Ideal Cam

[am92]

but with the 700r now, i was pushing 3100 rpms at 70...4.10's would make that worse tho wouldn't it? i do decent highway driving to school

With 3.73s and 31s you shouldn't be at 3100 RPM at 70...with my stock 265s (32") I was at 1900 at 70 with 3.73s. Are you sure your overdrive is working?

 

[Kamd90Chevy]

ya know honestly i began thinking no it wasn't. it was like that for the last year. between 70 and 75 i was solid 3k-3200. i could feel all the shifts and it would drop in OD and stay there, but sometimes i had to give it extra gas to drop out, but the trans did go out. had 124,614 on it all original. working on that now. so in the meantime i was looking at the cam swap and i'm gettin 31x10.5's on it.

 

[Kamd90Chevy]

btw, ur truck is **** in ur sig

 

[MOBS]

Well here's a slight comparison, my 96 has 235/75-15s and a 3.73 rearend. At 2500rpm in OD with torque converter locked, it's going 74mph. If I unlock the torque converter(via controls), it's 700rpm higher at the same 74mph speed. So maybe your torque converter isn't locking? Under normal driving conditions(about 2 inches of pedal pressed), mine shifts into OD ~30-35mph, and locks the torque converter at ~47mph.

Figured I'd give ya a comparison since we both share the same rear axle ratio and our OD ratios aren't too much different(Your 700R4 & My 4L80E).

 

[Kamd90Chevy]

thanks much MOBS, after your post i did some homework about "lock-up" converters. i learned a lot surprisingly. and in doing so i went outside and investigated the situation with mine seeing as how it was already sitting in my garage with the trans. after emptying all the fluid, i could hear all sorts of metal clanking around in there, so i cut it open to find most of the "lock-up" mechanism grenaded. smh. Soooo i wen't and purchased a new one today and it will be here Tuesday. so my next day off i'll install it with all the new parts i already have. U-joints, fluids, another pan gasket, a new rear seal, wen't over all the bolts to be sure they're tight and i have to pick-up my new kick-down cable Monday from the Chevy dealer....crossin my fingers, or else i'm lookin $1700-ish for the new TCI trans. i just want to say thanks again to everyone for ur input.

 

[MOBS]

Well it suxx it grenaded on you, but it's good it was ONLY the converter, and I also hope your trans is still good. With just a cam upgrade, you shouldn't have any worry of burning up your trans, doubt your horsepower will be anywhere NEAR the limit for the 700. Also, if you haven't ordered the cam yet, I'd look into a roller conversion.....it's doubtful that your block is drilled for a spider assembly(for preloading roller lifters and holding lockplates in place), but you can get "siamese lifters" aka "zig zags" aka roller conversion lifters(pairs of lifters are held together via a "bridge" to keep them from rotating). Then just get the corrected timing cover for using a roller and you'll be good to go and the engine will have one less thing holding it back(takes less power from engine to turn a roller cam/lifter than it does a flat tappet).

 

[MOBS]

A big plus for converting to roller........normally after you break-in a flat tappet cam and lifters, if you decide to change the cam, you gotta change the lifters too. But, if you convert to roller, even after break-in and going tens of thousands of miles, you can usually just remove the cam and replace it(unless ofcourse you have a bad lifter roller, which is a rare occurrance). This saves you from having to change lifters.

 

[Kamd90Chevy]

so where would i begin to look into that? i looked on JEGS and Summit with now major results besides buying everything separately

 

[MOBS]

I'll check around and see what I can find.

 

[MOBS]

Well I know that crane makes a kit....it's what i have in my 73 camaro....but I'm not finding the kit online for some reason. I did find the crower lifters which are good for 6000-6500 rpm, that's the limitation of most hydraulic lifters before you get valve float from the oiling system not being able to keep up and causing lifter to protrude and in essence make itself longer. Here's the lifters: http://crower.carshopinc.com/product_info.php/products_id/16676/66200-16

Now just gotta find a roller version of the cam ya want. If you get a roller cam with a small bolt circle, ya gotta get a matching timing gear set, then just get a standard cam button and have a machine shop turn it down and press into the smaller hole.