Curious: cam regrinding a stock 350 LT-5

[Sgreg]

I am interested in knowing if anyone with plenum, inj. housings and head porting mods has made mild modifications to the cams. This assumes a stock 350 cu. in. LT-5. Trying to determine if regrinding can enhance performance of a stock cube, ported motor or cam timing is a better way to proceed.. Jump in if you have experimented with cams without cubic inch changes.

[Polo-1]

that would be Pete

[Pete]

I have seen a gain of 20-25 RWHP
It showed on 2 different dynos and trap speed at 2 tracks.

Before regrinds i was making 440-449 RWHP 400-405 RWTQ (stock cams)
After regrinds i make 469-474 RWHP 395-400 RWTQ

Cam Specs
Intake .236 .425
Exhaust .220 .415

The above HP/TQ #'s are from lowest to highest

Let me also add i did not loose much if any power at low RPM they are withen 5 which i would consider none.
If you come to BG you'll be able to see,hear and feel throttle response on my Z and decide for yourself.
Idles nice at 850 not too cammy and drives like a stocker.

Pete

[ZZZZZR1]

I have seen a gain of 20-25 RWHP
It showed on 2 different dynos and trap speed at 2 tracks.

Before regrinds i was making 440-449 RWHP 400-405 RWTQ (stock cams)
After regrinds i make 469-474 RWHP 395-400 RWTQ

Cam Specs
Intake .236 .425
Exhaust .220 .415

The above HP/TQ #'s are from lowest to highest

Let me also add i did not loose much if any power at low RPM they are withen 5 which i would consider none.
If you come to BG you'll be able to see,hear and feel throttle response on my Z and decide for yourself.
Idles nice at 850 not too cammy and drives like a stocker.

Pete

Pete,

You are da man!!!!!!!!!! :cool:


David

[Sgreg]

I have seen a gain of 20-25 RWHP
It showed on 2 different dynos and trap speed at 2 tracks.

Before regrinds i was making 440-449 RWHP 400-405 RWTQ (stock cams)
After regrinds i make 469-474 RWHP 395-400 RWTQ

Cam Specs
Intake .236 .425
Exhaust .220 .415

The above HP/TQ #'s are from lowest to highest

Let me also add i did not loose much if any power at low RPM they are withen 5 which i would consider none.
If you come to BG you'll be able to see,hear and feel throttle response on my Z and decide for yourself.
Idles nice at 850 not too cammy and drives like a stocker.

Pete

PM sent Pete.

[DREAMZ]

Sounds great and I'll look for Pete at BG. How much are we talking and where is the source? Thanks!

[XfireZ51]

I have seen a gain of 20-25 RWHP
It showed on 2 different dynos and trap speed at 2 tracks.

Before regrinds i was making 440-449 RWHP 400-405 RWTQ (stock cams)
After regrinds i make 469-474 RWHP 395-400 RWTQ

Cam Specs
Intake .236 .425
Exhaust .220 .415

The above HP/TQ #'s are from lowest to highest

Let me also add i did not loose much if any power at low RPM they are withen 5 which i would consider none.
If you come to BG you'll be able to see,hear and feel throttle response on my Z and decide for yourself.
Idles nice at 850 not too cammy and drives like a stocker.

Pete


Pete,

Was the original 440hp just your basic top end and head work? Were the stock cams degreed differently than spec?

[Pete]

Pete,

Was the original 440hp just your basic top end and head work? Were the stock cams degreed differently than spec?

Yes,ported heads/intake,headers,B&B Xpipe,no cats
440 is same as 449 no change i had it on 2 different dynos and as always second pull makes less then first.

They are from lowest to highest.

Cams were not stock timing.

Pete

P.S.
The people that do the cams are a bit pricey but i know they work if anybody has them done cheaper let me know how they work i'm done with cam R&D it starts to get expansive.
Regrind $300 each

[XfireZ51]

Yes,ported heads/intake,headers,B&B Xpipe,no cats
440 is same as 449 no change i had it on 2 different dynos and as always second pull makes less then first.

They are from lowest to highest.

Cams were not stock timing.

Pete

P.S.
The people that do the cams are a bit pricey but i know they work if anybody has them done cheaper let me know how they work i'm done with cam R&D it starts to get expansive.
Regrind $300 each

So should I expect 50rwhp from doing the heads after having ported the top end?

[Paul Workman]

So should I expect 50rwhp from doing the heads after having ported the top end?

