398 Cam Time

Currently the car makes 415RWHP/364RWTQ with the Darts, CC306 Cam and a factory intake manifold on the stock LT1 bottom end through the 12 Bolt. Minus the short block and single plane intake, all the parts are what’s currently on the car. I plan to have the heads worked on some more, but the flow and valve size is what is current on them. This is a weekend car and does not need to pass emissions. Driven maybe 1,000 miles per year, would like to actually drive more so I would like to stay with a hydraulic roller. Joe’s green T/A, Jeff Stark’s Firehawk, Alan’s Formula (Thunder Chicken) and Larry’s old LT1 seemed to run really well with hydraulic roller set up. It's going to be on pump gas. What are y'all thoughts on the cam?

Weight: 3600LB

Engine/Trans/Rear: 398” LT1 , T56 Manual, 12 Bolt 3.90
Power Adder: Nitrous 200 Shot, wet. Spray Bar delivery.
New Short Block: 398” LT1, Ross -6cc Pistons, Compstar 5.850 Rod, 3.875 Callies Dragon Slayer Crank, Melling Select Standard Volume Oil Pump.
Current Heads: Dart Pro 1 200cc LT1 Heads. Milled to 55CC. Current Flow Numbers 288/212, 2.02 Intake Valve, 1.6 Exhaust Valve. Flow Data when ported by Late Model Engines 288/212 at .650.
New Intake Manifold: Motown EFI SBC intake with 4150 flange. Wilson Intake Elbow. Nick Williams 90mm LS1 Throttle Body.
Computer: EFI 24X LS1 PCM and Coil Conversion.
Exhaust: Kooks 1 ¾ to 1 7/8 Stepped Style Long Tubes, 3 Inch Off Road Y Pipe, 3” Borla Cat Back Exhaust with cut Out.

Wow that setup looks awesome but sorry to side setup how did you get 398"

I bought the short block from Tony Nichols, was originally built by Dave Diluca for him before Dave passed. It's a 3.875 stroke crank, I believe the bore is some thing goofy like a 4.045. Not sure if this block was originally a 396 they reused or what. It's been sitting at an engine builder for the last year a d a half. The car needs new motor mounts, the paint is scruffy and the current set up leaks oil, I also have a UMI tubular K member I want to put in. We throw this in, we can knock all that out and I can be done with this car far as doing stuff to it.

Do you know what the static compression is?

Personally it's hard to go wrong with the tried and true. Both Lloyd Elliott and Advanced Inductions are well versed in LT1's. Larry runs LE, Joe runs AI, I run LE/B3RT, Mike V runs AI [although is SR], Bolo runs LE, Colin was running LE, Nuckingfuts runs AI, Clint ran LE/B3RT, Javier ran LE, etc. Occassionally you'll see Cam Motion, Bullet, Comp custom, but really most of the cams ground use similar or the same lobes designs. There are alot of cam guys out there, but I like sticking with people who know LT1's.

Im running a custom grind by LE with my LPE heads. i second talking to one of the LT1 peeps. and get one spec for you. LE was spot on with what i wanted. And couldn't be happier.

I second custom grind. I got mine from LE

The current engine builder calculated it to be in the 11:8 range given the 55cc head, we spoke about switching heads at one point so different combustion chamber size and compression came in to discussion.

I'd prefer to calculate it myself. Do you have the piston depth? Is the gasket already on there? I can do the rest and get the quench right.

Off shore so I don't have any access to the measurements, I haven't ordered head gaskets yet either.

I would go solid roller. With the amount of miles you put on the car a year, you'd have a "check lash once a year and be done with it" setup. You have the LS1 pcm which allows you a ton of rpm, so take advantage of it, and a single plane. Me setup is all custom, but still not a ton of money, but it is bulletproof and streetable.

$575--LSM custom cam- billet, small base circle, 4/7 firing order swap, 256/260 on a 105
$150--Lunati springs 228lb/525lb (nothing crazy at all)
$175-- Trend custom length pushrods, chromoly, full tapered, .080"
$875--Crower maximus lifters, these are overkill, you could get away with an Isky red-zone lifter and save $400, just make sure you get HIPPO


The cam was a lot, but the company was incredibly easy to deal with. They are very familiar with LT1 stuff and know what size dowel pin you'll need and can grind the cam in a week or so. Comp was a joke to deal with. Trend was also another amazing company to deal with. You won't need a monster .125" pushrod unless the pushrod is angled off of the lifter (like a big-block) or you are running some crazy valve spring pressures. LT1's and sbc's are pretty straight unless you have a big cylinder head like an AFR 227 which has offset valves, and you don't get offset lifters or rockers to correct it.

You could save about $100-$150 going with an AI solid roller grind that they have a part number for, and another $400 by going with a different set of lifters. Also, if you get a billet cam you'll need a special gear for the oil pump drive. I ditched the stock drive and went with a dummy distributor that is billet with the correct gear material. It was roughly $125 (off of the top of my head).

I would get something in the 245/255 range with lift .650"ish. It would pull over 7k with 398 cubes and still make great power with 11.5-1 compression. I'm running 11.77-1 and run pump 93. Those heads are just about as small as I would go for a 398 cube engine, but I think they could still work just as they are.