How much hp/lb-ft?

[Superdave]

I think he charges about the same, IIRC all the cams are ground to order. He doesn't keep anything on the shelf.


250 HP to the wheels or at the crank? What trans are you going to use?

[SwiftDrift]

i shouldnt have said numbers because im just going to balance the internals and polish the ports, then get a cam. i want to get as much power out of it as i can without porting, and NA. im not sure what im going to use for a tranny because i am yet to hear of one that suits me....

[Superdave]

Don't touch the ports until you've got a good understanding of what to do and what not to do.

Never polish intake ports, they need a rough texture.

Just polishing exhaust ports only helps a little by making it harder for carbon to build up. There is no flow improvement other than that gained from smoothing out the casting flaws, and that's not much at all.

[SwiftDrift]

So... Could i use flat tappet cams? What would i have to do, because i would probs just use a crower level 4.

[Superdave]

why in the world would you want to use a flat tappet cam? lol

[SwiftDrift]

i might be able to get one for 50 bucks

[Superdave]

that's higher than scrap price, they're worth about .25¢.

[ericjon262]

that's higher than scrap price, they're worth about .25¢.

couldn't have said it better myself.

[SwiftDrift]

so a stock 3500 cam will bring more power than a crower level 4?

[Superdave]

You have much to learn young grasshopper.


Crower has 3 cams that they call "level 4", the 3050 would be the only one with enough lift to make it worth while (.501/.525 w1.6 rockers). The problem is that it has 290 intake/298 exhaust duration on a 108 LSA. That leaves 78 degrees of overlap. Pretty much a race only cam there. It will want to idle around 1200 RPM and not be street friendly at all. The other 2, #3043 has 57 degrees with ok duration but crap lift and 3066 (Solid lifter) has 64.5 degrees with crap lift and too much duration.

You don't have to run that hot of a cam in a Gen 3 engine to make great power, It'll just make your life miserable when it comes to tuning.


Get the right cam for the engine, don't go back in technology just because it's cheap. Modern roller cams have much faster ramp rates, less friction and are much more reliable than flat tappet cams. Most of the flat tappet cams for the 60v6 were either designed for S10's to help with towing, midget racers or other various off road racing, 90% of which used iron heads and carbs. All of those grinds from Edelbrock, Crower, Comp, Crane, Isky, lunati and Lazer were all designed back in the mid 80's.

[SwiftDrift]

Cam prices are way too much.... I am trying to find a car and engine for the price of a cam... 300-400 is way too much right now.

[ericjon262]

if you can't afford to do it right the first time, can you afford to do it again?

[Superdave]

You gotta pay to play, lol

That's where a solid plan, saving up and making good choices comes into play. When you rush to build something or build it on the cheap you end up cutting corners, and that always comes back to bite you later on.


It's been a while but IIRC I had about 6-9 months of planning and prep before building the 3500 in my Z24. I also spent about a year before that selling extra parts I had and saving up all I could from my paychecks. it took another year or so to iron out all the bugs too.

[carbon]

It's been a while but IIRC I had about 6-9 months of planning and prep before building the 3500 in my Z24. I also spent about a year before that selling extra parts I had and saving up all I could from my paychecks. it took another year or so to iron out all the bugs too.

And that's the part so few people hear when they read build threads on the internet...

[caffeine]

Even if the engine goes in and doesn't cost much, there's still suspension, transmission, clutch, etc...

Probably a good idea to budget $3-400 for a decent clutch, $1k for suspension, $1-2k for engine.