Hydraulic Roller Cam - Wake Up 'Stick

Saying the 113 LSA works well with nitrous--and that the whole cam worked wonders on our combo--would be a massive understatement. The nitrous runs improved, as you might expect, as we came up with 38 more ponies and another 33 lb-ft on the squeeze. We can also tell you the numbers on the motor: 42 extra horsepower at almost identical rpm levels, all the while still picking up 13 lb-ft of torque. But look at the graphs, at how somewhere near 4,250 rpm the curves diverge, the newer cam continuing north as the older 'stick falls off. And to hear Cervantes tell it, you can feel it where it counts: "When you're on the street, you just give it the gas, and the power is already there," he told us. The power is all the way across the rpm range--and that's a good thing, indeed. But it gets even better, since this wake-up 'stick sliced 0.5 second off this Nova's e.t. and added another 4 mph to its trap speed. We won't say this cam is for everyone--it's not, of course--but the whole exercise vividly demonstrates why it pays to spell out your exact goals and seek expert camshaft help to achieve them.

Mission accomplished. Time to go shopping for a rollcage.

The Real WorldWe can tell you it's harder to swap a cam in a car than on the engine dyno, but you already know that, and a picture's worth a thousand words, right? In that vein, we bring you this telling shot of '69 Nova owner Pete Cervantes pushing down on his front bumper--and puttin' some weight behind it, we might add--so that Westech's Ernie Mena could just slip the old cam past and out of the engine bay. It definitely takes more time and effort to swap cams on an engine that's in a car, but that rear-wheel payoff is certainly sweet--as are the lessons learned by taking a real-world street/strip car and subjecting it to before and after testing. We hope you agree, and we want to thank Mena, Steve Brul, and the rest of the Westech crew for making this project possible.

Quick Notes
What we Did
Swap the hydraulic flat-tappet cam in a 383 stroker for a much more aggressive hydraulic roller cam

Bottom Line
This newly free-revving small-block makes more power everywhere.

Cost (approx)
$1,670

383 STROKER SPECS