Looking to spice up the valvetrain

[DarksideGA]

I've been looking into hooking up the valvetrain on my 99 3400, and so far I just got the ls1 valve spring project ready to roll, and then was wondering about who makes a camshaft for the engine, and have heard some of you mention SI valves. I checked out their site and they seem to have a wide range of options, I'm just not sure which road I should take. I'm not highly knowledgeable in the valvetrain department, but I do know to get higher revs thats the best place to start. So what would you guys reccomend I go for, for the camshaft and valves.

[IsaacHayes]

Lowrys seasoned salt has worked well for me. Just watch for rust.

Milzy motorsports is where to get a camshaft. Stage one is what you'd go with unless you have a powertuner. Having a powertuner anyways would be nice. Search around for that. I'm not sure if you can get your own custom #'s through milzy, he get's the cams through cammotion I think is the name, and has bought/reserved all their blanks/stock so you gotta order through him
anyways...

For valves you can check out the 60* store for the 3500 intake valves, they are lighter than 3400 stock. Not sure what that equals in power, but if you want to change the valves, that's an option.

[SappySE107]

I would only go with the SI valves if you have them reworked and need a single piece valve. Otherwise, they suck. With LS1 springs, I would definetly use the 3500 valves.

Cams are getting real expensive. 409 now for a stage 1. Screw that, get a regrind and save about 250+. Crane can do a nice one based on what you need, not what someone wants you to have. Besides, the stage 1 cam is pretty much a regrind option for your stock cam.

Titanium retainers would cut weight down as well. I would at the very least use the comp cams steel retainers and keepers though they don't give you any weight savings (.5 grams heavier for a much better quality setup). That reminds me, i gotta add the titanium version to the store still. With keepers (steel still) the titanium setup is $220. That should spice things up (that or set your wallet on fire). haha!

[IsaacHayes]

Ben: what's the final word on re-grinds. I know Brad had one done, but now isn't running it. I only remember vaugely when he first got it, and had issues with his rockers/LIM and thought it was the cam. I stop attending the forum after that, so I don't know what gains he got or if it was streetable..? Oh and mainly is the durability ok with a re-grind on a hollow cam?

[SappySE107]

There are more regrinds being ran today than there were back when brad got his done. The lower intake needed to be ground down for the roller rockers I believe, though asking brad would help:P The computer was the issue on his regrind as well, so being able to tune is key with any cam change. If you are worried about the hollow cam, get a new cam from sealed power. They are using cast cores now. Im not aware of any regrind issues at all honestly. The hollow cams have snapped in half though, in stock form. Probably from something else messing up though, not just the cam itself giving up its job.

[IsaacHayes]

Brad's issue was non-roller rockers hitting the large port lower. I'm going to have to grind mine when I swap my 3400 LIM for my 3500 UIM. Good info on the sealed power cam. If you go with that you don't have to worry/wonder about lobes spinning.

Ya, I'm in the same boat as brad, 1994, can't tune.

[bszopi]

Cam had nothing to do with the lower manifold issues. It was all in the stamped rockers and the large-port manifold. And as Ben said, there are a bunch of people running regrinds now (easily more than Milzy cams) and I have yet to hear any issues.

Depending on the grind, your ECM may or may not be fine. Honestly, after mine got warmed up, it was fine. It was just the first few minutes of driving where it had some idle issues.

[IsaacHayes]

What were the idle issues? Just rough or was it stalling out and dying? Did it feel more powerfull? What gains did your butt-dyno tell you?

[bszopi]

It needed help to stay running for about the first minute or it would die, but only at idle. If you started it and just started driving, then it was fine usually by the time you had to stop (or at least in almost all of my cases).

As far as butt dyno... Lost a little on the low end but gained a ton on the top end. Above 3k, it was like it gots its second breath and pulled very hard.

[IsaacHayes]

So the gain on the top end more than made up for the low end loss? If you were to do the same again, would you go with different numbers for the regrind? (assuming it'd be a stock ecm/etc still). Did it have more overlap and a choppy idle? Or is that not possible with a regrind?