Looking for a cam for my 300C SRT8. Want a good combination of power and street drive-ability. Will be combining the cam with ported intake, ported TB, CAI and of course a Predator CRM tune. No head work at this time other than new springs and titanium pushrods. Considering the following two cams: HHP/BES Stage 1 Custom 268 Camshaft: 6.1L Inertia Motorsports SRT MAX for 6.1L Comments, suggestions and alternatives welcome!
If you're going to change valve springs, then you might as well get ported heads too. Especially if you have to pay to have them installed. They add very little to the labor cost of installing the cam. What power band do you want from your cam? Josh/BES and Stu both make some great parts. I have a custom cam from Stu, but its very similar to his SRT MAX(HELL) cam. I love it!
Our local LX club has an installer that will do the cam and springs for $500. To be honest, not sure if the valve spring replacement is required but thought it was good insurance with a higher lift cam. I see ported heads going for 2 grand or more but the $ to H.P. ratio doesn't seem worth the cost as most of the 'bang' comes from the cam. Looking at the power graphs on the Inertia and HHP web sites I typically see only 10 -15 more horses on a cam only vs. cam and heads combo. I was under the impression that the 6.1 heads flow pretty well for the street. But I'm willing to listen to what you have to suggest. Mostly top end as I don't drag race -typically 50 mph+ rolls.
You're on the right track...close your eyes and throw a dart and pick whichever vendor you want to there. With your goals in mind, you'll be happy. If it was my money, Stu would get it, just because of the personal things that guy has done for me over the past 4 years. Stand up guy all around. Great products and service, a very large contributor to us, you could say he is the Godfather of the aftermarket for the LX platform.
go for HHP stage 2 .... you will like it trust me my dyno with this cam 445rwhp/430rwtq just with cai, kooks headers, slp pully, cmr tune
