A cam comes later on in the build process. I may go with a mild cam and keep the stock heads route on my car over the winter if the financials go right. Keep in mind if I go the cam route I will be buying laptop tuning software to insure the cam is worth the investment and I can modify the PCM myself....Rockers are an easier option. Out of every car that raced at the track in oregon last month, none of the cars had anything but a stock cam. Several guys like your nieghbor (sorta) up in Boise ran mid 13s with a stock cam and stock heads. Its very easy to put your car in the mid 13s with just a pulley, headers, rockers, springs, PCM, and lighter pushrods. Mid 13s is right around most modern camaros, firebirds, corvettes, etc....Intense-Racing.com makes it easier to understand with their pre-made performance packages but there are several Vendors out there like zzperformance, w-body store, etc that sell parts for these. But follow the others advice before you get anything else, that would be to get a scantool or a least a scan gauge that tells you the parameters of your engine so you can insure its running as best as it can be.

Headers, Rockers, and supporting mods will cost you between 1-2 grand then you need to make sure your transmission is up to par. With that route you dont need to tear the engine apart very much and you can gain another 50-100hp over stock.

We are having a huge mod day near boise on september 1st, we will have around 10 cars (bonnevilles, grand prix, regal) with varying degree of stuff done to them from stock to a low 13 second car. I believe the plan was to install headers/pcm/pulley on one car and headers on another. http://www.boiseclubgp.com probably a 4 hour drive from you....

I don't agree with a cam being further into the build process. Having put one into my car... my experience is that a cam is lower cost but more labor. If you have a weekend and want to save money (do labor yourself) over rockers.. a cam is the way to go. Rockers are a cousin to the cam in that they overstate the current cam lobe to open the valves longer. Whereas a cam changes the profile of the intake and exhaust valves opening/closing.

Many go with rockers because they are easier than installing a cam.

Both are power adders and in either situation the tuning software comes into play. There is power to be harvested from tuning alone and each performance piece you add on increases your potential with a tuner.

I took an interesting approach to making my car faster. I started with general maintenance, improved the handling and braking, beefed up the transmission and then added the power to the motor.

Going fast means nothing if your car doesn't handle and stop. The various forums are full of these stories about someone spending tons to go fast and then crash the car.

Adding power to your motor doesn't help if you can't get that power to the tires. If your transmission won't handle what you try and put through it.. then you are only trying to damage the transmission.

Having all systems up to par or better and getting it all together and running right. Priceless.