This Cam any good?

Well I went and bought the 204/214 cam. $200 :eek: The cam I have now sucks. Do you know if I have to cut down the valve stems on the 87 heads?
 
It's an 87 FWD block. I think I'm gonna go with the Edelbrock cam. 204/214. I will get the head #'s from it tonight.

Woa hoss.There are 2 different blocks for fwd and three different heads. Before you go any further let's figure out what you have. The casting # I'm not used to. Start with #1. Are 2 of the exhaust ports on each head side by side or seperated?
 
Engine is 25529898



Heads are 25527515




This engine is a 3800 on center block and the intake won't work on it. This is the fourth engine design and it only had fuel injection. You should be be able to use the cam but instead you might want to go to the later roller cam like is in my 89 olds.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/hybrids/272054-lg3-3-8-turbo-century-build-pictures.html
This is a link to a serious build with a simular carrage like you have. Both use the fwd platform but yours is in the back of the car instead of the front. To use the 4.1 carb intake you need the heads I'm posting for you but it uses a different block. 83-85 I think.
 

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Charlie is right.

just use any 79-87 RWD block and heads. simple as that.

HOWEVER, I think I understand the purpose of him going with the series 2 block because it has the correct bellhousing patteren for the fiero trans.

It needs to have the 60* Bellhousing pattern.

Hmmm...........

:confused: A.j.
 
I hate to say it but you're right. The intake lines up purfectly to the heads except for the coolant lines. :( The're too big and go outside the intake boundarises.



O well looks like I'm off to pick and pull to get some heads. Their is a 3.8 with a dualjet there. They should be the right heads. I will probably need to get the valve covers too.

Their is another problem tho. I won't be able to use the headers either as the bolt pattern on the SFI heads is diffewrent for the exhaust manifold. @#&$ I'm starting to get pissed here. I think I'm gonna have to get the head coolant passages filled in or add extra material to the intake.
 
Well I think I will also get the Speed Pro Hypereutectic Pistons. They will give me 9.5:1 compression. Might as well do this all while it's all striped down. I'm pissed off about the intake tho. :mad: Need to figure out what to do. I really wanted this to be a carbed car. :mad:
 
I hate to say it but you're right. The intake lines up purfectly to the heads except for the coolant lines. :( The're too big and go outside the intake boundarises.



O well looks like I'm off to pick and pull to get some heads. Their is a 3.8 with a dualjet there. They should be the right heads. I will probably need to get the valve covers too.

Their is another problem tho. I won't be able to use the headers either as the bolt pattern on the SFI heads is diffewrent for the exhaust manifold. @#&$ I'm starting to get pissed here. I think I'm gonna have to get the head coolant passages filled in or add extra material to the intake.

Is this a pic of the heads and intake sitting on the block? The first FWD 3.8 liter were off center and the 4.1 intake will work. I think 82-85? If the heads have the rocker mounts I'm kinda pointing to then you have the right heads but you need to make sure the block measurements are the same in addition to the position of the head/intake alignment.
 
This is a 3.8 FWD LG3 (84-88) engine. It's not the 3800 that came afterwards. The heads and engine came as a combo. Intake lines up perfectly with the exeption of the coolant galeys BUT ... I have some good news. :smile: I just checked the coolant chambers in the heads and they don't go all the way through. The're just about 1 inch deep. So I can have a shop weld fill them and then it should work no problem.

Take a look at this pick again. You can see they don't go all the way through.

HPIM4589404.jpg
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:)
 
Before you go any further you need to take the heads and physically put them on the block and then see if the intake lines up on both heads. The first FWD 3.8 was off center and the only other diff from RWD was the bellhousing and the flexplate mounting flange. It's smaller. The second FWD engine GM changed the block to center the rods better on the crank, hence on center. I think you have an on center not an off center. I may be wrong but....?
 
Hey charlief1 I put the heads and intake on the block. Intake lines up perfectly so my block is off center. Only difference is a few coolant galeys need to be filled in the heads.

Before you go any further you need to take the heads and physically put them on the block and then see if the intake lines up on both heads. The first FWD 3.8 was off center and the only other diff from RWD was the bellhousing and the flexplate mounting flange. It's smaller. The second FWD engine GM changed the block to center the rods better on the crank, hence on center. I think you have an on center not an off center. I may be wrong but....?

Hey charlief1 do you know if I need to grind down the head guides in order to use the 204/214 cam with these heads?

Thanks
 
You don't grind them down. Take the heads to a machine shop and have them machined down or buy a valve guide cutter. The pic of my finger is the exhaust guide and it will be shortened by 2/3 to clear for the lift you want. The cutters cost about $60 and I've been searching for one for a while. Having them machined down shouldn't cost a lot though. I still think you would be better off with the right heads. What you're calling a water passage on the heads is an EGR passage on the intake and without welding the head and the intake you'll end up with 1) a water leak, and 2) and exhaust leak. Welding either of these will require you to have something resurfaced. I'm posting a pic of the underside of the intake. Look at the passages on the bottom. They're the EGR passages and I wish they weren't there but I don't have a TIG or a MIG to weld them up myself. I did this on another intake and put it on (believe it or not) a 76 odd fire and it worked just fine. I'll be starting the thread on modifying the 4.1 intake this weekend so you can see how to do the mods. I got one side modified today but it cots me 1/2 a days pay.:eek: No work so I was told to go home but I asked if I could do some personal work and since the boss is out of town I got away with it.:biggrin: I didn't have to pay for the electricity for the compressor.:biggrin: :eek: When you see how it's done there's not much to it really and you can use air or electric die grinder.
 

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Ues I will take the heads to a shop and have it weld the heads up and then grind them down flat. Hey I'm having problems getting the Speed Pro high compression pistons. (Summit is out of stock). Do you know what other options their is for high compression slugs? I heard 350 or 3.0 ones work but can't find much info on them. I'm looking for something around 9.5:1.

Thanks.
 
Speed Pro has stopped making certain pistons lately. The 3.0 piston will give you about 9:1 but whatever you use the rotating assembly will need to be balanced so be aware of it before you do it. The other issue will be piston to valve clearance. The pistons will probibly need to be fly cut for clearance. This needs to be done before you balance it. The entire engine needs to be assembled and clearance checked then take it apart to balance it.
 
Looks like I'm gonna stick with the 8.5:1 compression pistons I have now. I don't want to rebalance everything again. I'm looking forward to your intake porting thread. :)
 
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