Cam choice - Too Small?

[Jeda]

Hi all, I just booked my WN Caprice in for a heads and cam package.

I asked for a cam that will work well with the standard converter and the 3.45 diff I have just had installed. The specs given to me are 226/236 with an LSA of 116.
I'm not familiar with this cam, but looking at the lobe separation, I'm thinking it may be a little too tame?

Anyone have experience with a similar stick?
I'd love to hear some opinions and whether or not I should go with another option.

The car is a 2014 WN Caprice L77 with GM Motorsport triple stepped headers, 100 cell cats, 3" xforce cat back and a VCM otr.

 

[07GTS]

they prob keep the 116 to make it more suitable for the stock stall but its not bad, having the bigger exhaust deg is good the LS needs that, it has -1 deg overlap at 050'' going much more starts to shift into the ''needs a good tuner'' bucket as doing the right changes can tame a big cam and just depends on your converter as well

 

[EYY]

You’ll probably gain more from stall than cam. I’d do both at the same time, or go stall first then cam later.

 

[Immortality]

Agreed, wide LSA suits stock converter.

Wide LSA means no overlap which makes the engine efficient at low RPM which suits a stock converter. A tighter LSA makes the engine less efficient until it gets up into the RPM which will work against the tight stock converter but make the engine more efficient at higher RPM's.

Closer LSA will give more of that "cammed" sound some people are after.

I recently bought a small cam with 108° LSA, wish me luck

 

[Jeda]

Thanks 07GTS,
I asked for more power in the midrange, so hoping this delivers. The ported heads should see a small gain up top too.

 

[Jeda]

You’ll probably gain more from stall than cam. I’d do both at the same time, or go stall first then cam later.

I had a specific budget from the minister of finances, so had to decide what I was going to do while keeping within that budget.
So spoke to a few workshops and went with this package.

 

[07GTS]

heads should give a gain prob everywhere, what some can do is design the overlap to then move the torque peak to where they want it but its a gain/loss, a wider lsa can also help stop detonation as not as much exhaust is being trapped in the cylinder dirtying it for the next cycle and its usually best suited to a header for best scavenging, the exhaust where it is should help mid torque and u could even play with it advance up to 3 deg looks ok

 

[Jeda]

Agreed, wide LSA suits stock converter.

Wide LSA means no overlap which makes the engine efficient at low RPM which suits a stock converter. A tighter LSA makes the engine less efficient until it gets up into the RPM which will work against the tight stock converter but make the engine more efficient at higher RPM's.

Closer LSA will give more of that "cammed" sound some people are after.

I recently bought a small cam with 108° LSA, wish me luck

Hi mate,
So with the wide lsa, does this mean I won't lose too much down low?
I went with the 3.45's because I was expecting the cam upgrade would lose a lot down low.

 

[07GTS]

wider LSA flattens the torque curve so u gain down low as its capturing more VE, people mostly loose power down low with cams because tuners dont tune down there, yes u will have poorer airflow depending on cam specs but usually a proper tune below 2000rpm cleans it up

 

[Jeda]

Full cam specs are:

Intake 277
Exhaust 284
Intake @.050 226
Exhaust @.050 236
Lift intake .607" Exhaust .617"
LSA 116.5
RPM Range 2400 - 6500