[NA18CamaroSS]

We finally got around to putting a cam into our 2018 Camaro SS. Took the car to the dyno to dial it in and see what kind of gains the cam gave us. Prior to the cam install the car put down 535 HP on the Dynapack hub dyno, which netted us just shy of 500 WHP on a Dynojet. We installed the BTR 220 cam with the 4 degree cam gear limiter and set the cam timing to BTR specs ( spec card included with the cam). Today the car put down 586 HP on the Dynapack. The car lost a significan amount of power below 3200 RPM, but had a nice bump at 3500, and really started to outperform the stock cam above 5000 RPM. The gain peak to peak was just north of 50 HP, and slightly more than 70 HP at 6,500 RPM.
The mod list for the motor are as follows: Rotofab dry intake, Nick Williams 103 MM throttle body, MSD Atomic intake manifold ported by Pray Performance, Pray stage 1 ported heads, BTR valve springs and retainers, GM Delphi lifters, BTR hardened push rods, Kooks 1 7/8" headers into a Flowmaster Scavenger series 3" exhaust and stock NPP muffler. Motor is tuned on E85-about 82% ethanol content here on the West Coast. Bottom end is bone stock and untouched. We set the rev limiter to 7,000 RPM as the power is starting to fall off after 6,400 RPM and there is no need to spin it any higher than 7k. graph attached.

[s346k]

did the car have the ported heads beforehand?

[GreyGhost702]

Edit: I may be confused here, one graph the left bar is reading torque x rpm, the other is displaying HP x rpm?

Edit 2: Going to retract my previous post, I understand how the graph is being presented now. I thought they were side by sides but they are overlaid lol. 235wtq loss on a cam swap would have been an epic kick in the teeth, though! It’s still a substantial loss of torque for a cam swap, I would run it by BTR and see if they could offer insight. As 346 was questioning as well, I wonder if the port job on the heads increased volume so much it lost some velocity on the low end? Typically the balance makes up for it on the top. Given the available flow potential, I would have expected the BTR220 to carry to 6800rpm at least, especially with a ported MSD IM, but it does appear to be falling off early. Still may be worth giving BTR a call.

Most importantly, if it performs and you’re happy with the car, that’s all there is to it.

[NA18CamaroSS]

Originally Posted by s346k

did the car have the ported heads beforehand?

Yes. There is a post about the gains from the heads here : https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=615766
This dyno plot is a straight up comparison between the stock cam and the BTR 220, on this motor with the mods listed.
Not sure what the second poster is talking about-the BTR cam performed exactly as expected and as advertised. The only reason I might contact BTR is to thank them for manufacturing a cam that delivers on its promise.
This car has been modded with a specific set of goals in mind. Every mod was tested on the dyno. The over all goal was to maximize horsepower gains, while maintaining reliability and streetability. We did not want to necessitate raising the rev limiter to 7,500 or to build the bottom end. If we had gone another way, say all out drag motor, we would have gone with a bigger cam and a high ram intake manifold and perhaps a stroker motor.
After all is said and done, the motor is making ~ 150 WHP more than it did in stock form. The car is civilized on the street and is a beast when you mash the throttle.

[GreyGhost702]

Originally Posted by NA18CamaroSS

Yes. There is a post about the gains from the heads here : https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=615766
This dyno plot is a straight up comparison between the stock cam and the BTR 220, on this motor with the mods listed.
Not sure what the second poster is talking about-the BTR cam performed exactly as expected and as advertised. The only reason I might contact BTR is to thank them for manufacturing a cam that delivers on its promise.
This car has been modded with a specific set of goals in mind. Every mod was tested on the dyno. The over all goal was to maximize horsepower gains, while maintaining reliability and streetability. We did not want to necessitate raising the rev limiter to 7,500 or to build the bottom end. If we had gone another way, say all out drag motor, we would have gone with a bigger cam and a high ram intake manifold and perhaps a stroker motor.
After all is said and done, the motor is making ~ 150 WHP more than it did in stock form. The car is civilized on the street and is a beast when you mash the throttle.

I initially misread the graph, thinking you took a 235wtq hit swapping the cam, which would have been eye bleeding. Once I understood they were overlaid and not side by side, it appears to be about a 50wtq loss on the initial hit and 50whp gain peak to peak. Wasn’t sure if you were implying disappointment when you said the loss was substantial, which is why I was suggesting to talk to BTR since they would have a lot of experience with their cam and various combos. Clearly that’s not the case, and it is a solid build. Personally, I really appreciate you sharing your data, so many post their numbers but don’t show Dyno graphs so you can see what they are making everywhere other than peak power. No offense ever intended.

[Tim M]

Love the factual upgrade post! Well done! Need an idle sound clip...

[NA18CamaroSS]

Originally Posted by Tim M

Need an idle sound clip...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QvPVatbhhgg

[BSV-CamaroSS]

Great job! I have the BTR 220 cam, MSD intake right now. Your build is pretty close to what I am going to do to mine. Gives me a pretty good idea what to expect. I have to finish the Trans Am's new motor before I start on my 23 1LE though.

[6spdhyperblue]

Nice. Guessing you threw in more timing under 3200?

[Joey Soul]

Nice i did a similar comparison with the 225 cam and no e85. Their cams perform exactly as advertised. I do take it up to 7500 for road course but the power tips off around 7100-7200
https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624256

[Dynamical]

Nice gains and street car. I really like the documented mod history of your car and I looked back in that history all the way until now. My question is at what point did you decide to go back to long tube headers? I saw in the past you were pretty convinced that you lost power with the old ARH catless setup so you reinstalled the stock manifolds with cat deletes. Do you still believe to this day that the old header setup legit lost power or was there something else wrong at that time? Also, is your current Kooks headers catless?

[Sillysspeed]

Nice! Thank you