question for 98Camaro3.8

[Silverbird2002]

Just took a look at the sound clips what kind of cam are you running in your Camaro? That's exactaly what kind of sound I'm looking for in my 02 firebird what would be a good cam to get for it that will make it sound like yours? Any sugjestions?

[98Camaro3.8]

That's the ZZP Comp Cams GT2 cam running through open headers. It's a great cam, I love it...and so do many others. If you're looking for a cam, it's a great choice for NA power.

Just don't get a cam because you want the cool sound, though. ;)

[Silverbird2002]

now will that cam fit in my 02 firebird or will I have to get another one?

[Silverbird2002]

Also I wanted to ask you, I'm looking to hop up my car over the winter and was wondering where and what I should start on first??? The car is pretty much stock so it will take a while to do everything I want to do. Basicly what I'm looking for is for it to be quick off the line, sound good, and perform well. However I don't want any SES lights blaring me in the face. I know one of the first things is going to be a better cat back system.....then where should I go from there? I want to get a cam but unsure what to get. I have no clue about cams. I want to get a Nx kit with purge but again unsure what the model number that I want is. Also I was looking into getting new gears but what would be the best for me?? Sorry to be bothering everyone with questions but I'm not to sure about gears and cams and stuff like that never really went into that.

Thanks

[98 3.8]

Hopping up your car to cam level will take a good amount of time and money if you do it "right". If you're looking to do a cam, gears are definitely a good mod to have. If you don't have the y87 package, you should also throw in a lsd.(positrac) The two most popular gear upgrade sizes are 3:73 and 4:10. If you go with 4:10s and drive a lot of highway, it will kill your gas mileage.

Ok, so in addition to the gears I would recommend doing some exhaust work. You'll definitely want to get a cat-back; there are many to choose from. With your ultimate goal of camming in mind, you'll probably want to get some headers and a hi flow cat too.

Along with exhaust, you'll want to make sure you have appropriate intake mods. I noticed your sig said you have a lid and K&N. So you'll probably be fine in that respect.

Now you mentioned that you don't want any SES lights. To avoid that you'll need to either ship your pcm out to someone to have it tuned or buy software and tune it yourself once you have a cam in. You'll really need to get a tune anyway if you want to optimize the performance of your engine. A different gear ratio will also require a pcm modification to make your speedometer read correctly.

So, those are probably the basics that you'd want to have done before engine work. You could do less, you could definitely do more...


There are a number of different types of cams you can run. Some are optimized for N/A applications, while other are designed for turbos, or supercharging...or nitrous. You mentioned you'd like to run nitrous. There are "nitrous" cams you can obtain, but that's only going to give you the best power output when you're actually running the juice. Just take your time choosing the right cam.

With the cam, your engine will be making a lot of high end power. With that extra high rpm power, there is going to be a lot more stress on your valvetrain. It's a good idea to replace things like your lifters, valvesprings and hardware, and timing chain as well.

Granted, that is just one way to get to your desired result...but that's how I would do it if/when I got around to it. Hope it's helpful.

[slow6]

hardware

[Silverbird2002]

Awsome thanks for all the info. That helps out a ton! Now all I have to do is to figure out what cam I want to go with I already know what cat back system I want to run. I asked SLP if a 3" cat back would be good to run and they told me that I don't want to run a 3" because of lose of back pressure.........so...would it be better to run the 2.5 or 3"?????

[98 3.8]

That is really debatable. Most heavily modded people on this board prefer the 3". However, a 2.5" system will sound better with less rasp. It really depends on what you want for the car.


(edit)
Now when you were told that you would have less backpressure which meant more power...that was only partially correct. In reality, less backpressure will move your peak torque higher in the rpm range. This will give you the illusion of a slower car. If you are really serious about doing heavy mods to the car, (nitrous/cam) 3" would probably give you a good amount of backpressure.(i.e., not much)

[Silverbird2002]

Oh ok like I said I just asked slp if a 3" would be good for me but I didnt tell them that I was wanting to put on a new cam or anything else. Thanks all for all of your help.

[slow6]

this guys kinda confusing
but 3" + cam = good'

i'd think 3" would sound better than 2.5" anyways