Looking for a winter project on my 91 A4 coupe with 3.07 rear gear and FX3. Miles are around 110,000 with aftermarket TPI intake that has been mildly ported. Has adjustable fuel pressure regulator and new Bosch III injectors. Runs nice and strong. Exhaust is aftermarket front Y, high flow cat, h pipe and Magnaflow mufflers. I plan to sell it next year but thought I would like for it to have a bit more oomph. I am a bit unhappy when I do road trips with my crew. I am always far behind when they take off from a rest stop or a food stop. The crew has a couple of C6 ZR1s, a few C6 Z06s,and several C5s with some C5 Z06s sprinkled in the bunch. There are a couple of stock C4s and one or 2 straight axles.
I filled out a Comp Cam profile which listed all the specs on my 91. Told them I had plans to have some mild porting done on the heads and to install a set of McJack's stock-style headers that have been ported and ceramic coated.
I told them I would like a bit more agressive idle but did not plan to drag race or autocross it.
They came back with this:


"Ronald, it does not need a lot of camshaft. I would look at something around 08-501-8. Duration @ .050 212/218 Lift is .488/.495 with a 112 LSA. I would recommend getting the whole kit. It will come with the cam, lifters, springs, retainers, locks, seals, timing cover, and pushrods for $776. And I will cover shipping to the lower 48 states. Thanks….."

Do I really need the extras? Could I not use my existing roller lifters, push rods and timing cover? My rebuilt heads will already have new springs, locks, seals and roller tip rockers.
Kind of discouraging as I am shocked by the price. Right now I am feeling that the increased performance will not be worth the expense. I would also have to put another $1,500 into the heads and headers.
I am doing a repaint in my garage next Spring and will have to spend another $500 in materials for that. I have just under $6,000 in the car right now and might be lucky to get $8,000 out of it if the right buyer falls in love with it.

It will look nice and be a strong runner so it will probably sell if someone takes the time to come and see it.
I'm now thinking it would be better just to do the paint and leave everything elso the way it is. The extra money might just be better spent on the next Corvette.
The Guru's thoughts and input are appreciated!!!!

Since you are selling it, I would leave it alone.

If your selling the car then I agree with Matatk - Don't spend $$$ modifying the engine anymore than needed to make sure it runs well.

I'll tell you - When changing a roller cam, the factory hyd roller lifters are fine to reuse, as long as they check out good. The pushrods may need to be changed to get the rocker geometry correct, espc if changing the rocker arms. The valve springs will definitely have to be replaced but with a mild cam there are springs that will work with your stock retainers... Springs are specif to the camshaft and have to match the specs needed.... You will want a set of new hardened valve locks/keepers for piece of mind and they are cheap.

Priced out, it'd look something like this...
Camshaft - $260
Valve Springs - $46
Pushrods - $110
Valve Locks - $15

My prices came from the latest Howards Cams Catalog... If your dead set on doing this, I can provide the part numbers.
Will

I agree with Matt & Will !
If u r gonna sell it leave it alone. As Will said if u want to do a cam swap he placed u on the correct page .
Another option is to have a respectable cam grinder re-grind your cam, match it to the correct springs, and replace the valve locks. Your lifters as Will said do not need to be replaced as long as they are dissassembled , cleaned , inspected , n checked out.
Regrind cam about $60.00
Springs about $95.00
Locks about $8.00

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David, have you ever used a reground cam? I've heard some horror stories about lobes wiping out or being bad quality and eating engines Is it blown out of proportion?

Happens on new ones too cast cores
Dont spend any money on it
Even with porting the heads intake more cam etc it would pull harder up to 60 or so but those C5, 6 will still leave you. Dont think youll be happy. the TPI isnt meant for those kind of road runs

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Matt, I do use reground cams on occassion, in fact I have one in my C2. BUT, as my cam grinder says, you have to have a stout core to grind. Also I've been using the same grinder for decades and never had one of his grinds go bad.

Some interesting info. Look at the post by Mike Jones. I've always heard good things about him.

http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30401

Thanks guys.

When I did all my research years back I zero'd in on the Comp XE-268-4.

It has 114 lobe separation which is better for a smogged vehicle. This is a flat tappet so I don't know what the comparable roller would be. If you're bored though you can put a cam in my car while I finish my house remodel.

Make sure to use the Crane break in lube and/or GM EOS. Bob the oil guy says the Comp lube is fubar.