A friend wants me to put in a rough idling cam in his 97 vortec 350 pickup. He doesn't tow or anything with the pickup but simply wants it to sound cool and I've warned him about the loss of lowend. I think the Hot Cam with stock rockers will fill his bill pretty well but I'm not sure about retainer to guide clearance. I've heard about .480 is max and then I've read that there's much more room than this. I DON'T want to pull the heads to make more room if it's not necessary. Are there better choices for a nasty sounding camshaft? Also, will Comp 915s work with the stock retainers? I'm also planning on good pushrods while I'm at it and probably Hooker longtubes will be installed as well. Will this truck run with the stock tune? What do yall think? Am I leaving anything off of the parts list?

 

What are the specs of the hot cam? You cannot use over .480 lift. Getting new locks and retainers would benefit with +.050 as you can use .530 lift.

I would highly recommend a tune and a stall with a cam. But it also depends how big your cam is. I have a 218/224 .570/.565 on my 383 Vortec and you can only notice a cam if you know what to listen for. With this cam I do not have a torque converter but wish I can put in a small one.

I ran a stock tune with my 206/212 and it ran fine but I would still get a tune as that will give you a lot of power in itself.

So Cam, pushrods, locks, retainers, valve springs, tune, and possibly torque converter

 

I was running a lingenfelter 213/219 .493/.502 lift on a 112LSA cam with 1.6 rockers in my 97 vortec350 with NO head work,no cutting guide seats either.If you run the right setup you can get over a .500 lift in there easy with NO head work at all,I do not care what anyone says,it can be done with the right setup.I promise.

 

hey vortec350 what happen with the lingenfelter cam did you deside to go bigger or what. If so what cam are you running know?

 

I got an 06 crewcab 5.3,the 97 is gone

 

Thanks for the help guys but what exactly is the right setup? The retainers that give added clearance or extra installed height?

 

with the 915's and some +.050 locks you can run in the low .500's for sure but I am not sure on the stock retainers fitting or not. If I can remember right the hot cam should have some lope to it but will take some tunning to get all the power out of it. anything else you need?

 

The hotcam will be a dog with the 350!!!! I tried it and I had to run a 3000 stall just to make it work on the street without going crazy. I still have the Hotcam in my 383 now and like it.......but I still have to drive in 3rd around town untill I hit 50mph then shift into OD to prevent the OD bog that will occur when it shifts at like 30mph. Go with a Linghenfelter cam like 350SS said!!! That is a much better cam, the Hotcam sounds good, is reliable, and has great easy going ramp rates for valve train longevity....but is lacking in performance and technology. Thats why its old skool But it does well with the extra cubes I have.