yzarcem

Here is my situation:
Today my friend's Chevy Truck (454?...he says it is the biggest engine Cherolet makes today//it has Vortec heads) stayed a nose ahead of me from a dead stop & I wasn't able to pull away from him until we hit 65. How embarassing! My sports car was losing to A TRUCK! We can't have that.

Here is my setup:

82 Camaro (computerless & emissionless); 305; 4bbl Q-Jet, also computerless; Edelbrock Performer 2101 Intake; MSD 8365 HEI; Hedman Shorty Hedders; hollowed converter; Hooker AeroChamber muffler; Rebuilt suspension includig the following add-ons--Sub-Frame connectors; KYB Gas Adjust shocks & struts; Eibach lowering kit. I have a posi with 3.42 gears ready to go in as soon as I can buy a custom 28-spline axle for my setup.

Until the 305 dies, I'm sticking with it. When it dies, I'll go bid, but until then I need to make the best of it.

What cam do you recommend? How much to pay a shop to install? What else should I buy new that only makes sense while the shop is there (i.e. timing chain, etc.). I'm looking at the CCA-12-238-2. What do you guys think? Any other suggestions (other than 'buy a new engine').

IROCaholic

I would go with one of comp cams extreme energy cams. Either the XE256 or the XE262. Both make great torque and are very streetable. It would defenetly be a good idea to get a new double roller timing chain when you have the swap done as well. I dont know how much it will cost because I do everything myself except for actually assemble the enternals of my motors. Good Luck.

robsgta

where to start?? actaully chevy also makes a 502 crate motor.
The vehicle type doesnt matter I have seen full sized trucks and tiny imports run 10's in a quarter mile and faster on the street.

A good thing to do would be calling Crane or comp cams they have awesome tech advice you just give them a description of what you have.. Personally I would replace the whole motor and go to stroker...

Red Devil

They also make a 572.

Some trucks are not stock. Really. You should see the looks I got after toasting some people in a suburban. Just about the same as I get when I do it in a Taurus.

If you want the simple, nitrous oxide. You could do it yourself. No it won't blow up your motor unless you screw up the install. If you are going to open the guts... not just yet. Victor jr. or Performer RPM first. I'd go with Jr ans it has been damn impressive on every motor I've seen it on. Get rid of the hollowed cat, or core a pipe through it, the way it sits is helping nothing. Then maybe the cam.

Oh, and passing him at 65 mph, still should mean you'd beat him in the quarter.

Red Devil

Double Post.





Vote Perot.

SSC

Your friends truck sucks! You can tell him I said that too.
If your 305 can keep up with a "moded 454" you either have a total rocket of a car or like I mentioned above. My truck will beat 90% of the TGO members cars in the 1/4 and its only got a 350 in it at the moment, I'd be ticked off If I got beat by any 3rdgen even my own.


Forget the cam, a big cam in a near stock engine will most likely do nothing. If you want power your going to have to bump up the cubes. Whats that saying? you dont go into a gun fight with a water pistol.

ME Leigh

What exhaust do you have, i know you have headers but how about after that. A lot of power can be found or lost after the headers. I would also get a better intake the performer sucks, it is a stock replacement intake, the rpm make much more power. After you install the gear a good cam would be the comp XE256. You might also want a higher stall converter but it is not absolutely necessary with the xe256 though, but it will make the car faster of the line.

Sitting Bull

It is time to do your heads. Follow the link at the end of my sig.

yzarcem

I just looked at his specs. He has an '01 Chevy Silverado 2500HD 4x4...with the Vortec 8100 8.1L 8 Cylinder rated at 340hp. But hey, his torque should suck, though...right?

With my setup as-is today, I think I'm running at about 200hp. I guess that explains why I was having a bit of trouble. Honestly, though...I felt like if I had just a little more, I could have took the Silverado.

The cam, and maybe a converter, is the last of the so-called 'bolt-ons' that I lack, aside from the gears (I have them & the posi...just waiting for the axle). After that, I'm finished with the engine until the transmission can get caught-up.

DUDE!! Nice article on the heads. I might think about that!

Keith_Indy

Why not put the money into the rear end, then see how you do. What gears do you have in it now?

Also nitrous would be an easier bolt-on then sticking a new cam in.

I'd say he probably has gobs of torque if he can keep up with you. The truck weighs more, and has good off the line performance.

Air_Adam

Thats not a 454.... thats a 496!

