L92 cam recommendation

[DarkoNova]

Hey guys, I need help picking a cam for the L92.

I was going to leave it stock for a while, but it looks like the Holley ECU can't handle the VVT, so I guess I'm getting a cam sooner than I thought, lol.

I was looking at the BTR stage 4, or the one they used from Comp in this article:

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/get-92-horsepower-l92-simple-cam-swap/

The car it's going in has a manual transmission and 4.11 gears, so I'm not worried about losing on the low end.

I had a pretty gnarly cam in the SBC before I pulled it (I don't remember the specs, but I only had about 7" of vacuum at idle), so I'm not all that worried about driveability either. It's gonna be a weekend cruiser/auto-x car.

Currently stock intake and throttle body, but I'm either going to do a Fast 102mm or maybe a tunnel ram intake. Not sure yet.

Thanks!

[DarkoNova]

Probably going to go with the BTR cam.

What's everyone's opinion on reusing the stock lifters?

I don't really feel like pulling the heads to put new lifters in, but the entire front clip is off the car so I have plenty of room right now.

[andrewb70]

Matt,

One thing I will tell you is that don't go with that cam that is too big. A friend of mine has BTR stage 2 LS3 cam and it works very well. Depending on the mileage, I wouldn't hesitate keeping the stock lifters. Do you really want to pull the heads to swap lifters?

Also, I use the Summit Ghost cam in my Cougar and love it. Summit says it will work great with rectangular port heads. It's easy to tune and drives nice and makes great power.

I do remote Holley tuning and can help with wiring the Holley and offer assistance along the way.

Andrew

[79 Camaro]

I've done a couple of L92 swaps. A 2010 and a 2012. Both had VVT but not DOD. I deleted the VVT and added a Texas Speed can. 225I/230E, .615 lift 114 LSA. Both were almost 425 rwhp. So a touch under 500 hp at the crank? I know its not big numbers but they ran super with a mild 91 octane tune. I did not replace the lifters but both engines were 25,000 miles or less. I did add new valve springs and push rods. Also trunion upgrade.

[DarkoNova]

I can't remember how many miles the seller said the engine had, but I want to say 120,000.

I might replace them for peace of mind.

I was planning on doing the trunion upgrade but I read a lot of forum posts of people saying the upgraded trunions failed within a short amount of time, so I'm still not sure what to do there. I'll probably leave them stock and just upgrade springs.

Andrew, do you know if the Holley systems can handle VVT?

If not, will the engine just put the cam in a default position or act like it's a standard cam or something?

If I can swap cams later and just get the engine running that would save money and speed things up.

[andrewb70]

Matt,

Holley does not support VVT, because of liability reasons.

You would replace the cam, use a OEM 3 bolt 4x cam gear, and install a non VVT front cover with the cam sensor in the front.

This is what I did with the L92 in my GTO. I have a bunch of pictures in that build tread. VVT is nice, but remember, you are not powering a GMC Denali...a good cam, installed straight up, will do a great job. I'm also not a fan of trunion upgrades, provided you go with a suitable spring.
Andrew

[DarkoNova]

So I have to swap the cam to even be able to fire the engine up?

Well damn.

[icemanrd19]

I would call up Texas speed and tell them your overall plans. Great people to deal with

[andrewb70]

So I have to swap the cam to even be able to fire the engine up?

Well damn.

You can fire it up without the VVT connected.

[69cutlassrkt]

Matt, watch Richard Holdener on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uf_zVTV63l1-uRSx6XbnQ. I've learned a lot about cams and intakes from watching his videos.

[DarkoNova]

Ah, I know him!

I've seen him pop up in a few episodes of engine masters. I didn't know he had his own channel.

I'll definitely be watching his stuff. Thanks!