here is a good horsepower/tq question

[Visibilities]

A cam is extremely safe if done right. Plus it sounds good. Just be sure to do an oil pump too. ALSO, it would actually be safer for your VT to do a cam now because almost all AFM trains will fail before 120k.

[Moto-Mojo]

Originally Posted by Visibilities

A cam is extremely safe if done right. Plus it sounds good. Just be sure to do an oil pump too. ALSO, it would actually be safer for your VT to do a cam now because almost all AFM trains will fail before 120k.

Ok, it's time - how many people blew right past 120K miles with AFM components? I'm thinkin a LOT.

[Greenhornet2]

Agree with moto - I also don't think it is necessary to replace a low mileage oil pump. I'm not, 15k miles on mine.

[Risingson05]

Originally Posted by Visibilities

A cam is extremely safe if done right. Plus it sounds good. Just be sure to do an oil pump too. ALSO, it would actually be safer for your VT to do a cam now because almost all AFM trains will fail before 120k.

When you go and buy the oil pump don’t make the same mistake I made and go with the melling 10296 after I installed that pump on my cam install I found that my oil pressure was lower than it was at stock .when I contacted mellings is when I found out it was the wrong pumps for our 6.2 l92-99 especially with vvt as the phaser is activated by oil pressure the right pump was the mellings 10355 after I installed that my oil pressure was back to normal or better ..

Also when you go and do that cam install , i ended up ditching that cam chain tensioner thingy looked to be cheaply made and opted for the ls2 chain dampener
You will need a phaser limiter aswell if you decide you keep vvt

[Risingson05]

Originally Posted by Greenhornet2

Agree with moto - I also don't think it is necessary to replace a low mileage oil pump. I'm not, 15k miles on mine.

According to melling at high rpm past 6k I believe stock oil pumps start to aerate

[Greenhornet2]

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=201500
I didn't read fully through this but it seems it was researched pretty heavily before.

[InFiD3ViL]

Originally Posted by Moto-Mojo

Ok, it's time - how many people blew right past 120K miles with AFM components? I'm thinkin a LOT.

I made it to 153,300 with all stock AFM parts and likely would have made it a lot further. My engine failure was not related to anything AFM.

[Moto-Mojo]

Originally Posted by InFiD3ViL

I made it to 153,300 with all stock AFM parts and likely would have made it a lot further. My engine failure was not related to anything AFM.

Thx, InFiD. The notion that these AFM components, particularly on the later models, are somehow prone to blow up and leave your engine scattered on the highway, show up here like a virus. Unless you use an L99 as a pure race car, it’s a solid motor. Are there exceptions? Sure there are, as with anything mechanical.

[xXSharkfhinXx]

dynosteve turned off AFM in my tune...my car runs so much smoother especially on hwy on cruise, there is no switching..and let me tell ya, the afm wasnt doing shit to get me better gas mileage anyways....the afm actually caused drone, it was annoying...havent heard drone since Sunday when i got my custom tune from dynosteve....

someone mentioned a good lsa supercharger(used/preowned/rebuilt?) can be purchased for around 2k or little less? where does one look for these deals?

[Greenhornet2]

There are lots of afm failures. A lot. But is typically causes no damage other than a missfire. It could wipe out a cam lobe if driving continues. I can't tell you how many lifter and cam jobs we see under warranty. No not every one fails for sure.

[xXSharkfhinXx]

im confused...so the afm lifters when they fail dont cause loss of power?

when i bought my sons car, it is a 2011 eclipse gt with 60k miles on it in feb of 2018 , i made sure i got extended full bumper to bumper warranty,not 6 months later he had 9 of 12(i think these were the correct numbers) lifters had failed, could hardly drive it to get to dealer, he could barely get it to 40mph slowly lol, after warranty i paid 100 bucks to get new lifters, new catalytic converter which was fried and something else...he is fbo moded now...

[pyroguy]

Originally Posted by xXSharkfhinXx

im confused...so the afm lifters when they fail dont cause loss of power?

when i bought my sons car, it is a 2011 eclipse gt with 60k miles on it in feb of 2018 , i made sure i got extended full bumper to bumper warranty,not 6 months later he had 9 of 12(i think these were the correct numbers) lifters had failed, could hardly drive it to get to dealer, he could barely get it to 40mph slowly lol, after warranty i paid 100 bucks to get new lifters, new catalytic converter which was fried and something else...he is fbo moded now...

To answer your original question, cam or forced induction. If you do both you can be in the low to mid 600rwhp range very easily while still having a "safe" build.

As for the AFM lifters, yes it will cause a dramatic loss of power upon failure. Dramatic in the fact that you're going to be tearing into the engine to do some serious work if not replacing the whole engine. If he had a V8 then he would have 16 lifters total with 8 of them being AFM lifters. I'm shocked that he drove his car to the Chevy dealer with the engine going that badly. Actually I'm surprised he was able to get the car started and/or drive it at all.

[LCPLPunk]

Don't get stuck on the HP number...I'm at 370ish probably, but have a converter and 3.91 gears and I wager I could beat many cam-only L99s...

[InFiD3ViL]

Originally Posted by LCPLPunk

Don't get stuck on the HP number...I'm at 370ish probably, but have a converter and 3.91 gears and I wager I could beat many cam-only L99s...

Uhhhg STOP! You are making it harder to decide!

Tax return time is coming and I am debating between a cam or a converter/gears. Very close price wise, but cam I would be doing myself while converter and gears I will likely pay for labor. I would be able to get both but I have to pay my GF back some of the money from when she bought me the LS3.