Thread: cam or rockers???

Should be. Biggest things are getting the tranny shifting crisply to save the clutches and if the pressure solenoid starts to go getting to it quickly.

pressure solenoid... what is this and how do i check it??

If the transmission starts slipping and banging in to gear, then you'll know it's bad. No other way without tearing in to the transmission.

ahh okay.

will i be greatly dissopointed if i go with a vs cam instead of a xp cam?? i figured i would keep it kinda mild for now

i change my fluid after so long anyway. leaks a little, so i pour a little new fluid in every so often.

will i be greatly dissopointed if i go with a vs cam instead of a xp cam?? i figured i would keep it kinda mild for now

first things first, if you are going to have a "bigger" build later then dont waste your money now. just save up and put everything together all at once. if you get down to a 3.4 pulley on your car as is, it will feel like a whole new animal and it should keep you satisfied for quite some time.

secondly, do not think that you cant run a giant cam on a car that you DD. you can, but you just need to make sure it's tuned more reliably. so if you want a big cam, get a big cam.

third, about the cams themselves. the VS will be more fun to drive around with the midrange it will supply. the XP will have more topend. midrange = torque and spinning. top end = fast car. both can be made streetable and made to run similar to one another. it's really personal preference at this point.


finally, bounce your ideas off us. what do you really want out of this car? if you want reliable, streetable 12s then you dont even need a cam. if you want an all out retarded race car that you take out on weekends, look into the ported heads im selling and an IS3 or something along those lines. XPZ is overrated.

i just want a fun street car that can move out. maybe keep up with the ls1 guys. like i said im not looking for something insainly fast just quick and reliable. reliable being my biggest issue. would an overkill pcm work or would i need to get a tunner. if so thats another 500$ i gotta save up. and i know i would appricate the tunner over time but honestly im just a little scared of tunning. i would HATE to mess something up. i must rather trust someone else to do it that i know does good work and others swear by them (overkill)

i was thinking about the vs cam because i dont have to replace springs and its easier on the valve train. i think mid range would be good because the gen V seems to hold its own up top. specially if i get a pulley

for someone who isnt looking to have a race car, i think your modlist will end up looking fairly similar to mine.

rockers, headers, and ported tb/blower/lim will get you to that area. im thinking that if youre not really wanting to learn tuning and youre not looking to squeeze every bit of power out of it then it would be fine getting an off the shelf pcm or getting it tuned by someone who is local. im in the same boat. i dont want to learn to tune, so im doing it old school with an afc and happy knob.

cam it if youd like, but there are plenty of rockered genV cars that run just as fast as cammed genIII if not faster. im predicting an intercooler in your future, pretty much the best thing you can buy. i dont want one for pure spite of not wanting to work on my car anymore and not wanting to have more parts that will possibly fail.

i would like to go with an intercooler but the whole kit is a tad expensive right now. i would just go rockers, and that was my original plan but idk now. i can get a vs cam for about the same price as rockers and i wouldent even have to touch springs. the only thing i was worried about is driveablity. my tranny going out. thats it. thats why i was thinking about the vs cam because its more mild and around town the midrange would be nice. really tho rockers just seem like the safest bet all around. but everyone says im gonna wish i went with a cam if i do rockers and its one or the other. im just having a hard time decideing.

how long could i run a cam with out getting it tuned??

just for your information, im still on stock springs with my 1.9:1 modded rockers. if you put it all together, the gaskets that you have to buy to do the cam swap eat up a lot of money. and since youre down there you might as well replace the chain and tensioner.

all im trying to say is that there is more cost in doing a cam by far then rockers, since you only need to take the valve covers off.

you can run a while without getting it tuned, but you might need to tune it before you can romp on it due to knocking issues.

ok one question for those of you that know,
why take the rockers off when you install a new cam? I mean is there really that big of an issue with the valve to piston clearance? or are there other reasons?

i gotta pull the topend off to do a cam swap??? im not quite sure how it happens. see this is kinda why i dont want a cam. but idk i was driving the car around and midrage would be nice. if rockers aint going to hit till higher rpm 4500 and up then its not going to benifit me as much as i would like it to. the vs seems right up my ballpark.

all my top end gaskets got replaced about 3 weeks ago. lim, supercharger and valvecover.

Here is the deal. Cam OR Rockers. End of story. You can only do one or the other. IF you were to install a cam with rockers in your car you will have WAY too much valve lift and you'll make contact with valvetrain parts...which lead to BOOM-age basically.

IF you want some simple bolt-on performance. Go for the #105 Valve Springs and retainers with the 1.9 Roller Rockers. They are the highest Ratio Rocker and basically give you the performance of a cam without the lope or mid range. I ran a 13.8 with 1.84's @ 99mph...but now I have a XP Cam and touched 13.4 @ about 103...but my car always sucks at the track so idk.

IF you go the cam route...and you want performance then I say no doubt get the XP. I love it and its my DD. Sure it might take a bit to warm up but I can wait 30 extra seconds in the morning and since you have headers already you got half of the combo

And for a cam install...you can either pull the motor and install it...OR...you can drop the motor and pull the cam out through the wheel well, as I have heard of people doing that too.

ahh okay thanks!! puts it into perspective. im hopeing zzp will have a sell on cams today but idk.

thanks reptile

The more I think about it the more i cannot make sense of why it is said that rockers only make more power at 4500+rpms. The extra lift is still going to be in effect in the lower RPMs more air in and more air out even at a lower rpm. Maybe the gains are just not significant under 4500 rpm's? In theory there must be some gain Hp wise down low even if it is 1 hp.
I might be totally wrong but the gains are just unnoticeable at a lower RPM correct?

If I

i did rockers, modified 1.9s, if i could do it again i would have done a VS or overkill SBC cam. my GTP is mildly modded, 3.4, intake, PEMs, non-intercooled etc and i wish i would have gotten a cam instead.

buddy of mine has an XP, headers, 3.25, P&P m90 and northstar, intake and a tune and his car is pretty damn fast, even without an IC. if i was doing a reliable street build i would go that route. his car is a daily driver.

if i were to do it all over again i just straight up wouldnt have installed half the stuff i did. i would have had big heads and big cam from the get go.

so might as well go ahead and do a cam now then :/ zzp had a sell on there 1.9 rockers but i decided to wait. i still dont think there going to have a sell on cams but who knows.