According to Marc (with whom I've visited and had this conversation with recently) his experience has been similar to Pete's: around 25-30 over top end P&P, headers, exhaust, etc. Marc's "wall paper" shows several examples where a fully ported LT5 w/ headers and low restriction exhaust are putting down around 430 (with an aluminum FW). I suspect the 10 extree hosses of Pete's comes from secret cam timing, written on a coded piece of paper and is hidden in one of those mason jars buried in Pete's back yard, and perhaps the 3" cross pipe and the B&B (which he has mentioned on here in the past).

Who is going to port your heads, Dom? The head porting (as Ryan so often reminds us) begins at the valve seat and works back, as you well know. Just curious if you were going to tackle it, cuz porting is (to me) a fascinating subject and I'd be curious to know what your specs are going to be.

P.

[flyin ryan]

The head porting (as Ryan so often reminds us) begins at the valve seat and works back, as you well know. True story. Glad to see your paying attention...:mrgreen:

[XfireZ51]

Who is going to port your heads, Dom? The head porting (as Ryan so often reminds us) begins at the valve seat and works back, as you well know. Just curious if you were going to tackle it, cuz porting is (to me) a fascinating subject and I'd be curious to know what your specs are going to be.

P.

I have a spare set of heads ported by GVD. I've been wondering whether I sell them and have Pete do my heads or use the GVD heads.

[tf95ZR1]

I have a spare set of heads ported by GVD. I've been wondering whether I sell them and have Pete do my heads or use the GVD heads.

Why not have Pete work on the GVD heads?
Or are they not workable.

[Sgreg]

I have a spare set of heads ported by GVD. I've been wondering whether I sell them and have Pete do my heads or use the GVD heads.

I am confused. Has GVD lost it ? I have a set with Greg right now for porting. Greg is an icon in the ZR-1 world and it is hard for me to believe he has lost his luster and others are getting more out of their ported heads. Somebody, who knows step in on this issue. All of us want good results. It isn't cheap to have it done.

[Pete]

Greg back in the day when people were thinking old school and most knew nothing about 4 valve engines,the thought was not too big you will loose velocity that thought process goes out the window since the LT5 has 16 small intake ports.

I have an old email from GVD he used to port heads to 34mm-34.5mm
Till a couple of guys in Des Plaines went to 36mm and had made the most power out of a 350ci LT5 then any one has ever seen and was unheard of in the ZR-1 community.
So those poor guys from DesPlaines were called a bunch of names,since
1: they were new to the ZR-1 community
2:nobody has ever seen those kind of HP #'s from a 350ci LT5
and boy did they have to proove themselfs to the community they put there Z's on 2 different dynos 3 different tracks to proove the performance then people wanted videos and till today some have doubt it's a stock bottom end.

Pre 2003 they were a lot of 350 Z's out there from LPE,DRM,AutoMasters w/GVD heads and none made the power like those Z's from Des Plaines.
I have seen ported heads from all of the above tuners and none were ported to todays standards

This is why now people refer to porting "ported to todays standards"

I'm sure GVD now ports them to todays standards.

This is in no way a flame to anybody just telling the story like i know it.

I think our heads will be the limiting factor to 441+ ci LT5's so if they ever come out with 500ci LT5 it will need a bigger/better head.

I don't remember of any Z's with ported top end ever running 123+MPH and i have followed the ZR-1 history since they first came out.
If anybody knows of a top end Z running this fast please post up,love to hear the details.

Like i said this is no flame just a little history
Pete

[jonszr1]

my 90 at sacramento ran 11.70@122.51 mph with ported inj housings and plenum corey henderson porting and tune, fidanza flywheel and ceramic disc ,410 gears ,jeal headers ,3 in exhaust, with h pipe and 3 in super turbo mufflers, zf doc blueprinted tranny and shifter , and a very sticky new nitto nto5 tire that gave me a 1.51 60 ft. da that day was 220ft. what i need now is a set of petes ported heads . :thumbsup:

[tomtom72]

First I want to apologize to Greg for this hijack. Sorry Greg:o

Second.
:thumbsup:Thank you Pete, and for that matter the rest of all the people that are sharing their knowledge with those of us that ( speaking for myself on the "Knowledge" part ) do not have all this knowledge at our finger tips.:thumbsup:

Thank You Pete and the rest of you guys!:worship:

:cheers:

[Aurora40]

my 90 at sacramento ran 11.70@122.51 mph with ported inj housings and plenum corey henderson porting and tune, fidanza flywheel and ceramic disc ,410 gears ,jeal headers ,3 in exhaust, with h pipe and 3 in super turbo mufflers, zf doc blueprinted tranny and shifter , and a very sticky new nitto nto5 tire that gave me a 1.51 60 ft. da that day was 220ft. what i need now is a set of petes ported heads . :thumbsup:
You're saying that was with stock, untouched heads? Is your car seriously lightened?

