I'm not planning on revving over 6000 anytime soon. I'm getting the 3.4" MPS when I get a few extra bucks from tax returns, and maybe I'll go with ported manifolds if I can find some place to do them. (Is ZZP still on backorder for them?)

After that, well see. I really really want to get a nice cam setup, but it really seems extreme right now.

I'll probably end up doing rockers, it seems the most logical path to go after the pulley.

A year ago I would have agreed with you on the rockers. Now, I wish I would have saved myself 500.00 and just done the cam because I ended up doing it anyway. If you plan on continuing to mod the car the cam is the way to go. If your going to do it a little at a time over a long period then rockers will work great for you. You'll enjoy both in their time, its just money

Ha, just money...

Maybe I'll follow in dbtk2'* dad'* car'* footsteps. He'* running low 12'* on a stock cam I believe. That is something to shoot for.

A cam will give more % of increase on a N/A car compared to a boosted car, turbo or what not. Infact radical Racing N/A cams sometimes are too much for Boosted race cars.

The 3800 aftermarket is basically 90% for L67'* though. I'm takling abuot basic engine theory, I was reading up in a few 2004 year books my buddy picked up at the Car craft show in st paul this year Because the boost will get in there no matter what under that pressure.

N/A needs all the help it can get. If you want HUGE power you'll need a cam and Heads.

Maybe heads?

IF you compare an N/A motor with no KR to a boosted motor with no KR then the cam may be more beneficial to the N/A motor. However, a boosted motor will more then likely have some boost stacking or heat buildup leading to KR that a cam will relieve. In this case, not only will the boosted motor gain the benefits of the cam'* design, you will also free up tied up HP (due to PCM timing pull) and may even allow for more boost while maintaing no or low KR. In this aspect a cam can be a more beneficial to a boosted motor than an N/A motor.

You can try WPI (Winterhalter Performance?). The GP guy who ported my mani'* sent all the ones he had to them. He said that they even improved a little bit on porting, and after comparing my stock to his ported it'* hard to see where they could have.
Best bang for your buck would probably be a cam. But it'* your money and your car, do what you can.

Cam would be sweet, but tearing apart the engine wouldn't.

My father is a master auto mechanic. There would be no issues during the install if he was working on it. However, after thinking about it, I realize I don't wanna dig in to my enigine right away. Well see what the future holds.

point of clarification...

you either do a cam or rockers, right? high ratio rockers and high ratio (or whatever its called) cam don't mix? and why would you use adjustable rockers with a different cam as opposed to non-adjustable?

You can do both if you have head work done. The problem with a cam and large ratio rockers (such as 1.9) is the lift of both stack and will cause the rockers to hit the tops of the valve covers. With head work you can use a cam and 1.7'* together. Adjustable rockers are used so you can keep the stock sized pushrods and adjust the rockers to fit the cam lobes on agressive cams, otherwise you would have to buy custom sized rods to fit your cam.

Actually the INTENSE S1 cam (not the S1X) mated with 1.75:1 rockers is a pretty impressive combination. The cam lobes coupled with the higher ratio rockers gives a very quick valve opening with good torque characteristics.

This combination is not popular anymore because of the combined cost of the cam and rockers, also because of more choices of cam grinds...but it has powered cars into the 12s and is very impressive on the street.

Using high ratio rockers on cams with more aggressive profiles than the S1 will require head and valve guide work. On that basis, people tend to do custom cam grind profiles and save the expense of rockers to obtain the profile and characteristcs they're looking for.

Cheers,