IROCaholic

Once he gets a full exhaust and a new intake manifold a mild cam would be a good idea. His heads flow decent so he would pick up a good amount of power. Look at the L69 compared to the Lg4 all it has is a little more compression and a slightly bigger cam and it makes 40 more hp. So something like the XE256 cam would make a big difference and not be so big that the heads limit any power. Also it would be good to port the heads like sitting bull described but you will still pick up a good amount of power without porting you just wont get the full potential of the motor. Oh also not everyone has the money or the time to get a bigger cubic inch motor its much cheaper and quicker to ad a few things to "pep" up the motor he has so he can have a little fun.

robsgta

Just get NOS...its really simple and you dont have to yank your motor.. my roller cam cost me 325 bucks a 150 shot of NOS should be around 675.00..

SSC

Yes of course not everyone has the available cash to cube up but "Embarrassed for the last time...I need a cam & some advise".

A cam, intake, exhaust and a lower gear set will put him in front of his friends pathetic BBC it wont however keep him from falling prey to other cars and trucks on the road so this wont be the last time. I mean if you wanted to just beat one guy forget all the hard and expensive engine mods just buy a N2O setup flip the switch when your having problems pulling away, problem solved. But again this won’t always keep yzarcem from getting whooped on, neither will the mods to a 305 or just dropping in a 350, 400+ cube engine. Personally If I were worried about getting beaten I wouldn’t just try to beat one person I'd attempt to put myself as far ahead of the competition as possible.

Damon

Where to begin? Putting all the name-calling and monkey busines aside, you need to be real careful what you do with the cam at this point.

Cam swaps are great for horsepower, but not so good for torque. Especially if we're talking about an otherwise stock 1982 305 long block. Low compression (8.5:1) and a teeny-tiny cam (under 190* duration @ .050) is tough to build around without matching parts. It's very easy to go overboard and end up with a car that won't catch up with his truck until 100 MPH.

You have low compression so you can't go too big with the cam, PERIOD, or it's gonna be a dog. I'd recommend a cam with not more than about 210-215* duration @ .050 on a ~112* LSA. That's still greater than than 20 (TWENTY!!!!!!!) more degrees of duration @ .050 than your stock cam. It's a BIG change, so don't freak out when you look at the duration of serious performance cams. You're not living in that world.

Next up is your converter. Even with the stock cam your converter is built for fuel economy, not performance. There isn't a car out there that couldn't stand at least a 2200 RPM stall. With a slightly bigger cam like I mentioned above, I'd push that up to 2400-2600 for best performance. 2200 will still work even with the bigger cam, but it'll be a bit mushy right off the line. You want it all RIGHT NOW when you hit the gas. A well matched torque converter is CRITICAL to getting the most out of your combo. Perhaps the MOST important thing at this point.

Also important are gears. Your 3.42 setup will give you a nice improvement. Install and smile. You'll like them. Especially if you're starting with a wimpy set of 2.73s and a peg-leg rear. It'll feel like you strapped a second engine under the hood.

LOWERING KIT???????? You gotta be kidding me. Not if you want to lauch hard, my friend. That's the wrong direction to be sending your vehicle!!!

OK, OK, I know it looks cool, but given that how do you make a 3rd gen lauch at least ACCEPTABLY with a lowering kit? You install lower control arm relocation brackets on the rear axle housing. When you lower the car the stock lower control arms will point DOWN at vehicle rest, and even further down under hard acceleration. In this condition you hit the gas and it tries to lift the rear end UP off the pavement, causing traction problems. A set of lowering brackets will correct this situation and allow you to lauch at least as well as stock, probably a smidge better.

You can't believe how much difference there is in a car with a well matched converter/gears if you can keep the tires planted. Like your own personal amusement park ride.

Stekman

For his 305 with a q-jet, I would recommend the Xe256 on a 110 LSA. Possibly a Crane 2040 Powermax cam.

yzarcem

Thanks for your input, everybody!

Damon--
I'll be going to a 28-spline rear-end, with my TH200c trasmission really soon (which will be upgraded to a TH350 or 700R4 when the 200 fails). I'll jump to a 2600 torque converter then.

I have the relocation brackets, but have to have them welded them on. The 305 as it is now has no traction problems unless it is wet pavement, or I've taken a corner waaay too hard . I wanted to add them in preparation for the future, though.

SSC

I was in the same situation as you were when I got the 82 bird. If you want to win you need to start with a bigger engine.

If you want to try and work up the ladder like the mistake I made you will have a quick 305 if you do this! MTC-1 or Baja Beast cam, better then OEM intake, action+ worked ok for me, 3.42 rear end v6 doner, 700r4 was a must with the 14in rims and a performance muffler. This combo woke up the 305 quite nicely nearly tripled the performance of the stock setup in every way but it wont hold a candle to my current setup. I was however able to lay the smack down on quite a few so called quick street cars with that setup.