Will this cam work?

[Metal Vibrations]

I've got a 1995 light duty K2500 Sierra with a TBI 350. It has a rebuilt 4L60E with a shift kit. I'm doing a rebuild on the engine and noticed some scoring on a few of the lifters bottoms. I've been doing a lot of reading about cams and upgrades, especially on this site. The info is a bit confusing as this is my first engine rebuild. It's an 880 block casting, 2 bolt main with stock heads, NOT a vortec.
I was looking at a marine cam for low end torque as this will be my daily driver and just want to know if the cam I'm looking at will work without computer or tbi upgrades. I'm going for small power boost but want to keep reliability.
I'm looking at a comp cam K12-300-4 with operating range from 600-4600 rpm on Amazon. Will this cam work for my engine and computer and is there anything else I'll need to buy with it? Here's a link to the cam I'm looking at...

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Thanks in advance for any info and sorry for yet another cam question.

 

[Erik the Awful]

The specs on that cam are very small. I don't think you'd notice a difference from stock. If that's what you're looking for, that's fine, but I'd give Comp Cams a call and see what they recommend.

Flat tappet cams are quickly becoming obsolete and aren't the "safe" solution. Now's the time to make the jump to a roller cam. If you're willing to run treasure yard parts, you can upgrade to a roller cam for about $100 more than that kit costs. Call Comp Cams for a cam recommendation, get some LS2 valvesprings, some Comp Cams 787-16 retainers, clean some junkyard roller lifters, dogbones, and spider, throw in a decent double roller chain and you're in at around $600.

 

[Metal Vibrations]

The specs on that cam are very small. I don't think you'd notice a difference from stock. If that's what you're looking for, that's fine, but I'd give Comp Cams a call and see what they recommend.

Flat tappet cams are quickly becoming obsolete and aren't the "safe" solution. Now's the time to make the jump to a roller cam. If you're willing to run treasure yard parts, you can upgrade to a roller cam for about $100 more than that kit costs. Call Comp Cams for a cam recommendation, get some LS2 valvesprings, some Comp Cams 787-16 retainers, clean some junkyard roller lifters, dogbones, and spider, throw in a decent double roller chain and you're in at around $600.

That's great info, I was told by the parts guy that upgrading to a roller is really expensive but if the cost is that close then might as well go for it. That being said I was going to bring the block and heads to a machine shop to be dipped and checked over before assembling. Is there anything I should ask to be done while it's in there? I had read about needing the holes in the oil valley being to be threaded and also having a bit shaved off to fit a double roller chain. I definitely like the idea of roller since it's more efficient. I'm not trying to make a real powerhouse but 250-300hp would be nice if I can get that without upgrading the computer and tbi.

 

[1997]

do you know if your block is "roller ready"?
If so, you're good to go, if not ....

I was collecting parts over the years and just recently installed the edelbrock performer manifold and cam, since i had a head gasket blow,,,, Noticable difference, but not huge, stock ECU.
If you go just cam i would look at something with similar specs.

in my research, it seemed most "truck engines" 95 vintage were not "roller ready", but to my surprise mine was, so maybe you'll get lucky too.

Good luck with "treasure yards" on VI. FB maybe.

 

[Metal Vibrations]

do you know if your block is "roller ready"?
If so, you're good to go, if not ....

I was collecting parts over the years and just recently installed the edelbrock performer manifold and cam, since i had a head gasket blow,,,, Noticable difference, but not huge, stock ECU.
If you go just cam i would look at something with similar specs.

in my research, it seemed most "truck engines" 95 vintage were not "roller ready", but to my surprise mine was, so maybe you'll get lucky too.

Good luck with "treasure yards" on VI. FB maybe.

The holes are there but not tapped so I'm assuming that means it's not roller ready. I've got a tap and die set so is that something I could do myself or would it be better to get the machine shop to do it since I was gonna get it chem dipped and inspected? I've got all new seals, gaskets and bearings. I've got a new timing chain and components too. Will I need different ones if I rollerize?

 

[L31MaxExpress]

The holes are there but not tapped so I'm assuming that means it's not roller ready. I've got a tap and die set so is that something I could do myself or would it be better to get the machine shop to do it since I was gonna get it chem dipped and inspected? I've got all new seals, gaskets and bearings. I've got a new timing chain and components too. Will I need different ones if I rollerize?

Your 95 had a Vortec block. Probably has PM rods as well. That being said let the machine shop do it. If they mess it up it is on them. Get the oil gallery plugs on both ends tapped for screw in pipe plugs at the same time.

 

[Metal Vibrations]

Your 95 had a Vortec block. Probably has PM rods as well. That being said let the machine shop do it. If they mess it up it is on them. Get the oil gallery plugs on both ends tapped for screw in pipe plugs at the same time.

Awesome, I do remember reading about getting the gallery plugs tapped but had completely forgot about it until now. Changing to a roller cam I'm assuming will require roller lifters. Will that change the pushrod length and should I change to roller rockers? I was intending to use the stock heads I have as the engine ran great other than burning oil. I filled the oil, drove roughly 250km(150mi) and it wasn't showing on the dipstick when I got home so I figured it'd be a good time to learn