What is the best cam for a automatic trans camaro 1998? thanks in advance!

 

Seriously? How about some information on the car you drive, current mods, is this going to be a daily driver? This is information we need, there's no such thing as a single "best" cam for a 1998 T/A A4. Make a signature with all of your car info. There's probably 4 camshaft topics on this first page alone, try using the search option to get a better idea.

 

The Futral Motorsports F-13 is probably the best do-all cam if there's no emissions testing around you.

However, like any cam, you'd need all of the supporting mods first (air filter/lid, headers, exhaust, aftermarket torque converter, gears, transmission cooler, etc.)

 

Kraest

What exactly is the difference between the F-13 and F-14 ? I plan to get pretty radical with my car and don't know which to use. Or maybe I should use a different FM cam ?

 

The difference is the added duration and lift of the F-14. The F-14 peaks slightly higher and makes a little more power.

How radical are you talking about?

The F-14 Highlift is what I used and had great results, however, you can't use it on milled heads due to the .640" lift without flycutting the pistons. I used it with bone-stock LS1 heads. I think the 116+ mph with a soft launch and full-weight car speaks for itself.

 

Full bolt-on's, LT's, true duals, FAST 92 / 92, Dana 60 w/ 3.90 or 4.10's, full race suspension, I've lightened the car already quite a bit. I wanted a nice set of heads but now I don't know which to use if I decide on the F-14. Also I'll be spraying in the future something around a 150 shot. What do you think ?

 

Oh yeah.. sounds really good

I'd get the 4.10s and F-14 Highlift for sure.

You won't regret it... You'll still be around 2500 rpm at 80 mph in 6th gear with 26" tires. Get some 30# Ford injectors with that setup. Get some heads that are around 215cc-225cc for the 346 with a wilder cam like the F-14HL -- AFR, Dart, and Trickflow are all great choices -- ported 243 LS6 heads by Advanced Induction or Larry Meaux (if you can wait 6 months) are just as good as the aftermarket castings IMO. Honestly, if you REALLY want the setup to run and you can spend the extra couple hundred dollars, I'd get the pistons flycut to fit the F14HL with that setup and run the heads milled around .020-030" to get them around 59-60cc and a .040" Cometic gasket to run around 11:3-11.5:1 compression or so.

If you don't want to flycut the pistons, I'd run the regular F14 and do the same thing with the heads and head gasket.

Mike

 

milliondallaLS1

I'm sorry to hijack your thread here man, I apologize.

Kraest
What do you think between the F-14HL and the Thunder Racing T-ReX v.2 ? That was really the only other cam I was torn between. Which do you think I would see better results for the setup we've been discussing ?

 

The T-Rex is a great cam for high-end dragracing, high rpms, a strictly track car, and dyno numbers, but that's about it.

Honestly, driveability will be sub-par with a camshaft that big in a stock motor and it will be a TOTAL dog at anything under 4000-4200 rpm -- TR actually recommends at least a 4000 stall for that cam.

A 242/248 duration @ .050" cam is HUGE for 346 cubic inches. I had an F-15 in my first Vette and that specs in at 236/239 @.050" and it was still a dog in the lower rpms -- terrible to drive around town and try and get on it at less than 4000 rpms, but once it went over 4500 rpm, hold on. The Trak would be a MUCH better alternative IMO.

However, between the three, I'd still pick the F14HL hands down.

Mike

 

Didn't you just say your F14HL was a .640 lift cam? I'm in no way agruing with you. I don't know enough about LSX cam specs. But my cam is a 230/244 cam in my LT1 and it's great on the street at only .54X/57X lift. So how is a 236/239 cam way too big for the LS1 when you're running a .640 lift cam in a cam only car? Once again, I'm not trying to refute the point, I'm just looking for a little more education on the cam. The CC306 only recommends a 2500 stall but most people recommend a 3000 stall (I'm running a 3200). What makes the F15 so special that it requires such a high stall and sucks at lower RPM's?

 

He's commenting on his manual trans car, while you have an automatic with a loose converter. Having a high stall torque converter masks low engine speed characteristics drastically. Not only that, but both built and stock, the LS1 behaves differently than the SBC/LT1 does. And a 2500 stall is way too low for your cam. You want something in the 3200-3600 range.

Everyone in here is focusing too heavily on the lift. Lift has almost NOTHING to do with drivability and cam clearance.

 

LIFT means nearly nothing regarding drivability --- DURATION shows the true "character" of a camshaft. You're using a cam with an intake duration of 230 @ .050 in a 350ci motor compared to a intake duration of 236 @ .050" in a 346ci motor -- However, that's only part of the story.

LS1s come from the factory making peak torque at 4200 rpm -- you can literally put a 3800-4000 stall in a factory car with great results.. I believe the fastest bolt-on LS1 is around 10.80s right now. The reason for that is because the LS1 comes from the factory race-ready -- 200cc 15 degree heads, composite intake manifold, 1.7:1 roller rockers, monoblade TB, etc -- the only thing that it's missing is an aggressive camshaft -- all Gen III and Gen IV motors are built this way -- tons of power potential. The more power you make and the better the heads breathe, the more the peak torque will move up into the powerband, hence the LS1's high peak torque.

The LT1 on the other hand comes with 165cc 23 degree heads --- more suited to a heavy sedan than to a racecar -- decent port velocity stock, but no air really gets through due to the smaller intake runners. The result is lots of low-end torque and peak torque at around 2500 rpm, but not as much high-end horsepower... If you want to see something even worse, check out the L98 -- 245 horsepower with peak torque coming in *****-low, but the engine will barely turn 5000 rpm.

Generally speaking, the more port velocity in a head, the more torque and potential for horsepower it has --- the bigger the intake runner, the more horsepower it will make (to a certain extent before air speed (port velocity) is compromised due to the traits of natural aspiration -- big cubes suck more air than small cubes)

So, now you know a little more about heads, peak torque, peak horsepower and how they are all related

 

Excellent

 

I daily drive my 236-248 115. It is all in the tune, and how much you are willing to put up with.

-Geoff

 

In a 403?

That's like a 224 in a 346.