What is the best Cam ?

[THEMASH]

How are the Crower cams ?? has anyone tried them ?? HP gain ??
What other cams are good ??
I was hoping to go with a set of heads and Rocker Arms, most likely the new BTR heads with T&D/Arrow rockers, and was wondering if a cam upgrade would be a good idea. I read in a Performance book a while back that porting/higher flowing heads is a waist of money "wont benefit as much" if you don’t change the cam , I guess the cam enables more air to go through. This might only be right for smaller engines, not sure.
Any advice/help would be great.

PS Crower also offers a crate motor "650hp/650tq", anyone have any info on that ?? THANKS

 

[JonB]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by THEMASH:
.........I read in a Performance book a while back that porting/higher flowing heads is a waist of money "wont benefit as much" if you don’t change the cam .............<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

"Wont Benefit As Much" is the hedge here......

Vipers respond noticably to well-done head and intake work, without swapping the cam. Some more than others. TYM because the 1996-1997 cams were noticably higher flowing and lumpier. Maybe 1998s as well....... The HUGE 8.0L Viper motor reaps big relative gains just from better breathing..... That 'performance book' generality is more applicable to a normal car, not an extreme example........

 

[Tom Welch]

Mash,

I recommend that you stick with a cam from a 96-97 gts. There are aftermarket cams available, but the factory spend untold dollars on R&D and the above cams perform very well.

Having built many, many racing engines through the years, I have a nice cam collection, mostly pieces that did not work as advertised.

I will say this, the viper head once ported does show very good flow numbers even above the factory rated cam lift of approx. .500". A cam designed with the "profile" of a 97 gts cam but with more lift could possibly be a performance gain worth trying.

Good luck,

Tom
Http://btrviper.com

 

[Tom Welch]

Jeremy,

We are testing that swap right now. Dan has a good point about the computer with regards to cam swaps. We will see how a 98 GTS cam performs in a 2001 GTS shortly. We will post results, both on power and sound quality(getting back that lopey idle)

Tom
Http://btrviper.com

 

[LTHL VPR]

We agree with Dan C.; a cam swap can be a great idea when you do heads since the heads need to be off anyway.

A proper cam matched with heads can be a terrific combination and add SIGNIFICANT POWER! You need to make sure the head components are up to the task though. We found the aftermarket MOPAR valves that some tuners use won't work well because they are limited in cam lift. On our heads, we use an aftermarket, long-stemmed valve that allows plenty of lift and comes with high strength titanium retainers and billet locks. The valvetrain & lifters are sensitive and you have a narrow window to work with.

We offer 2 different, custom cam grinds. Both will pass the CA 'smog sniffer test' and add power, especially in the 2000-2001 Vipers, but will also add great power for all GENII years as well. These grinds can typically yield 20-30 rwhp and similar ft.lbs of torque. At APEX Motorsports, we recommend that you remove the engine when performing the installation of an aftermarket cam so it does involve some additional time.

Also, it works best when you tune the car to match the mods. That's why we offer an in-house Dynojet. In a very short time, we will also have a Viper tuning software that we can use to dial in your Viper for any mods to optimize performance and add more power!!

If you have any questions, I can be reached at 408.562.1000.
Thanks! Happy Vipering!
-Wayne (LTHL VPR)