I just bought an LT1 cam. My car currently averages 15.80 sec. at 91 mph. It has an LO3 engine with the mods shown below. Can anyone offer any estimates on how much time I can drop and how much speed I can gain once I get the cam installed?

 

i'm being real optomistic here 15.50's or better especially if you still have the stock peanut cam in there. those swirlport heads suck.

 

Do you really think that going from the peanut cam to the lt1 cam will only save me 3 tenths at the most?

 

or better, atleast not the most.... my guess is just a shot in the dark. you might get low 15's out of it. just a hypothetical guess. slap it in and run it. then post your new times

 

That's cool man. Thanks for the feedback. I'd really like to break into the 14s with it but I know that the lo3 heads suck.

The thing is that it has enough carb and intake to maximize the 305 and the exhaust is really free flowing for a 305 as well.

I really think that the ultra conservative cam is creating a huge bottleneck. We'll see.

I'm still getting together the rest on the misc parts and materials for the cam swap.

I'll past the results after I'm done.

Also, the gtech meter that I have has been great for tunning and quantifying the results of my mods.

Any one else care to venture a guess?

 

A cam is the brains of the engine. It only controls how the rest of the engine makes power. There's only so much a cam can do with limited performance parts.

If you want to make big power, you need good heads. After that, everything else is just an add on.

 

what is your 60 foot times on these runs because my peanut cam 305 will run in the 14's all day long with my mph at 90 and 91.post your times so we can see what is going on with the car

 

peanut cam running in the 14's
lol must be nice, i have a 86 305 tpi all original 21,000 miles
i put 3.42 gears in it, k&n filters . hyperjunk chip, airfoil, 8.8 mm wires split fire plugs, free flowing muffler, and 1 i ran it with out the air filter, my best was 15.7 at 91 , i like to no how someone can be in the 14's with such a week cam
just my 2 sense

 

like i told the other guy what are your 60 foot time's on your runs i am normally in the 1.93 to 2.04 range and i run anywhere from 14.61 thru 14.91 depending on the weather.this data is from my runs this season .the track just opened a couple weeks ago.if you would like a parts list i will supply it for you.but if you read my other post i am very unhappy with my times for all of my parts.I also have a lt1 cam to put in and i fugire i will drop to low 14 maybe if lucky a high 13. the cam in a stock motor would be worth at least 30 hp and thats 3 tenths.if you have any other questions let me know

 

wrong
lt1 cam in a bone stock peanut cammed 305 tpi will bring the q-mile down 9 tenths maybe even more, was reading that no one can make any power with the peanut cam it is to restrictive, putting a better cam like the comp xtreme energy 212-218 449 456 would run a full second on a stock engine thats how bad the peanut cammed cars are,
in 91 the 305 auto car ran 15.2 bone stock with the puney ****ty tbi exhaust, and 2.73 gears, now i got 3.42 gears better exhaust, and still run 15.7 so the cam will make a huge diff

 

hope your right about 9 tenths but i dont think so.i would be very happy with 5 tenths.i still didnt see your 60 foot times .your mph is about the same as my car and that tells me your horsepower is about the same as mine so you should run in the 14's with a good 60 foot.i believe you about not being able to make horspower with the peanut becuase im a prime example.but does anybody have times before and after with 60 foot times about the same .i wont even worry about the weather conditions.when i get my cam in i will let you know the diffrence.i would think your 15.7 at 91 with gears you would have had to have a terrible 60 foot like a 2.30 or higher .my worst time i ever ran at the track was a 15.41 at 86 mph and that was spinning the tires terrible with a 2.28 60 foot with street tires.this is the first time i ever took car to track and didnt know how to drive.It takes a while to figure how to get 60foot down

 

I don't see an LT1 cam making that big of a difference on an L03 to knock off .9 but then again what do I know.

 

what are the specs on the lt1 cam

 

here they are for diffrent years

 

i would go with comp xtreme energy cam 212-218 449 456 112 lsa on a 86 tpi peanut cammed car it would make 45 hp over the stock cam and work with the factory comp, it costs about 200 us with the lifters

 

I believe he has a roller cam block since it is a 1989 camaro. so that comp cam isnt what he wants .people purchase the lt1 cam becuase it is cheap and the lsa and lift numbers are good for a 305.I believe the lt1 cam is about what a 350 tpi cam is with 1.6 rockers.so i would think it would be perfect .but what do i know

 

you can go bigger than a l98 cam on a 305 ,i believe what comp told me, 212-218 449 456 112 lsa is the biggest cam for the stock computer prom, they have bigger but than you need proms adjusted and converters and so on, i wouldn;t go to a lt1 cam over the l98 cam not enough gain, any 305 tpi with the l98 cam should be looking for power else wear, heads, headers, gears, ect, speaking for peanut cammed 305's thats a diff story

 

Thanks for the input guys. I am timing my runs with a gtech pro so I don't know the 60' time. I do get some wheel spin right at launch but not real bad. My tires are pretty bald so maybe that's part of the problem.

The cam I bought is out of a 92 vette so I believe it is the "largest" LT1 cam that was offered.

I'm pretty optimistic because the LO3 cam specs are so pathetic and the specs for the 92 vette LT1 cam are just about as "big" as I want to go with a 305. I'll post my times once it is installed.

If that doesn't produce the acceleration I'm after the next step will be some L31 vortec heads shaved .004" .

Has anyone with a similar set up as mine measured the results of a LT1 cam swap?

 

my 5.0L tpi 5spd had the L98 cam in it, i still got 3 mph out of the LT1 cam. i ran 97mph passes before now im at 100. its a very worthwhile mod in my opinion especially for the 20-50 dollars u will pay for it. i have the 1995 FBody version of the LT1 cam also, i think its the best one of them all?

 

I put the LT1 cam in and after a little tunning I've already picked up over 3 tenths and over 3MPH. My latest Gtech results are
15.59 sec. at 92.8 MPH.

I think that with some more tunning I should be able to net a total gain of about 1/2 Sec. and 5 MPH to run about 15.4 at around 95 MPH with just the cam swap. We'll see. When you consider that I got the cam for $16 plus shipping I'd say it was well worth it.

Keep in mind that is with the LO3 swirlport heads, which are the next thing to go. I've found a good pair of LB9 (58cc 1988 TPI) heads for $40 including shipping.

Anyone care to venture a guess as to how much I'll gain from those heads?

 

woo hoo my guestimate was accurate. get those lb9 heads and a cat back (if you don't already have it). that will definitely get you into 14's. i'd say .5 sec over those crappy swirlports.

run the car at the track if at all possible. see how good she really does. g-tech likes to lie.....

 

Yeah man that was a good estimate. I'm picking up the LB9 heads tonight after work.

I have headman headers and deleted the Cat. Conv. Since I also have a nice Edelbrock RPM muffler exhaust flow is not a problem plus I think it sounds pretty awesome.

I'm trying to decide if I want to go super cheap and just bolt those heads on or if I should spend some time and money attempting to port and polish the heads and upgrading the valves & springs.

 

at the very least give them a valve job and some nice springs. if your going to port DIY. that's the only way it's be worth it. yet it will be a painstaking, tedious process. good luck !!

 

i gained 3mph in the 1/4m with a 305TPI, maybe get rid of those swirl port heads on the TBI, their junk.