Thanks for clearing that up.
So then would I see a big difference between 110 LSA and 112 LSA?
Also I think I'm going to look back at some of the other cam options as this Lunati cam and lifters are $150+ more than the competition.
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
Thinking about some power upgrades - Need some cam advice - Engine Gurus help please
- Thread starter Chevy305
- Start date
Thanks for clearing that up.
So then would I see a big difference between 110 LSA and 112 LSA?
Also I think I'm going to look back at some of the other cam options as this Lunati cam and lifters are $150+ more than the competition.
Ok so I've been comparing cam specs and prices all night. (oops I'm supposed to be working)
I like the specs of the Lunati http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LUN-60111/ and I wanted to follow those as closely as possible. Here are 2 cams up with:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HRS-CL111145-10/
or maybe this one with 1.6 rockers:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-CL08-413-8/
I like the specs of the Lunati http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LUN-60111/ and I wanted to follow those as closely as possible. Here are 2 cams up with:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HRS-CL111145-10/
or maybe this one with 1.6 rockers:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-CL08-413-8/
I was thinking about OD but with the Big shot and the power it may have now I was thinking I was pushing a 4l80e. Maybe not but my buddies that have these funny whistles on there cars claim a 80 can't be built tough enough. Of course some of them are in the 8s.
I wouldn't be afraid of a 4L80E in the 8s. It's 2012 already, they have been around for over 20 years now and you can build them pretty strong. From the forward clutch back they are the same parts or equivelant/better than a TH400. In 2001 they made the planetaries 10% thicker than they have been for previous almost 4 decades. And in front of the forward clutch there is a some more clutches and another planetary gear. But if you are only using the 1st 3 gears during the race the only parts that hold the power are another roller clutch (like 1st gear), and a larger input shaft than the TH400. They make billet 4340 input shafts for them now, along with intermediate shafts, and forward clutch hub, etc. (same as a TH400). Also, you can use the 36 element super drum above 800 - 1000 hp) just like a TH400. Google Jakes performance, he specializes in 4L80Es. I wired mine for full manual, and put the good hard parts in it, along with Jake's pro brake, which has no accumulators left and half the check balls, shifts pretty firm. I upgraded the # of clutches, rollerized the rear, etc. It should be good for 1400 hp or so, I was planning ahead...and if I want i could still hook a computer up and shift it automatically. Of course saying its good for that much power may only be hoping until I actually try it.
I can bench race too
Get a 70s truck motor with some 049 or 781s, nice solid and a little compression and you will be set.
**** that, if I am building a big block I am building a big block, not another truck motor like I built for my truck. For the regal I want a solid roller 540 or 555. And iron heads are too darn heavy, when I go big block I need to mimize the weight addition, iron headed SB to AL headed BB will help that out. Although I will probably leave the compression real low, I want to leave room to cram some more air in there one way or another, on pump gas. Have decided if it will be crank or exhaust driven. Which is why I hope the 388 lasts a few more years, need to save up to do it right. When I built that 388 in 97 I was working on a lawn mowing high school budget with both used and new parts. I have since built several other engines but not usually for myself.
My buddies have a chassis dyno and everything besides my buick (stupid HP tuners doesn't support it) have been on it and tuned for mpg and power. Yes peak power is great, drivablity is where the big gains are always felt.
That would be nice to have a friend with a dyno, I know some people wth dynos, but not well enough to get free dyno time! Jealous there. It would help right now because I am trying to help my brother tune his mild 468 he built several years ago, he just strapped a used procharger on it and is making 10 lbs of boost in an 81 C10 shortbed stepside. He bought a used fast system and it is running a lot better than the blow through carb was working but there is still a lot of tuning to do. He has no traction because the 28 x 13 stickies aren't cutting the mustard, which makes it hard to log data under load at upper RPMs.
What is your Buick? GN? T-type? I'm assumnig its that or newer since you are trying to tune the EFI.
They do have a pretty high silicon content I agree, they aren't very flexible, apparently pretty strong for a cast piston though. But I do wish I had forged right now. I'd feel more comfortable when I arm the laughing gas.
By the way, do you have the bottle on right off the brake, or after a delay, or in stages? What does you car run on motor? Just trying to get an idea of how much it has left in it.
