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Cam too big?


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Popular Hot Rodding built an LSx and swapped the heads, cam and intake. The cam was a  230/232 - .591/.595 - 114 lobe sep.. They described it as a maxed out cam for the street.

A friend of mine tried a similar cam, a 224/232 - .590/.590 - 115 lsa in a modified LS2 and wasn't very happy with it's rough street manners.

 

I'd first look at LS1howto.com's cam section, then call some cam manufacturing tech people for their advice.

 

Steve

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Have you thought about what you WANT from your power plant? That's super important. The difference in power between a stock LS and a super-de-duper souped up L6 is just incredible! If you are going to street drive and autocross and even drag race your car, I recommend you go with a stock cam. The factory engineers have done a really good job with the LS series and a lot of times we only screw up what they have done well. With my stock cam LS2, I can lug around corners in 3rd gear with ease. I can stop momentarily at a stop sign and take off again without depressing the clutch using first gear. I can cruise at 70 in 6th gear at about 1500 rpm (tall tires). I can autocross in 2d gear if I want to try for a faster time, but I can keep the rear under me better and not exceed site-restricted dB limits by staying in 3rd and running a lower rpm. The car does 1.43 sec 60' times and runs 7.0 at 100mph in the 1/8-mile, 11.0 in the quarter at 126mph and 148mph in the standing 1/2-mile, and Im hoping to break 160 in the standing mile. It doesnt run hot and i can hot-lap 26 passes in a night without a mainenance issue. ALL WITH A STOCK CAM. As for me, I plan to spray this motor to an extra 150hp before I remove the water pump to install a bad idling cam that gets me MAYBE 70 more hp AFTER adding a FAST intake ($900), larger throttle body (?$), and cam kit ($1000 after cam, lifters, springs, retainers, pushrods-and a chance to kiss a valve with a piston). Just my 20-cents worth. Get the dang thing on the road!

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Already ordered the cam but after that post I think I will hold on to my stock cam and springs in case I decide to go back. I just wanted to put a z06 cam in it but everyone I talked to said don't waste the money and to get a good one. This swap got a little over what I had first planned. One of those while the motor is out things.

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I was watching "Bitchin' Rides" the other night when they installed a stock LS3 in a '78 Firebird. The first run on the dyno had the car at 326 HP / 326 ftlb of torque. My stock '98 LS1 does 325/326. After further adjustments they got it to 366/326 The Firebird and my car both have a T56. Thought I'd see a bit more rom the LS3, even at a stock set-up.

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I was watching "Bitchin' Rides" the other night when they installed a stock LS3 in a '78 Firebird. The first run on the dyno had the car at 326 HP / 326 ftlb of torque. My stock '98 LS1 does 325/326. After further adjustments they got it to 366/326 The Firebird and my car both have a T56. Thought I'd see a bit more rom the LS3, even at a stock set-up.

 

Was your car on the same exact dyno they used in the show? If not, the comparison is completely invalid. There are some great posts in the archives about comparing dynos, if they're not stickied they should be. I've seen as much as 50-60hp swings with the same car running on different dynos.

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Uhh - Kindig is in Salt Lake City, UT and I'm in Yakima, WA. Kinda obvious that they weren't run on the same dyne. The 366 RWHP is consistent with the GM claim of 430 flywheel HP for the LS3, though. Not sure how much GM is underrating the LS3 compared to what they did with the LS1. My sons LS1 with a cam dyno'd at 378 RWHP. Not on the same dyne though so maybe it's only 320 or so? Maybe mines only about 265? What the heck,maybe mines 380? Only thing is that both the original numbers are consistent with what LS tuners expect out of stock LS motors.

Edited by Phantom
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I was talking to someone a few weeks ago who said 2 different dynos he went to showed about 65 hp difference.There is no weights and standards type body that checks to make sure all dynos are the same. He said the mustang dyno showed lower numbers than the other. Thats why its important to use the exact same dyno if youre doing any tuning on your car.

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I was talking to someone a few weeks ago who said 2 different dynos he went to showed about 65 hp difference.There is no weights and standards type body that checks to make sure all dynos are the same. He said the mustang dyno showed lower numbers than the other. Thats why its important to use the exact same dyno if youre doing any tuning on your car.

 

And I rest my case...

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It's stock bottom end 5.7.

T56 trans

Gear ratio 3.70 lsd

99% street. Not a daily driver. Just a toy.

Stock 243 heads.

Ls6 intake

Underdrive pulls

Ls6 oil pump

Ls7 lifters

Ls2 timing chain

Monster clutch stage 2

JCI headers.

The small runners on the headers are the reason he says this cam will be the best for me.

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