Suggestions for Cam supplier

[John L]

I have a 2005 and I am thinking about doing a cam on it. The car currently has Belanger headers, HF cats, and 3" catback, a BBK throttle body, 170 degree thermostat, and a tune from Torrie at Unleashed tuning. Any suggestions on where I can get a cam for it? I think if doing the cam, I'd have to upgrade the valve springs and lifters. Is there anything else that would have to be done? I don't have a specific goal in terms of power but some more power while maintaining drivability on the street as well as for any lapping days I do.

Thanks,

[TKO MOTORSPORTS TEAM]

I have a 2005 and I am thinking about doing a cam on it. The car currently has Belanger headers, HF cats, and 3" catback, a BBK throttle body, 170 degree thermostat, and a tune from Torrie at Unleashed tuning. Any suggestions on where I can get a cam for it? I think if doing the cam, I'd have to upgrade the valve springs and lifters. Is there anything else that would have to be done? I don't have a specific goal in terms of power but some more power while maintaining drivability on the street as well as for any lapping days I do.

Thanks,

Talk to Kevin at exotic engines. ksingleton8384@gmail.com

[Aevus]

I have a 2005 and I am thinking about doing a cam on it. The car currently has Belanger headers, HF cats, and 3" catback, a BBK throttle body, 170 degree thermostat, and a tune from Torrie at Unleashed tuning. Any suggestions on where I can get a cam for it? I think if doing the cam, I'd have to upgrade the valve springs and lifters. Is there anything else that would have to be done? I don't have a specific goal in terms of power but some more power while maintaining drivability on the street as well as for any lapping days I do.

Thanks,

I have a '05 too and back in 2021 I ordered a cam that is very similar to Roe Racing (now closed) 710R. Brand new, uninstalled. Finally went with something more agressive for 7krpm (don't go there lol)

PM if interested

[Aevus]

to answer your first question, you can order directly from Compcams. They are not much help to decide which specs (they obviously don't want to spend time on that) but once you know exactly what you want, they produce and ship very quickly, even in Covid time...

Now, since you basically have the same car and modif I had in 2021, here is few tips:

DON'T track the car unless you have an upgraded swing arm oil pan. I blew my engine after 3 laps.

If you plan to keep your stock gen 3 heads, no need to get an agressive cam. Chances are high the heads will be your first bottleneck.

http://www.speedstore.ca/VP3_flow_sheet.html

Anything north of 0.600'' lift on stock gen 3 heads is a waste, as you can see on the graph. No need to stress the valvetrain more than needed.

Speaking of the valvetrain, go with conical springs (Compcams as well) and 3/8'' 0.080'' rods.
Ordered my ceramic lifters from Prefix but I think gen 2 lifters would be sufficient with a mild cam w/limiter around 6,300-ish.

As for the cam specs, I'd stay between 10 and 20 deg overlap and moderate lift (0.560-.600) but your engine builder may recommend you otherwise.


EDIT:

here is some dyno graphs to help you see the impact from the cam on torque/hp curve:

https://www.compcams.com/dyno-graphs

what you're looking for is probably something between the 276HR and 288HR (adapted for the Viper 8.3L of course)

[John L]

to answer your first question, you can order directly from Compcams. They are not much help to decide which specs (they obviously don't want to spend time on that) but once you know exactly what you want, they produce and ship very quickly, even in Covid time...

Now, since you basically have the same car and modif I had in 2021, here is few tips:

DON'T track the car unless you have an upgraded swing arm oil pan. I blew my engine after 3 laps.

If you plan to keep your stock gen 3 heads, no need to get an agressive cam. Chances are high the heads will be your first bottleneck.

http://www.speedstore.ca/VP3_flow_sheet.html

Anything north of 0.600'' lift on stock gen 3 heads is a waste, as you can see on the graph. No need to stress the valvetrain more than needed.

Speaking of the valvetrain, go with conical springs (Compcams as well) and 3/8'' 0.080'' rods.
Ordered my ceramic lifters from Prefix but I think gen 2 lifters would be sufficient with a mild cam w/limiter around 6,300-ish.

As for the cam specs, I'd stay between 10 and 20 deg overlap and moderate lift (0.560-.600) but your engine builder may recommend you otherwise.


EDIT:

here is some dyno graphs to help you see the impact from the cam on torque/hp curve:

https://www.compcams.com/dyno-graphs

what you're looking for is probably something between the 276HR and 288HR (adapted for the Viper 8.3L of course)

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole I want to go (doing cam, might as well do heads... doing heads, might as well.....). I have tracked my car twice with no issues, although I don't run it too hard, it's more so just a chance to have fun without worrying about getting tickets.

[John L]

DON'T track the car unless you have an upgraded swing arm oil pan. I blew my engine after 3 laps.

Do you know of a good source for the oil pan?

[TKO MOTORSPORTS TEAM]

Do you know of a good source for the oil pan?

You don't really need a roaming pick pan. If your just doing open track days 20 min sessions and having fun you can use the old race trick ( aka: Bondurant trick) add extra quart of oil. Short 20 min sessions oil aeration is not a significant problem. We have a few customers who track their street vipers and are not ready to install one of our dry sump systems they use the Bondurant trick.
In the future if you decide to compete in a racing series or long open test days then a TKO dry sump system or exotic engines external oil pump system is a much better option then roaming pick up pan.

[Aevus]

I have tracked my car twice with no issues, although I don't run it too hard

Maybe I ran my Viper a bit harder than I remember, for sure I was taking corners faster than I was with my 981GTS, which, alone, surprised me a lot.

(same track)

https://youtu.be/yYtQEiX7iyA?t=44


...until, boom, the little noise you never want to hear...
I blew two Viper engines (the other one not on track and not oil-related) so I'm a bit more cautious now

[TKO MOTORSPORTS TEAM]

Maybe I ran my Viper a bit harder than I remember, for sure I was taking corners faster than I was with my 981GTS, which, alone, surprised me a lot.

(same track)

https://youtu.be/yYtQEiX7iyA?t=44


...until, boom, the little noise you never want to hear...
I blew two Viper engines (the other one not on track and not oil-related) so I'm a bit more cautious now

We have had problems with stock hyd valve train not holding up under heavy track use. Factory hyd valve train is reliable to about 6800rpm max on a good day. Above 7000 it gets really, really dicey one missed down shift is all it really takes sometimes and the extra qt of oil wot really help you in this case.
One of the best mods you can do if your building a reliable track/street viper is goto solid lifters. Pro and cons of course but definitely worth the extra effort and performance gain.

[Aevus]

Do you know of a good source for the oil pan?

Bought mine from Dan Lesser (Compe coupe) but I think Jon B can supply you with one from a gen 4

[Old School]

Are you going to do the work yourself?

[John L]

Are you going to do the work yourself?

Not going to do the work myself. I run a dealership and would have one of my technicians do it.

[Aevus]

depends on the track I guess, because I blew my engine in less than 20 min, and I had the extra quart, maybe even 1.5 extra...

racier suspension than stock at the time and sticky tires (A052/ACR) but nothing special really...

[99RT10]

I have a modified swing arm and oil pan for the Gen 3 for sale. It is a must on all Gen 3s. PM me