Cam advice

[z28 boy]

What cam do yall think would best fit my car. Its an 00 Z A4 with 3.73s, Hpp3, Flowmaster, KN airfilter, 160* stat.

[whoisdabomb86]

go to www.cranecams.com and get their number to call up their tech senter they ask you a whole slew of questions from things like your gear ratio, to tire size..it takes a lil while to get through it but they tell you to the tee what kind of cam you need, how much lift it has and give you universal part numbers so u can shop at places like jegs and summitt for the best price..i went that route and it was awesome service.

[ridge_runner]

well what are you lookin for?? high end power or more low end.. and do you want a rough idle or smooth idle or mild

[z28 boy]

Well i figured since i have the gears for low end that i would need some high end power. I don't to much of a rough idle

[92rs25th]

3.73's are versatile. Not for just low.

[Chevyracincamaro]

dis is true. i really think the best thing to do is talk to crane cams. they really know what they are talking about and should be able to give you exactly what you are looking for...

[DVS LT1]

Call around, but I wouldn't limit myself to just Crane Cams (call up Comp Cams too, and I know TPIS has some interesting grinds for LT1's).

One thing I've witnessed with the new motors is how amazingly smooth they handle bigger cams. I've seen a C5 Vette with a .590 lift cam idle and rev as smooth as a Caddy. I've gotta say, a 3.73 auto with a 3000 stall converter and a mid-high power cam would be pretty damn mean.

Problem with cams is that while you increase the power of your motor you also tend to really increase inefficiency. In a lot of these high duration cams the cycle is so long that a good portion of the air/fuel charge goes right down the exhaust valve instead of being burned - its a big reason why our cars often flunk emissions after a bigger cam swap. You're making more HP through gross inefficiency.

I've got the .525 Hot Cam in my Z and its an absolute pig - the bitch shakes, jerks, and you can just hear her chugging all that gas out the back. But I love it! Yet there are GM guys who think the Hot Cam is tiny and go after the GM 847 cam with a .575 lift that yes makes a lot more power, but is even worse in terms of streetability. Its funny because when I talk to my head porters these guys think the Hot Cam is a big cam, and try to convince me to go down to like a nice .490 lift cam. Sounds weird, but these guys have C4 Vettes making over 450 RWHP N/A using stock cranks and cams even smaller than this.

BTW, a good company will work with you to design a custom grind built specifically to compliment the size of your valves, runner lengths, mods made to the car, etc...

[Chevyracincamaro]

crane cams, comp cams, whoever...