and throw a little more boost at it, but you don't have too. One thing to remember is that you are going to have to have a full exhaust, I would recommend 1 7/8" headers for FI. But you can start with the cam and exhaust.
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Verdad Gallardo I just find your name ironic with the fact that you openly come out and say "I'm a noob.".. I figure a guy with a stroked motor knows a couple of things..
Just do a lot of searching/reading on here.. most any of the questions people want to ask, have been asked..
Just do a lot of searching/reading on here.. most any of the questions people want to ask, have been asked..