On topic, so are cams becoming a common part of a 350 package? Do any tuners offer them? On something like a Haibeck 500 package, what would be the gain, would it be in the 450hp ballpark? I wouldn't expect Pete levels of power because he's put in the time to tweak everything and then tweak it again, but a sort of standard package with cams, single-mass, and reasonable exhaust (say a Corsa or something), what kind of power are we talking?

[Paul Workman]

You're saying that was with stock, untouched heads? Is your car seriously lightened?

On topic, so are cams becoming a common part of a 350 package? Do any tuners offer them? On something like a Haibeck 500 package, what would be the gain, would it be in the 450hp ballpark? I wouldn't expect Pete levels of power because he's put in the time to tweak everything and then tweak it again, but a sort of standard package with cams, single-mass, and reasonable exhaust (say a Corsa or something), what kind of power are we talking?

Thinking out loud, combining Marc's established results in the "hood" of 430 RW on his 500 hp package w/ stock cams, and Pete's 20-25 boost for his re-grinds, that would cozy up pretty close to the 450+ IF the rest of the "standard tuff" was employed! ("Standard stuff" i.e., the light weight FW, headers, free flowing exhaust** w/ X pipe, custom tuning, and no cats.)

**Note: Marc H recommends the Corsa system to go along with his 500 package which I understand is a true 2-1/2" system. In addition to no resonance, he says there is no practical improvement by using the 3" system compared to the Corsa. But, (again thinking out loud) I wonder if that still holds when the re-ground cams are factored in? :dontknow: If I'm not mistaken, Bob G said (in essence) that his experience showed favor of the 3" over the 2-1/2" in the 500+hp neighborhood. ).

Interesting topic(s).

P.

[ZZZZZR1]

my 90 at sacramento ran 11.70@122.51 mph with ported inj housings and plenum corey henderson porting and tune, fidanza flywheel and ceramic disc ,410 gears ,jeal headers ,3 in exhaust, with h pipe and 3 in super turbo mufflers, zf doc blueprinted tranny and shifter , and a very sticky new nitto nto5 tire that gave me a 1.51 60 ft. da that day was 220ft. what i need now is a set of petes ported heads . :thumbsup:

Hey!

Bringing that beast to BG for the 20th Anniversary? Love to see some great 1/4 mile times like yours you posted on YouTube.

:thumbsup:

David

[A1990]

I believe that Pete has found the "sweet" spot of the 350ci LT5's. If you take a top end ported LT5 and add GVD ported heads and regrind cams to Pete's specs, you might not end up in the 450rwhp range.

As noted earlier, the amount of porting and size, plus value size, etc have changed a lot in the last few years. Most of the original Jeal schooled (old school) tuners were very conservative.

Pete has spend much time and $$$ to perfect his setup. I don't think there is anything "magic" about it. Just lots of time, effort, willingness to think outside the box and of course $$$.

My car's heads owe their design and performance to the Des Plaines boys.

Big tip of the hat to Pete for raising the bar. :cheers:

[Hammer]

OK, who are the Des Plaines boys?

[Pete]

OK, who are the Des Plaines boys?

Well i'm one of the boys :-D
The other is my buddy Al,now he goes by the name of "double four one":)
Watch out double oh seven


Pete

P.S.
Thanks Dennis that means alot to me i really appreciate it.
I'm about done researching have spend alot of time and money i was hoping to get my goal of 500 RWHP
i'm sure another set of cams might do it maybe in the future,i really doubt it,i've also learned to never say never.

[Pete]

my 90 at sacramento ran 11.70@122.51 mph with ported inj housings and plenum corey henderson porting and tune, fidanza flywheel and ceramic disc ,410 gears ,jeal headers ,3 in exhaust, with h pipe and 3 in super turbo mufflers, zf doc blueprinted tranny and shifter , and a very sticky new nitto nto5 tire that gave me a 1.51 60 ft. da that day was 220ft. what i need now is a set of petes ported heads . :thumbsup:


Brad i'm 99.9 percent sure Corey ported your intake to todays standards.

One other thing i have learned with the ZR-1 the better your 60ft higher the MPH,1.51 60ft is killer and the DA was not too shaby all are a big factor.

Heck most cars run 1-2MPH better at ATCO.

Pete

[KGV]

Does a cam regrind, to the specifications mentioned in this thread, impact the emissions? Every two years I need to get my car tested, and the emissions must be in a certain target for idle and mid-range rpm.

Ken

[Sgreg]

OK, who are the Des Plaines boys?

Who are these guys ???? Austin Coyle and the Chi Town hustler !! :mrgreen: