Camshafts! What is good, Where to buy, how much HP?

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

In light of my previous post in here... I'm wondering which camshafts are known for being great for our cars. Money is not a huge issue, but I want to begin the process of searching and researching now so that come January break or next summer I will be ready to purchase and install a new camshaft.

I don't really know where to START searching so if you provide me with a few links to the best of the best I would appreciate it.

How much HP can I expect? I did a general search on the net, and another on here... one had to do with a random truck where it added 10-20 hp, another had to do with an LS1 which a guy said would add 50....

I have a 3.8 '97 Camaro. Could you estimate for me? I hope to upgrade the intake with CAI, and the exhaust with a 3" system if that is important in your guess.

Thanks! :D

[RallyRed 98]

good god.

read any thread with the word "cam" in it. there are a bunch, but 9 times out of 10 they are helpful and don't end 3 posts into it with the words "search."

the GT cam is the "legendary" V6 cam but now that people are starting to develop comprehensive tuning, they are getting a little bigger.

in fact, the cam i'm installing is a custom grind. i had considered the intense racing stage 1x before that, but never any of the ZZP cams just because i wanted to do something "different" so to speak.

as such, i ended up with the cam i have now, and no time to install it. it's a decent amount of work.

expect to drop at least 500 bones before it's all said and done to do it right. the cam itself will run you 300, give or take 20 bucks.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

Give me a break man. Yeesh.

**searches for "cam" ONLY in advanced section**

300 results.............

**clicks on topic with "cam" in it**
of no use
**clicks another**
of no use...

You know MOST topics are not talking about this... most are talking about repairing them, issues with them, cams dealing with 98+ cars, rocker arms... things I don't understand... and so on...

Thanks for the help... but please consider that not everyone is lazy. I've had no experience with this sort of thing and I just need people to give me a leg-up to know where to start sometimes.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

Also...

Where can I buy this GT cam?... I looked it up on google and a few other sites with various search terms and just one site came up that I could find and it doesn't look safe to buy from.

[OneQuickV6]

Call up and speak with Trevor at Texas Speed! They can get you any of the Comp and CamMotion grinds (same as any of those 'other' companies are using) for your motor. Yours will respond basically the same as any 98+ car will, as it is the same motor. Call trevor, and tell him what your goals are, what you want to do wth the car, your experience, etc. He can then recommend a cam for you, not just some grind that half the other people on this board have.

806.866.0734 is their number, and they sponsor this board for a reason.

[98Camaro3.8]

Don't buy a cam unless you absolutely know what you're getting into. This is not just another bolt on...you should do all the others mods first. Rear end, transmission, suspension, etc. Don't buy one just because someone said it's good. If you can't decide yourself, don't get it.

The best way to learn about it is to simply search this site. Read every damn post about cams and pretty soon you'll have a good understanding of what's going on.

Note: My cam project is up to about $2000 now. A simple 300 bucks is not gonna do it all.

[ellik]

Your biggest problem with a cam is tuning for it. The GT cam shouldnt cause too many problems, though its not nearly as aggressive as some of the others out there now.

I would tackle other mods before the cam, at least intake exhaust and gears/ posi.

To start reading up on them, check out

www.zzperformance.com and www.intense-racing.com

they have some info on different grinds and the supporting mods that go with them/ problems you might commonly see w/ each.

Good luck.

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

Originally posted by ellik:
Your biggest problem with a cam is tuning for it. The GT cam shouldnt cause too many problems, though its not nearly as aggressive as some of the others out there now.

I would tackle other mods before the cam, at least intake exhaust and gears/ posi.

To start reading up on them, check out

www.zzperformance.com and www.intense-racing.com

they have some info on different grinds and the supporting mods that go with them/ problems you might commonly see w/ each.

Good luck.

he has a 1997 he can tune but not for cheap

[pgriffith]

Originally posted by Deoxyribonucleicvitriol:
Give me a break man. Yeesh.

**searches for "cam" ONLY in advanced section**

300 results.............

**clicks on topic with "cam" in it**
of no use
**clicks another**
of no use...

You know MOST topics are not talking about this... most are talking about repairing them, issues with them, cams dealing with 98+ cars, rocker arms... things I don't understand... and so on...

Thanks for the help... but please consider that not everyone is lazy. I've had no experience with this sort of thing and I just need people to give me a leg-up to know where to start sometimes.

You may want to start some place else. A cam is generally not the best first mod you do to the car.

Also, there are 300 plus topics about cams because of threads like this one. I see probly 2-3 post a week exactly like yours. I usually close them. I am going to leave this one open for the next day or two to see where it goes. If this post goes nowhere like most then I will close it.

But please from now on start searching.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

Thanks pgriffith and all the rest of you.

I wasn't planning on it being my first performance mod... I already have in mind to upgrade the intake and exhaust... but I always research long before I start to actually do something.

I will try to search all the topics and absorb all I can. I normally do that but honestly... there are so many cam topics that don't help at all lol.

[malice10985]

I speak from experience...

DOn't get this cam:

comp 200/206 grind

.498/.480
200/206 dur
108IC
1120LSA

I called comp directly and they highly recomended this cam. I want to find that salesman and shove this cam up his ***.

It has improved my nitrous ET's by about .2 seconds, but NA I have seen NO IMPROVENT OVER THE STOCK CAM!!!!!!!!!

THis cam is barely larger than the stocker and I hate it. If cam swaps weren't such a huge project, I would have swapped it out a long time ago.

[Arctc Wolf]

The cam you get will be determined by what u've done to ur car. duration depends on displacement. more dispacement=more duration usually. lift depends on the flow rates of the heads u have. stock will flow well up to about .510 lift on average, P&P'd heads will flow better and at higher lifts. lobe separation determines where in the powerband u want most of ur power. do u want low-end, mid-range or high-end, and if u want mid to high end, do u have the valvetrain upgraded to handle it. intake centerline determines how broad or peaky u want ur powerband. advancing it will give u broader power band, retarding it will get u a more peaky powerband. advance gets u less peak power, retard gets u more peak power(depends on if u want a dyno-stomper or a streetable powerband).

with stock displacement, i haven't heard of going bigger than 224/224, but i'm sure u can if u really want to. stock heads, .510 lift or less on stock, more based on flow rates of the P&P'd heads u run. NA and centrifugal sc cams will like 110-112 lsa up to 6000 or so, depends on lift & duration too, and more emphasis on exhaust. roots blower or twin screw, 114-116 since the boost is always "on" so to speak, and more emphasis on exhaust. turbo cams like 114-116 lsa as well, but like matching lobes or more intake emphasis. hope this helped.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

Thanks guys.

Yeah Arctc Wolf... that helped... but I don't understand half of your explanations lol.

I just need to learn about the engine in general. I assume my g/fs dad will be able to teach me about all of this in general. It's frustrating being ignorant about it and not having a way to learn... but I guess that's why this is called "advanced tech".

....I've been wondering about this... actually...

How do you upgrade the compression of our engines?.... is it totally computer-based?.... Do the mods we do make it happen automatically?... I've wondered that because I know imports are higher compression so that's how they acheive higher power with 4-cylinders.

[OneQuickV6]

Actually, compression is dependant upon several measurements of your engine. Bore, stroke, valve relief, head gasket thickness, combustion chamber volume, etc are the ones that can change it. And most of the imports you speak of, aren't making more power, it's just that they are much lighter and can rev much higher.

Think of how Lance Armstrong rides a bike and wins...Not the strongest guy out there, not even close to making the most torque in the race. But he makes decent power, at alot of RPM's for extended periods. That's kind of what imports do too.

[WickEdSix9838]

I speak from experience...

DOn't get this cam:

comp 200/206 grind

.498/.480
200/206 dur
108IC
1120LSA

I called comp directly and they highly recomended this cam. I want to find that salesman and shove this cam up his ***.

It has improved my nitrous ET's by about .2 seconds, but NA I have seen NO IMPROVENT OVER THE STOCK CAM!!!!!!!!!

THis cam is barely larger than the stocker and I hate it. If cam swaps weren't such a huge project, I would have swapped it out a long time ago.

thats why ur not supposed to call the cam help "tech" line...they are normally idiots that will recommend stupid grinds....