Davojan59

hey everyone i was just wondering if its easy to install new cams on a 99 GT...ive instealled other stuff on it before so im not totally clueless but i would like to know some tips if anyone has any so please let me know if anyone knows and also what cams would u recommend? thanks

code3GT

VT Cams and how big ya want?

2000GT4.6

Its a bitch, you need special tools (if you do springs) , you need to know exactly what you are doing, its going to need a tune afterward, and you will be lucky to get away from the install and tune for under 1300 bucks.

You will probably gain less than 20 RWHP (without head/intake work) and there is a chance you will lose some power and torque down low.

I can say with pretty good confidence that if I had it go do over again I would not go with a set of camshafts. It was expensive, I had to get a shop to install it (or pay for the custom tools for the springs, it was about the same price) and I personally barely saw 15 RWHP after a tune (I have a bad tune).

I am also now looking at supercharging the car and have been told that I will need to run something on the order of a 14 pound pully to develop 8 PSI, because the cams will eat up alot of the boost.

DILO2001GT

yeah i have heard with cams you lose torque. my buddy has an ls1 and he saw 40 rwhp with the cam but with that he lost alot of torque. the numbers were lower than what they were stock and he has a few bolt ons too, so it took whatever his bolt ons gave and put him below the stock torque #'s whatever they were.

badsp0rk

I was thinking about doing cams, but you've been so damn negative about them!

My uncle is super into cars and I'm sure he'd be willing to help me out with the install; he was even telling me the other day, "I'm a cam guy.. I love cams". The guy's custom built cars before, and owns an old 'vette stingray that is 99.9% original (and won him a few trophies at Carlisle..). If he's done cams before, which I know he has, then he ought to have the tools and knowhow; just not the dyno unfortunately..

I was contemplating cams/heads and then nitrous as an alternative to a s/c; they come in roughly the same price when all's said and done, except cams/heads and nitrous will give me more rwhp no? 20 out of cams, 30 out of heads.. 75 out of nitrous; that's 125 vs, what, 100 or so out of 8 (or so) psi boost?

of course, that's because of the nitrous............. but the car will sound cooler w/ cam/head work!

2000GT4.6

Make sure the guy you know has worked on a overhead cam engine before. Its an entirely different animal. And you are still gonna need the tool to remove the valvesprings unless you get the heads sent to you complete. You could also skip the springs if you go with stage 1 cams, but i would only recommend this if you don't do the intake/heads.

I seriously considered going the heads/cam/intake/nitrous route. There were several reasons that I did not.

Basically it all boils down to the fact that to truly take advantage of the increases in power of the heads/cams/intake you really need to rebuild the bottom end. The new parts all make their power in the top of the RPM band. My cams are still pulling strong at 6K, but I cannot rev it any higher with the stock rotating assembly without danger of throwing something thru the block. Adding heads and intake to this will only make it worse. The cold fact of the matter is that we only have 281 CI to work with (300 or so stroked) so you need to rev to build N/A power.

I have serious doubts that you could make the same power as a blower/bolton car. Everything I have been told and heard says that you cannot make as much RWHP on a n20 car, simply because it all comes on at once, and the shortblock cannot handle it. In other words, once again you need a 1700 dollar rotating assembly.

Breaking it down:

Cams: 550
Springs: 200 (needed for a all out motor)
Intake : 1300
Heads: 1400 (these vary, but I never have found em cheaper than 1300)

These are the standard boltons. To make any power at all n/a your gonna need em.
K&N/MAF/Inlet pipe/t/b/plenum: 750
Headers : 550
X pipe : 200 (off road, add another 100 at least for a catted x)
Catback: 400~
Nitrous Kit: 700 (50/75/100/125 kit)
Tune: At LEAST 400

Total cost is now 6050, and that is with ZERO installation costs. Doing this all yourself would be fairly hard. The car will be making somewhere around 320 RWHP with no bottom end rebuild (this is pretty optimistic really). You will need to find a shop that can properly tune the car (much harder than a blower car because few go this route).

So you have spent 6K on a car that can maybe run in the mid 12s on drag radials before the nitrous, and probably high 11s on the juice. This is all assuming you can make as much RWHP on this setup, which once again I am doubting. And you are still at risk of blowing out something on the bottom end, and you are no faster than a bolton/blower car. The cost is virtually the same, but the blower car is more reliable and just as fast. It is easyer to tune, and it makes all of the power all of the time, plus there is no bottle to refil or turn on, and you don't worry about bottle pressure.

I thought long and hard about this route, but in the end it doesn't pay off. If you have the time, money, knowledge, and simply want something different than everyone else this is the route to go, but it is definatly a tougher and longer road.

thasalvoo

^^^^^^^^^^^what he said....I wish i went blown

badsp0rk

I agree completely; I've been thinking all that out for the past few weeks and it just doesn't quite add up to as much HP as a SC; as the days go by I lean more and more towards getting a SC once I get the money (or hell, even go the turbo route to be unique).

Been toying with getting the smaller KB or a vortech or something (if I get the vortech, I can get the ram air hood scoop... for looks, not performance, plus it's cheaper than a KB); only run maybe 6, 7, 8 psi or whatever (little enough so that I don't need forged internals; a little boost will be enough for me).

If I do go that route (and yes, I'm hijacking this thead like osama bin laden), what mods would you recommend I do in preparation for a sc? (I have gears, shifter already.. headers, midpipe and exhaust are on order, will be installed by 4th of july likely, and I have a k+n air filter for what it's worth, and a predator tuner); would I need plenum/tb or anything, or would I be good to just get the sc after the full exhaust? (not too familiar with sc's or turbo really, sorry)

Davojan59

well i dunno i will probly find the tools to install the cams but i dunno what stage to go with...right now i have all stock internals and im planning on supercharging later anyway so would it be worth it to go with cams? Also how much does it cost to get the car tuned at a shop? Also speaking of superchargers....is there any company out there that is selling SCs where i could set up a payment plan cuase i dont have that kind of cash...well thanks for ur guys' help

Slick97gt

I just purchased a set of 12500(stage 1) ah cams for my 97 gt off ebay. I will be doing them the same time I do the pi swap. Ive been told that the stage one cam makes good power down low, and still makes power up top, just not as much as the 12600, or 12700 series cam. I got a great deal on them, and have done cams on sohc and dohc motors so installation wont be too bad. A good tune is always a neccessity on an engine that is taken well above stock specs. Everyone is trying to tell you to go blown(the best choice for SERIOUS numbers), but remember, your tranny might not be able to hold up. The psi is probably just as hard or harder on you rotating assembly then a more wicked na setup. I say buy a mild, stage 1 cam and have a quality port job done to your heads. The port job and stage 1 cams should be worth at least 30-40 rwhp if tuned.