Thanks for clearing that up.
So then would I see a big difference between 110 LSA and 112 LSA?
Also I think I'm going to look back at some of the other cam options as this Lunati cam and lifters are $150+ more than the competition.
A big difference, no. A noticeable difference, probably.
Keep in mind, just because you use a lunati cam doesn't mean you have to use Lunati lifters. Any high quality retrofit roller lifter will work fine, chances are it's made by the same company anyway. Since you don't want a rough idle I would stick with the 112 LSA.
The last one has pretty low lift, even with 1.6 rockers, and the top one has a tighter lobe seperation. I think you would like the lunati better from what you said, but only you are the one who knows what they want. How much is it seperately with comp or howards lifters?
I've installed a newer howards roller before, it was good qaulity but I think the blank was foreign cast. The lifters seamed the same as other brands. Make sure whatever model you get you double check to make sure you have the right distrubutor gear, if its a steel billet cam without a dizzy gear pressed on you'll want the melonite, polymer, or bronze gear.
Last edited:
hahahahaha
Your thought process actually makes much more sense than the answer does.
Martin
I still think you're right with the cam. I'm going to stick with the Lunati. I looked up pricing for all brand's retrofit roller lifters and Howards is the cheapest by only $45 compared to the Lunati lifters. The slight savings isn't enough to justify for me. I'd rather have my valvetrain match as much as possible. I'm going to stick with the same brand as the cam on this one then.
For the retrofit lifters, are they the same height as flat tappet lifters? If they are different then what length of pushrods do I need?
The distributor gear is either billet or chromoly on my MSD. Its a quality distributor so I'm not worried about it getting chewed up.
You had me wondering after that...
Is it at least the supercharged 3800 park avenue if you are trying to "tune" it? Those things are no slouch, especially when you turn off the traction control. Nice comfy ride too.
Sounds like a good setup on the bottle... Whats the ET on motor alone?
The lifters are are longer, you will need shorter pushrods as 427 said. Most of the manufacturers make a std retro fit pushrod set, but they are not always a good fit. I would order them and try them, and if they don't fit then just get an off the shelf custom length one. It looks like Lunati recommends a 7.29" pushrod to try. I would get the one piece pushrods if I were you, not the press on tip units, one piece is worth it. Like the comp magnums.
As for the distributor gear, it's not about the quality, it's about the material working with the cam. A steel cam and std iron dizzy gear will destroy each other, the mismatched materials will grind each other away. Although I am pretty sure with the lunati voodoo the dizzy gear was normal, but it did require a bronze tipped fuel pushrod, which you don't care about.
You are probably fine, I am just saying its better safe than sorry, double check.
I'll look it up
The lifters are are longer, you will need shorter pushrods as 427 said. Most of the manufacturers make a std retro fit pushrod set, but they are not always a good fit. I would order them and try them, and if they don't fit then just get an off the shelf custom length one. It looks like Lunati recommends a 7.29" pushrod to try. I would get the one piece pushrods if I were you, not the press on tip units, one piece is worth it. Like the comp magnums.
As for the distributor gear, it's not about the quality, it's about the material working with the cam. A steel cam and std iron dizzy gear will destroy each other, the mismatched materials will grind each other away. Although I am pretty sure with the lunati voodoo the dizzy gear was normal, but it did require a bronze tipped fuel pushrod, which you don't care about.
I'm currently running the Comp Cam Magnum pushrods at whatever the factory length is. Definately a nice quality pushrod. I'll double check the length and the dist gear to be sure before I order.
Mkuhn138
1/2 ton status
Get a melonite gear - they're not cheap, but they last. If you don't change the gear you will be sorry.
Just looked it up and it is "melonized"
I don't know what that means but I assume it has to do with one of these:
Ok guys I just pulled the trigger on my order... all $1300 worth of it 
The little things really nickle and dime ya.
The brown santa can't come soon enough!
I got the:
-Lunati Voodoo hydro roller cam
-Lunati retrofit lifters
-Lunati Bracketmaster II pushrods
-Lunati Voodoo aluminum roller rocker arms
-Lunati cam button
-gaskets
-dist mechanical advance tuning kit
-Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake manifold
-MSD 6A ingition box
-carb studs (need to replace mine)
I guess I have my work cut out for me
The little things really nickle and dime ya.
