Rockers vs Cam is all dependent on what you're end goal is.

As I understand, some times you can use rockers in place of an aftermarket cam (as they are easier to swap then a cam). But I am far from a master with understanding cams and all the math behind what's going on with how they affect valve timing.

 

Cam, by a long shot. However, if you're only going to mod just a little bit, then your gains from a cam won't be near as much as if you went all out. All rockers do is make the engine act like the cam has a bigger lift then it actually does, but with a different cam you can control not just how much lift you have, but also how long each valve is open.

Basically speaking, rockers control:

Lift

A cam controls:

Lift
Duration
Centerline
Lobe Seperation Angle

 

Disagree here. 1.9 modded stockers can generally be had for cheaper, and typcially don't require you to upgrade springs- assuming you aren't upping the rev limit, and your springs aren't worn out. This makes them a nice, simple, inexpensive upgrade.

That's why I would avoid doing 1.9 rollers and having to upgrade springs if possible, you're adding a lot of extra work for little benefit by having to swap chains out.

1.7s are a waste of time and money IMO. On a stock cam, you're not going to gain enough power to make it worth all that money.

And if you start getting that far into it- you need to at least consider a top swap. Sure it's a good deal of work- but you're going to be easily spending the money for a top swap between headers, TB, ported LIM, CAI, etc- and you're still going to barely be able to keep up with a stock L67 on the street. Not saying its not worth modding at all- you just have to watch how much money you're dumping into it- and what your ultimate goals are.

Agreed- I don't see it being worth the wear and tear anyways to rev it that high- just for a couple extra horsepower.

A cam is, for sure. With rockers, you are only able to change one aspect of the cam's profile- it's lift. By changing the whole cam- you can change the lift, as well as when the valves open and close- as well as a few other variables.

The only real benefit to rockers is ease of install. A cam in these FWD cars is really a pain to remove compared to just removing a few brackets, the valve covers- and swapping rockers out.

 

So by buying a cam from zzp for instance id have to by new lifters and valve springs and all that as well??

 

You don't have to buy new lifters.

As far as the valve springs are concerned, it would depend on which cam you buy as to whether or not you would need new valve springs. If you do need new valve springs, you would then need to figure out which valve springs to get. Do you need 90# springs, 105#, 130#, etc. After that, you then need to decide if you need stronger springs for you intake valve compared to your exhaust valves. Some people have installed 130# springs on the intake valves while their exhaust valves had 90# springs installed. It all depends on the build.

 

This is so confusin lol but i wanna learn everything about my Monte and how to make her a monster. Im shooting for 340 to the wheels slowly but surely lol

 

The easiest/quickest/safest/arguably cheapest way to do that is to forget the s/c and go with a t/c. You're going to spend a lot of money on a s/c build to make 340hp at the wheels.

 

Really? I keep hearing turbos are alot better but Idk i love the whine lol and a turbo automatic doesn't sound rite in my opinion but yea i kno ur rite turbos are the way to go for power output

 

Found a top swap kit on craigslist for 300 bucks. After reading about the N/A tunes I think this is the way to go.

 

Anything is better then doing an NA build, lol. Doing a top swap by yourself is the best bang for your buck if you don't plan on doing a sub 12 second build.