Just a cam? or other mods?

[hardmanws6]

Can i get away with just a cam and a tune?

I have a 98 WS6, its an automatic with a mild shift kit. I already have a cold air intake, long tube headers and a borla cat back installed. I want to know if i can install a cam, valve springs, and a matching converter, along with a tune and be ok....??

I want the car to stay fairly street friendly without needing new heads, manifold, throttle body, etc....

I'm really just looking to wake my LS1 up a little, was told a cam was the way to go. or should I be looking to modify elsewhere? I'd like to stay around a $1500 budget.

Any advise is appreciated, thanks in advance!

[SMWS6TA]

Yes, a 228 cam will wake up that LS1 with a stall to match and good tuning will give you a good bump but behave well as a DD. You may need new springs but not 100% on which ones. IIRC LS6 springs were good for a 228 cam.

Your biggest hold black though is the heads on the 98's. You can pick up a stock set of 243's and get better HP, TQ, & more importantly flow over the 98 heads and not break the bank. I picked up my used set for $400. I spent $160 at a machine shop to make sure they were flat, did a valve job and set up my springs. Basically made them a brand new set.

You being a 98 I highly, no can't emphasis how strongly you need to upgrade the oil pump at this time. 97-99 LS1 oil pumps are know to fail at high rpms and when they get old too (150,000 miles) Go ahead ask me how I know this..... A good replacement is a LS6 or Melling 10295 oil pumps Both ($150-180). Toss in a new LS2 timing chain ($90) as well. You're here doing the work, might as well do that now so you don't repeat later.

Look for a LS6 intake ($350ish) I know you didn't want to look for one but it will preform so much better over the LS1 that it's worth getting, especially if you're going to get a cam.

That $1500 was that including tuning? Hate to say it but with doing a cam and a stall a full tuning session will be needed. Those usually go around $500.

Believe me I understand being on a budget. It took me a year to get all my parts piled up to do my engine and then another 4 months again to replace what broke on start up. my car was on jack stands for almost 3 yrs.

[hardmanws6]

smws6ta, my budget of $1500 didnt include a tune, i figured that would be $500, so I guess my total budget is $2000.

I never heard of the oil pump being an issue, my car just turned 75K miles, but I'll have to look into upgrading that while i have the engine apart.

thanks for the feedback!

[SMWS6TA]

It's what ended up killing my LS1. I was doing a burn out and missed my line lock button to release it and it bounced off the rev limiter twice. I thought I was ok but next morning it started tapping, was praying it was a lifter....not so lucky.

[Antz97ZNJ]

There are some mods that are recommended to be upgraded. I would also recommend a good stall before a Cam

[Firebirdjones]

I had just a mild Vinci 218 @ .050 cam on a 112 lsa, springs, pushrods, rockers on my wifes 2000 SS. Was a 6 speed car so no converter needed. I tuned it myself with HP tuners. I didn't do the oil pump or any other mods other than headers and off road Y, still stock cat back system. It had 40k miles at the time, when I sold it she had racked up 120,000 miles and it still ran strong. When it had 110,000 miles on it, it made 370 at the rear wheels with a conservative tune and would trap just under 113 mph at the track on stock 275-40-17's with just 3.42 gears in it. I set the rev limiter to 6700 and there were times I couldn't stay off it, lol.

I liked that baby cam, idled "stockish" and the car still knocked down 26-28 mpg highway.