White Lightning....The Story Begins

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

JT...

Cost of doing cam swaps.......lemme see if I can explain

Yes cams are around 400.00 but that is not the only thing you NEED to change when doing this.

When Vengeance did mine they added an under drive pulley for more power...not needed but recommended.
They also change the stock oil pump with a Melling High Volume oil pump, again not needed but recommended.......after months of owing the cam swap many people started having problems with the stock oil pump failing and melting their motors...well if you cam swapped you were out of luck since you modded and warranty was gone.....so really this is a need a s well.

Then you have to change the valve springs because of the increase lift...basically stronger springs.

Have to have hardened pushrods, again for strength. Trunion upgrades...these are little parts that go on the lifters.

Since you are cracking the motor you will need to do a fluid change...don't have to but a great idea. New plugs to ensure your car is tuned properly.

You will need a tune plus some dyno time since each car is differently.

I also did a hose relocation kit to clean up the engine bay plus a few more things.

I can't remember exactly what it cost but all this increased power requires other things as well to include a CAI...more air in...and the headers ...for more air out.

Plus labor to install all of it. I have no clue what all has to come off to install a cam.

Hopefully this gives you some idea of what is kinda needed to swap cams.

The good thing about Ron @ Vengeance is they have done so many they know exactly what they need, plus the fact they only deal with LS motors so they kinda specialize in this area. If you shhot Ron an e-mail he can tell you exactly what he recommends on a cam swap and kinda give you an idea of cost...that way you know what you are looking at......I will say that Ron was great to work with on this.

Great explanation. I knew it was going to have something to do with upgrading certain parts of the engine and what not. I know whatever I do to my car it won't be going the cheap route...especially if the mod is going to void a major part of my warranty.

I wish I had an endless supply of money (as I'm sure does everyone)..... there is so much I wanna do. I want to be that car at shows that people wanna go look at.

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

LMAO....you seen Dr Jkels thread lately......aint getting no love since I am working on Mr Hyde so much..........but as they always tell me this aint facebook and at least I know the Real Friends are REAL....

Funny thing... I met someone at the ballpark and heard them talking about facebook and they were so mad that someone would become their friend......what a JOKE>

Yeah, I don't get wrapped up in who is my "friend" on facebook. I got the main people I want to talk to...and the others well whatever.

I got you and norms back like a sweater.

[garcmol]

And Kevin@Vengeance has a thread in the sponsor section "engine internals". You can get everything for the cam swap (and I mean everything needed) for 1300 bucks. So you can see that the labor and tuning and fluids run considerably more.

If it were me, and I had the cash, I would do the Vengeance swap they advertise that comes with the ARH long tube headers, cam of your choice, and them doing the work. I believe that was around 4-5k.

Shit, that's John's set up I think!!!!

[Dr Jkel]

LOL....I dont do facebook...guess I am old. Lmao...Hell I just got into texting because no one talks anymore


If it were me I would get cut outs FIRST...may save you a bunch of money in the long run...The LS# has a pretty good cam but you can't hear it, with cutouts you can.

Cams are great in that they give you rumble and added power...The car is fast enough for me stock, just wanted a sound...I paid alot of money for sound.

I have all the upgraded suspension work in sways, sprigns trailing arms etc...and mine handles really good but I dont race it or Auto X it so it is more of a look, stance for me.

For me mine wasn't a DD and it didnt really matter since I kinda baby it.....Dont know if I had a modded if it was...just changed the exhaust for a little better sound.

Your a smart guy and will do the right thing I know......

[Dr Jkel]

See if I had it to do over agin I would go bargain shopping...you can get headers on here all the time cheaper than retail from people changing their builds....DE sold here headers since she went TT and I know hers were nice...if you plan this out you can save some pennies.

CAI are about 350.00ish new
Headers are from 1200 to 1800 new

These are areas you can save some coin. You can actually install the headers yourself...just takes time and a place to do it.......and a few wrenches....

[garcmol]

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

See if I had it to do over agin I would go bargain shopping...you can get headers on here all the time cheaper than retail from people changing their builds....DE sold here headers since she went TT and I know hers were nice...if you plan this out you can save some pennies.

CAI are about 350.00ish new
Headers are from 1200 to 1800 new

These are areas you can save some coin. You can actually install the headers yourself...just takes time and a place to do it.......and a few wrenches....

Plus 426 off the showroom floor ain't too bad to begin with.

