Good mild cam for 98 Chevy K1500

[Dakota Aiken]

Whats the best mild cam for a stock 98 Vortec 350? Don't really want a lope idle, but want a cam that adds more horsepower and torque than stock. Don't know much about cams so any help is greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[BowtieBrody]

From all the research I've done, opinions I've been given, and ideas I've had shared with me; the best cam for a stock Vortec 350 is the 395 Marine cam, the same camshaft used in HT383 and Ramjet 350 crate engines.
@slowburb has a 96 Suburban running this cam, and I believe @Supercharged111 has a 98 (I think) K1500 he pulled a race-car trailer with; I'm sure that they can step in and provide more information, it's been a while since I've looked at any 350 stuff for a while so I'm a bit rusty,

 

[slowburb]

The best mild cam is the '395 GM marine/ramjet/HT383 cam. /thread.

 

[big_mike]

The best mild cam is the '395 GM marine/ramjet/HT383 cam. /thread.

Agreed, that's my plan as well.

 

[Bbecker]

i would call comp cams or lunati, or whatever cam company you want and ask them to see what they recommend.
if i was changing valve springs/ doing retainer work then i would run a lunati 20080720, may have a slight lope at idle though,

 

[Phillip Buessing]

I was going to say that GM p/n 12551142 would be a good choice as well, but it seems these are not readily available anymore. This was the stock LT4 camshaft. I have had one in a 383 with vortec heads and it was a torquey cam that ran out nice to about 5500 rpm with stock sounding idle.

 

[slowburb]

LT4 cam not designed for heavy truck with auto transmission. Bad.

 

[BowtieBrody]

LT4 cam not designed for heavy truck with auto transmission. Bad.

I think @skylark ran an LT4 cam in an Escalade and was less than thrilled, I could be thinking of someone else though?

 

[slowburb]

I think you're right bro. I will add this. If I can ever get my suburban out of daily driver duty I'll be pulling the '395 cam out in favor of something along the lines of a ZZ4 cam.

 

[skylark]

I think @skylark ran an LT4 cam in an Escalade and was less than thrilled, I could be thinking of someone else though?

I did run the lt4 production cam in our Denali and I was less than impressed to say the least. Good memory!