What cam do you recommend?

[Sierra]

anyone with a suggestion on a cam??? The cam is the only part I don't have figured out. I'm not converting to a roller block. I just want something better than stock for a street truck. I will not be towing and such.

 

[6chevy9]

i suggest you read everything you can about cams in general, it helped me out alot in understanding more of how they work. it will help you pick a cam and know whats going to work best for you. i will try to find it for you to read and post up soon.

 

[6chevy9]

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0405_camshaft_variables_basics/index.html

 

[6chevy9]

from what i have learned myself and for what you are wanting to do, a cam for that set up shouldnt have more than .470 lift and if your using stock vortec heads and not wanting to change springs i wouldnt go too high with the lift because youll float the valves with those vortec springs. also youll want to stay with the stock 1.5 rocker ratio because the 1.6 will act as if the cam had even more lift. the cam should stay right around 110 and up NSA for a computer controled motor to have a smooth operation. that being said its more of what you are wanting to do with the truck, do you want it to build more power at high rpm or low rpm? assuming that your not going with anything balanced out like a race motor in the bottom end i would say your looking for more low to mid range power. and since your running stock vortec heads that build more power at a higher rpm a good mid range cam would be what i would suggest to you. i think you should look at the comp cams extreme 4x4 line up for your motor, or their computer controled line.

 

[jcro61]

call the cam companies and tell them what you do with your truck and the engine your building and they will reccomend a good cam.

 

[Sierra]

yeah, I have been reading up on them and it looks like I have a lot more reading and research to do. I am looking for low to mid range power. Basically a stronger take off than normal. I rarely drive my tuck faster than 90 mph even on the interstate. I have been referred to a good machine shop so I will be talking with them about this as well. I have never driven anything with anything other than a stock motor. So what I have planned with a stock cam would be a big difference.

Well, it looks like I have some research to do. Thanks guys.

 

[6chevy9]

yeah and you want to read the side notes as well as im sure you have, but some cams require a different tourqe converter and gears, the more extreme call out for both with headers and certain compression ratios. i would highly recommend that you swap valve springs to open up a few more cam options though, but that just my opinion and i know that you would like to stay with the stock set. also decking the heads could be benificial. just giving you other options incase you didnt know you had them!

 

[Valkyrie5.7]

call the cam companies and tell them what you do with your truck and the engine your building and they will reccomend a good cam.

+1. You can also try asking the guys on hotrodders.com, they really know their stuff.

 

[90'rado]

Calling a cam manufacturer can be beneficial and something that you can learn from, however they're susceptible to making errors and bad judgments like anyone. I called several cam manufacturers directly and also various companies, online, mail order etc and quoted the same specs for some arbitrarily defined twin turbo small block that I 'put together' on paper, I called the same people back several months later asking what cam they recommended for the exact same setup and got completely different answers.


Sierra if you want to make any power at all, you really need to shitcan the exhaust manifolds, they are the most restrictive part of the TBI exhaust system, the factory Y pipe being second.

To build a brutish strong TBI you need to address these things:
1.)Exhaust - replace the stock system in it's entirety, from the manifolds to the tailpipes
2.)Cam - The factory TBI cam is a big limiting factor to making any kind of power at all b/c it is puny. There are various options as far as cams, I have experience with The Crane 2030 grind- .423/.446 204/214 110 LSA, this is a mild cam but makes a ton of torque throughout the powerband. The Crane grind is $200 plus I believe, but I got an Elgin cam which is the exact same grind but cost $50!
3.)Tune - Tune it yourself and it will be much more accurate to what you need.
4.) Ultimate TBI mods
5.) Salad bowl mod (A homemade, free TBI 'powercharger')

These mods plus port and polished swirlport TBI heads are capable of delivering in the 350-400 LB/FT of TQ. You'll even get good mileage if you can keep your foot out of it since the TBI heads are great not only for producing gobs of torque but also being very fuel efficient due to the cylinder head's characteristic of superb fuel atomization. Also, this engine will run strong up to 5K RPM.

 

[Sierra]

Well, I am not looking to make tons of power. I am keeping the stock exhaust manifolds b/c I just don't have the money to replace those right now. Money being the restrictive factor in all of this. I would be happy with a completely stock rebuild. I don't drive my truck to go fast. But since I got most of the parts to do a vortec swap pretty cheap I might as well change the cam while I am getting it rebuilt. The motor itself had 230K miles on it. As far as the exhaust goes, I already have a custom 2.5 y-pipe that goes into 3" with no cat.

I will look into crane and elgin cams as well. Thanks for the info