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by garcmol

And Kevin@Vengeance has a thread in the sponsor section "engine internals". You can get everything for the cam swap (and I mean everything needed) for 1300 bucks. So you can see that the labor and tuning and fluids run considerably more.

If it were me, and I had the cash, I would do the Vengeance swap they advertise that comes with the ARH long tube headers, cam of your choice, and them doing the work. I believe that was around 4-5k.

Shit, that's John's set up I think!!!!

I'll check it out! I think if I was going to spend 4-5K I rather save up another 3-4 and slap on a blower...but then again I'd probably have to pay on top of that another 3-4k to upgrade the internals.

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

LOL....I dont do facebook...guess I am old. Lmao...Hell I just got into texting because no one talks anymore


If it were me I would get cut outs FIRST...may save you a bunch of money in the long run...The LS# has a pretty good cam but you can't hear it, with cutouts you can.

Cams are great in that they give you rumble and added power...The car is fast enough for me stock, just wanted a sound...I paid alot of money for sound.

I have all the upgraded suspension work in sways, sprigns trailing arms etc...and mine handles really good but I dont race it or Auto X it so it is more of a look, stance for me.

For me mine wasn't a DD and it didnt really matter since I kinda baby it.....Dont know if I had a modded if it was...just changed the exhaust for a little better sound.

Your a smart guy and will do the right thing I know......

My next major purchase will probably be cutouts...but do the cutouts go on the first part of piping on the catback? If so then that is fine...I don't wanna get LT's or high flows and then have to replace the cutouts. But I will have electric cutouts...I could have used those a few times around campus already...

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

See if I had it to do over agin I would go bargain shopping...you can get headers on here all the time cheaper than retail from people changing their builds....DE sold here headers since she went TT and I know hers were nice...if you plan this out you can save some pennies.

CAI are about 350.00ish new
Headers are from 1200 to 1800 new

These are areas you can save some coin. You can actually install the headers yourself...just takes time and a place to do it.......and a few wrenches....

Yeah, I mean when I say not go the cheap route I mean as far as materials. I went the cheap route and got the $200 (nearly perfect) scratch and dent borla catback...but that wasn't a cheap exhaust...so I don't care what I pay for the item if I get a deal...I just want that item to be of high quality.

Originally Posted by garcmol

Plus 426 off the showroom floor ain't too bad to begin with.

Oh no, I love the power. It's actually way more than I really need. But I wanted a car that I can expand off of. I got to the point where I didn't want to put any money into my V6 because I didn't want to keep it down the road. Now that I have a V8, I don't feel bad putting money into it because I know that I want to make this a real badass ride. Something that if I happen to come across some money or save up...I can actually put a blower on it...or cams....or whatever. I love going to websites now and instead of clicking a drop down for V6 Camaro and a list of 5 items comes up...now I click V8 camaro and 329230938 items come up.

I don't know if that makes sense or not.

[Dr Jkel]

Didn't say cheap material just cheap prices.....

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

Didn't say cheap material just cheap prices.....

Right! I understand that. I want cheap prices with good material.

[CamaroKid300]

New addition coming soon! All thanks to my good friend Can't_C_Me!!

Hopefully one of the two participants of my build thread will help me put it on...

Edit: Picture is fixed

[572HP]

Originally Posted by CamaroKid300

New addition coming soon! All thanks to my good friend Can't_C_Me!!

Hopefully one of the two participants of my build thread will help me put it on...

The picture is sideways...but I don't wanna really fix it haha.

"THE" catch can to have! Tracy is the most knowledgeable vendor on catch cans in my opinion. Nice looking white one! I hadn't seen one in white.

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by 572HP

"THE" catch can to have! Tracy is the most knowledgeable vendor on catch cans in my opinion. Nice looking white one! I hadn't seen one in white.

Looking forward to putting it on my car. Wanted one from day one but never got around to it.

[SlowSS]

Nice CC J.T.!!!

[hightower]

Never seen one in white either! I bet it'll be great installed, and I'm interested to see how much oil yours catches. I'm on the fence whether to get one. Not like I can get one anytime soon..... :(

[CamaroKid300]

Originally Posted by SlowSS

Nice CC J.T.!!!

Thanks Jeff!

Originally Posted by hightower

Never seen one in white either! I bet it'll be great installed, and I'm interested to see how much oil yours catches. I'm on the fence whether to get one. Not like I can get one anytime soon..... :(

Stick with it man....it'll work out in the end.