The brown santa can't come soon enough!
I got the:
-Lunati Voodoo hydro roller cam
-Lunati retrofit lifters
-Lunati Bracketmaster II pushrods
-Lunati Voodoo aluminum roller rocker arms
-Lunati cam button
-gaskets
-dist mechanical advance tuning kit
-Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake manifold
-MSD 6A ingition box
-carb studs (need to replace mine)
I guess I have my work cut out for me
Didn't your distributor come with different sets of springs when it was new?
Sounds like quite the valvetrain. Asta la vista...friction.
Sounds like quite the valvetrain. Asta la vista...friction.
wasted wages
1 ton status
Subscribed....
Thinking of building a 383 with this cam......
http://www.atlanticspeed.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=7545
Interested to see how yours works out.....
Thinking of building a 383 with this cam......
http://www.atlanticspeed.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=7545
Interested to see how yours works out.....
Ok guys I just pulled the trigger on my order... all $1300 worth of it
The little things really nickle and dime ya.
The brown santa can't come soon enough!
I got the:
-Lunati Voodoo hydro roller cam
-Lunati retrofit lifters
-Lunati Bracketmaster II pushrods
-Lunati Voodoo aluminum roller rocker arms
-Lunati cam button
-gaskets
-dist mechanical advance tuning kit
-Edelbrock Performer RPM Air Gap intake manifold
-MSD 6A ingition box
-carb studs (need to replace mine)
I guess I have my work cut out for me
Kinda wondering why you went with the retrofit kit. Those retrofit kits are spendy and 350 blocks are a dime a dozen. I think I would have gone with a junk yard block that was setup for rollers already and saved some money.
Also Lunati now sells the roller cams with roller lifters as a kit at a discount.
Regardless good luck with your build.
When I talked with one of their techs he said they didn't make them so your probably right.
The only thing it came with was an advance stop kit to limit the mechanical advance.
Subscribed....
Thinking of building a 383 with this cam......
http://www.atlanticspeed.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=7545
Interested to see how yours works out.....
It looks like the same cam but a step down in duration. It'll probably perform similar to mine.
Lunati's website only shows kits that have cam, lifters, and all the valve spring stuff (which I don't need).
My block is supposed to be a roller capable block, but it isn't. So I am stuck with retrofiting. I know I'm saving money to just buy retrofit lifters than to buy another block in unknown condition with far more miles on it than mine and hope to trust it to deliver the same reliability. I rebuilt this engine with all new everything 2 years ago and it only has about 6000miles on it. So to ditch this still fresh block that I have over $3k into would be crazy. Besides if that block comes out of my truck, the only thing going back in would be an LS3
.The difference will be vaccum at idle. Higher duration produces less vaccum at idle. If you run a carb and dont need to pass a sniff test or have a smooth idle then no big deal. The higher duration would be the way to go if sniff test isn't required. The other difference is that cam seems to be made specifically for retrofits.It looks like the same cam but a step down in duration. It'll probably perform similar to mine.
Add "LK" to the end of the cam number to get the kit with just lifters.
A block is a block IMO unless you had a bunch of specialty work done to yours. I would have yours rehoned at a minimum.My block is supposed to be a roller capable block, but it isn't. So I am stuck with retrofiting. I know I'm saving money to just buy retrofit lifters than to buy another block in unknown condition with far more miles on it than mine and hope to trust it to deliver the same reliability. I rebuilt this engine with all new everything 2 years ago and it only has about 6000miles on it. So to ditch this still fresh block that I have over $3k into would be crazy. Besides if that block comes out of my truck, the only thing going back in would be an LS3
Normally I agree that it is better to go with a roller block, and not use the retrofit setup. That being said, he already has this engine, and has done a lot of work to it. It is fresh. To spend the money to start over with a roller block would defeat the money savings of using a roller block.............
Martin
Martin
I agree with Martin, why would he replace his block, or even rehone it, and start over when it only has 6k miles on it. That would be a waste of time and money. The rings are barely broken in.
