I currently have a Northstar engine sitting by my Fiero in the laboratory, waiting for me to get some money to timeserts the heads (stupid kit costing over $300, grrrr). I believe it is a Vin Y motor, since it cam out of a 1998 Deville. Right now I'm putting the CHRfab camshaft idea on hold because I want to put the engine in as soon as possible. My question is that can I just swap the cams from a Vin 9 motor with the VIN Y motor and get that magical 300hp instead of the 275hp my engine is rated at now?

Just swap the intake cams and you have a 300hp N*...

Note that I think the valve springs are slightly different too. Probably not worth changing them for an extra 200 rpm.

I could be wrong (won't be a first), but I recall reading somewhere that while the VIN-Y N* has 25HP less than the VIN-9, the VIN-Y benefits by having more torque. If true, you should feel more "oomph" with the VIN-Y engine. Is what I'm putting in mine.

If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me.

The Y only has 10 more ft lbs of torque than the 9 and it makes it's power lower in the rpm range. With ryans computer and headers my Vin 9 motor put down 300 ft lbs at the wheels so i dont think an extra 10 ft lbs would be worth the lost 25hp.

Yeah, I'm not too worried about losing torque. Hopefully I can get my hands on a set of cams from a Vin 9 engine. Do you guys know the redline for a N*?

6500 VIN Y
6700 VIN 9

I have driven many different caddys with these motors, and you know from the seat-of-the-pants o-meter the difference the 9 motor makes. It is a suttle but much appreciated difference.

I guess I should go ask the dudes at the cadillac forums to see what it required. An ~25hp gain for an inexpensive mod like that is just what I'm looking for.

The valvesprings ARE different and I think the redline is 6400 for the LD8's. However, you should be able to use the LD8 springs with the L37 intake cams without issue as long as you NEVER exceed 6400 RPM. The extra 300 RPM would come in handy, however, since the L37 makes peak power at 6000 RPM and the LD8 makes it at 5200.

What I'd like to do is put L37 intake cams in the exhaust locations on an L37. This should just require redrilling the cam sprockets and parting the w/p drive off the left bank cam.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 12-07-2006).]