Well I know the name may be deleted but Delta Camshafts in Tacoma is where my family always will grab that old school cam for cheap. So today I called to ask what they can do for the LS motors. They said bring in a core to work on and they will do their magic. I mentioned that I wanted .595/.608 lift and 232/240 duration on a 114 LSA. (G5X2 specs) Well they said sure, no problem, that will run you $137.50. What am I missing? Are people just afraid of regrinds??

 

The issue you have to be concerned with is loss of base circle diameter and the resulting increase in pushrod length. Smaller base circle cams can also have harmonic issues that a similar grind on a standard doesn't have.

The bottom line.....

"You pays your money and you takes your chances."

 

Excuse my lack of knowledge here but are you saying when they do the work they have to take away from the base circle? Aren't they adding material for the increased duration/lift?

BTW- Love the pic in your sig...haha

 

Don I just loooose it everything I see that button. Might even have shot milk through my nose the first time I saw it...LMFAO! Is it real? I want one.

 

They just grind the base down, they don't add any to the tops of the lobes.

IMO, stay away...

 

yyea man i had my stock cam reground to 236/242 .586/.586 116 for $40, and it made weird numbers and when i pulled it out the lobes were all f-ed up each one had like a big pit wear the lifters meet the lobe.

just search around you can find good used cams on here for under $200. got my lingenfelter 228/232 114 cam on here for $150 and made 390rwhp sae cam only through a 4k stall auto

 

A reground camshaft will probably have a smaller base circle than a camshaft of similar lift that was machined that way to begin with but even a camshaft machined for a specific lift is going to have a smaller base circle than a lower lift camshaft.

The camshaft lobes have to fit through the camshaft bearing holes so the camshafts are usually set up with lobes fairly close to the bearing sizes (but obviously smaller).

That is why even a 2002 LS6 camshaft has a smaller base circle than a 2001 LS6 camshaft.

A Comp Cams, Lunati, LPE, or any other camshaft with higher lift than a factory LS6 camshaft is going to have a smaller base circle or you wouldn't be able to get the lobes through the bearing holes.

The Gen III/IV engines have fairly large base circle camshafts compared to the earlier Gen I and II camshafts. I have seen some pretty small diameter regrinds on Gen I and II SBC engines but those were mostly for drag racing applications where durability wasn't as big a concern and where you are testing out dozens of camshaft designs during engine development (and you are planning on changing pushrods lengths etc. anyway).

A bigger concern with regrinding the camshafts is the durability of the camshaft. The heat treating process only impacts the outer surface of the camshaft material. When you regrind the camshaft you remove this harder outer layer and expose the softer material below. I would ask what they do to re-heat treat the camshaft. The factory GM Gen III and IV camshaft material is designed to be induction hardened but you can't do that to the finished camshaft without distorting the camshaft. Also, very few aftermarket companies have the equipment to do induction hardening of camshafts.

If this is just for testing on the dyno, regrinding a couple camshafts can be a cost effective way to have different things to try out (and a way to re-use something that turns out not to work well for your combination).

 

My main Concern is one listed above. The lobes do not always seem to get hardened properly and by the end of the season you are chasing peoblems that turn out to be damaged lobes.

I have seen this first hand on a 'Cheap ***' who just had to save $100 bucks and it cost him a motor.

You live and you learn. Don's Statement seems to hold water

 

I'd only add "Cheap is seldom good, & good is seldom cheap!" You usually get what you pay for in car parts....

 

I am very happy with the Cam Ellis installed in the Trans Am I think it was just at 380 400bucks, Ellis can chime in, no problems what so ever. Spend the extra money. It is well worth I speak from experince in an SBC application.

 

exactly, my reground cam when i pulled it all the lobes were all messed up.


also off topic, Just wanted to say to Jason, You guy make/engineer great products, i resently put in one of your guys 228/232 588/595 114 spec'd cams and it run almost like stock and makes more power than a TSP MS4..
390whp SAE cam only through and unlocked TCI 4000 stall

 

I will also say they are some of my favorite products to sell and install

 

Yep, LPE makes good stuff....love my GT2-3! Good call Ellis.

 

Thanks for the info. Just wasn't sure how they worked. I'll have no problem running them in an old sbc as we've never had a problem and my uncle always rund them in his cars. I'll stick to fresh stuff on LS motors like I always have.