Help me with my cam choice

[ny2ss/rs]

I just got my car back from super street on long island NY and I had them install Jre 470 can package as well kooks full exhaust under drive pully cold air intake convert to E85 and tune .. I got 483 rwhp 453 tq car sounds and great and drive great no problem except you need to watch when you drive very slow in parking lots.

[VanquisherSS]

Guys down at ECS can take care of you. I too wanted that chop so I had them put in their devil cam package. Makes great power, and drives very well all things considered. Parking lots are bit more clutch work but nothing that isn't liveable.

http://youtu.be/NbOPsb21g4Q

[Bay Area SS]

Get the biggest cam you can, trust me dont waste the money and then wish you wanted a bigger cam. Texas Speed is a great value and good quality, Ive got no complaints. For the complete cam package from TSP, install and dyno tune was about 2K for me. Put down 455 and it sounds killer.

[JANNETTYRACING]

Originally Posted by jtvst4

Jannetty Racing 470 kit ! Huge power with great driveability. Customer service is top notch.

Originally Posted by ny2ss/rs

I just got my car back from super street on long island NY and I had them install Jre 470 can package as well kooks full exhaust under drive pully cold air intake convert to E85 and tune .. I got 483 rwhp 453 tq car sounds and great and drive great no problem except you need to watch when you drive very slow in parking lots.

Thanks Guys and Congrats on Great Numbers on E-85.

Ted.

[SSDan]

Originally Posted by Bay Area SS

Get the biggest cam you can, trust me dont waste the money and then wish you wanted a bigger cam. Texas Speed is a great value and good quality, Ive got no complaints. For the complete cam package from TSP, install and dyno tune was about 2K for me. Put down 455 and it sounds killer.

Well - maybe not the biggest cam you can get if is mostly going to be a street car instead of a dedicated 1/4 mile car. Really big cams push all the power to the top of the rpm range and tend to be soft down low ( below 3.5 k rpm). For most of us we will miss that low end punch if it is too soft down low. I went with a cam package that makes hp and tq increases all the way across the rpm range. Here is the dyno chart that shows the gains under the curve. While I didn't get the max hp that many others quote - I got increased and useful on the street hp and tq whether at 3000 rpm or at 6500 rpm.

[John@cartek]

We can help you with a cam choice and give you a custom dyno tune. We have been doing cam only builds for a long time on the LS engine

[Anthony @ LG Motorsports]

Originally Posted by GLBL WMR

1. What should I be expecting when it comes to long-term reliability of the engine and drivetrain as a whole with a more aggressive cam? This will still be my daily driver in-season and I do not want to throw the reliability of the LS3 out the window. It will probably never see the track and I take it relatively easy on it. You need to speak to the shop(s) about their cams and what they suggest. Some of the cams may go a long time with no parts needing to be replaced others may require a valve spring change every 10k miles. Our G6X3 cam for example is a very aggressive cam and will require more frequent changes than say our G6X1

2. What extra maintenance will be required? Assuming I err on the side of caution and actually change the springs (looks like most people don't), what cost should I expect for parts and labor and how often?Again you will have to make sure the springs are matched to your cam. We use a Comp 921 dual spring and the set will run you just under $500 for the springs and we charge $250 to do it. Again different shops will suggest different springs. We have done years and years of testing in our own cars as well as with Comp Cams to know how the spring is going to perform and to make sure you have a quality spring that is built to last as long as possible.

3. Is the extra cost of having somebody custom grind something worth it? Depends on who it is....you could have Joey's Gas station order a 'custom' camshaft but have they done testing or just ran some numbers through a online test calculator? It takes years of experience and testing to know how a cam is going to perform.

4. Aside from requiring a little more attention at slow speeds (ex: parking lots), what driveability issues am I going to encounter with a cam this big?

5. Is there a Camaro5 reputable shop somewhere close to eastern PA that somebody could recommend?We have a number of dealers around the country that can do the install

6. Lastly, what cam specs do you think I should be looking for? There is way more to a cam than specs on duration and lift. While that does tell you part of the story it does nothing to say about the actual design of the cam lobe

Thanks for the help...

See the quick answers above in bold.


There is a lot to picking the right camshaft for a car, and more importantly the owner of the car. Far to often I see someone that reads online about this one cam and what it does and they think it is the only cam for that car. I have customers even buying some of ours and get the biggest cam we make and then find out it doesn't drive like stock...

We always like to talk to the customer first hand if we can and figure out how they drive the car, and what exactly they are looking for, and it sounds like you have a good grasp on how you want it to drive....now we just need to figure out what you want for power and how to get it there....might take more than just a cam.

[Mr. Unassailable]

JRE 470 kit here also. Purchased ofcourse from Jannetty, installed myself.

As mentioned before, you just need to be aware of what you are getting into when it comes to driving slow (parking lots).

Originally Posted by jtvst4

Jannetty Racing 470 kit ! Huge power with great driveability. Customer service is top notch.

[GLBL WMR]

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to start reaching out to some shops. I'm under no illusions about what driving with a bigger cam is like. I had a '89 5.0 Stang with a larger cam and I had no problems managing it at slower speeds. I was just curious if there was any driveability issue that is out of the ordinary with camming the LS3 that I should be looking out for.

[JANNETTYRACING]

Originally Posted by GLBL WMR

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to start reaching out to some shops. I'm under no illusions about what driving with a bigger cam is like. I had a '89 5.0 Stang with a larger cam and I had no problems managing it at slower speeds. I was just curious if there was any driveability issue that is out of the ordinary with camming the LS3 that I should be looking out for.

It is all in the Tune My Friend, When purchasing Parts from me Custom Tunes for those parts are Free via the SCT X3

Ted.

[Maxspeed]

Originally Posted by ny2ss/rs

I just got my car back from super street on long island NY and I had them install Jre 470 can package as well kooks full exhaust under drive pully cold air intake convert to E85 and tune .. I got 483 rwhp 453 tq car sounds and great and drive great no problem except you need to watch when you drive very slow in parking lots.

Why, what happens?

[1sikRS]

Two words ...... Nite fury lol

[Maxspeed]

[Bell040]

Originally Posted by GLBL WMR

....

1. What should I be expecting when it comes to long-term reliability of the engine and drive-train as a whole with a more aggressive cam? This will still be my daily driver in-season and I do not want to throw the reliability of the LS3 out the window. It will probably never see the track and I take it relatively easy on it.

2. What extra maintenance will be required? Assuming I err on the side of caution and actually change the springs (looks like most people don't), what cost should I expect for parts and labor and how often?

3. Is the extra cost of having somebody custom grind something worth it?

4. Aside from requiring a little more attention at slow speeds (ex: parking lots), what drive ability issues am I going to encounter with a cam this big?

5. Is there a Camaro5 reputable shop somewhere close to eastern PA that somebody could recommend?

6. Lastly, what cam specs do you think I should be looking for?

Thanks for the help...

1. and 2. high stiffness springs put more load on the valve-train... consider keeping the lift in a range for LS3 or LS7 springs if you are worried about it. If not, just plan to change your springs every few years.

3. Who charges extra to custom grind a cam? Lunati doesn't.

4. hunting for idle sometimes, low rpm surging, ... no biggies

5. ??

6. think "overlap" instead of lift, duration and LSA. Overlap determines most of the characteristics. It can sound great and have great HP gains with low lift, high duration.

read this: http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...son/index.html