cam only in the 10's

[zooguy]

OK first off i want to say to popo8 if this is not area 51 stuff please move to the correct area;)

okay guys and gals here is my goal for the 94 budget bird build i want to spend less than 3k and be 10.999 or better in the 1/4 mile
currently i am at $1815 TOTAL investment and it has a best pass of 11.9 @113mph

so far the only mods done on the car are:
tires
pacesetters longtubes
full 3" x pipe exhaust
LCA's
and a 150 shot

mods i have but HAVE YET TO INSTALL:
a used but now polished cam (226/234 .530 .530 @ 111 LSA)
used 1.6 crane cams roller rockers
some used springs that should be good to .600 lift at 6000 rpm (yet to have shop tell me if they are still good)
a vig 3000 stall (prolly going to restall to 3400-3600)


okay so the motor has 165,000 miles on the clock. i am a little worried about just throwing the cam in with the bearings being that old ... so what i was considering is pulling the motor and having all new bearings put in it some ARP rod bolts and ARP head bolts with the impala gaskets so a little bump in compression. then bump the shot to a 175 with a tune.

i am thinking that will be good for 10's

the motor has GREAT oil psi 50-60 on first start up and fully heat soaked on a hot day its at ~7-8 at the lowest i have ever seen.
so i guess the thing is do i really NEED to do the cam bearings before the cam swap?
i know before i go any bigger than a 150 shot i need to do the rod bolts and a tune but can i do the cam now, then bottom end bearings and rod bolts later?

i know that i CAN do it but i dont want to have the cam trashed and have to do it all over again later. what do yall think?

[SSlowBoat]

i cammed my motor with over 200k on the clock, so im bad at advice lol, i just think your gonna need a nitrous specific stall for all that juice.

[Ghettogmc23]

This sounds awesome! My only thing is that if the rod bolts snap it's gonna cost more to rebuild the bottom end + repairs than it would've to just pull it down and do it as insurance. On the other hand it sounds healthy still so might not be a big risk. Just my $.02


JAG- Project FrostFire

[sweet-94z28]

I would rebuild it and replace rods and pistons if it were me. Then you could go to a 200 shot and do it safely. Stock pistons handle 125-150, but anything over a 150 is likely living on very borrowed time. Besides, most shops charge about as much to change the rod bolts and re-hone the rod ends as a new set of eagle or scat rods with cap screw ARP bolts cost.

Ive had friends run cheap speed pro forged pistons with eagle h beams and throw 200-250 of nitrous to it for several seasons.

So far it sounds like you have a very impressive car for your investment!!!

[zooguy]

Thanks for the info but my concerns are about the cam bearings

[Mystery Bird]

How light is the car?

[popo8]

CamaroRacing12 Tony, how fast has ur bolt on car gone?

LTXtech.com is my DRUG!

[shownomercy]

Pull out cam, examine cam bearings, laugh at them prob being shot and slam the new cam in.

Or, just toss a H/C LS1 in and run low 10s easy.

[sweet-94z28]

I completely see and understand your concern though. Cam bearings that have between 100,000-120,000 miles are well seated/worn to the current cam and could cause issues with a new wear surface.

I had a cam bearing spin in a cam swap car I did about 2 years ago. He got about 2500 miles on the swap and started losing oil pressure. The 3rd bearing in spun and destroyed the block. I would think with the miles you have on the car, you'd be time and money ahead to freshen it up a little bit before damaging something major in it, especially if you want to go to a larger shot. It just avoids ruining the block and crank. I think my friend's cam swap I did ended up costing him about $4000 by the time we did the swap, then went back and had to get a new engine and rebuilt it all. Some people get lucky though. Haha

[CamaroRacing12]

My bolt on car has gone 11.998 @ 111mph (see sig). The bolt on only record is 11.48. (Stock heads, stock cam, no power adders)

[zooguy]

currently my car was 3410 without me in it at the track

[SSlowBoat]

my cam bearings had wear, said eff it and slammed cam in 7k miles ago. itll wear in, change oil at tight intervals, run a little thicker oil

[zooguy]

i change oil at 2250-2500 miles and how thick are you talking for the oil?

[95albinobird]

I completely see and understand your concern though. Cam bearings that have between 100,000-120,000 miles are well seated/worn to the current cam and could cause issues with a new wear surface.

I had a cam bearing spin in a cam swap car I did about 2 years ago. He got about 2500 miles on the swap and started losing oil pressure. The 3rd bearing in spun and destroyed the block. I would think with the miles you have on the car, you'd be time and money ahead to freshen it up a little bit before damaging something major in it, especially if you want to go to a larger shot. It just avoids ruining the block and crank. I think my friend's cam swap I did ended up costing him about $4000 by the time we did the swap, then went back and had to get a new engine and rebuilt it all. Some people get lucky though. Haha
wow 4k huh?? I can do a ls swap for half that including the motor.
OMG WHAT DID I JUST SAY???:hit-the-fan:

[SSlowBoat]

i change oil at 2250-2500 miles and how thick are you talking for the oil?

change it at 1500, and i went from 10w30 to 10w40, i run full synthetic though, my engine torn down at 229k was damn near clean as a whistle inside, but cam bearings had wear. shit i even reused the original timing chain. YOLO.