Cam Selection for 98 TA with stock ls1!!
#1
Teching In
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Westchester
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Cam Selection for 98 TA with stock ls1!!
Ok, so my Trans Am is bone stock and want to put a cam in it. Im waiting for spring time to do the swap because its to cold and my car is not going to be driven much. But when the spring comes I want to do a Cam, ORY, Exhaust, and Headers. Ive been thinking about Pacesetter Lt's, TSP ORY, and either TSP Rumbler CB or SLP Loudmouth 1 CB. Which Exhaust is better between those two? The cam stumps me. Im looking for a very aggresive and loud idle but i dont want to buy aftermarket heads. What is the biggest and most aggressive cam i can put in without going to aftermarket heads? Any help would be much appreciated!
#2
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (24)
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Plano, TX
Posts: 731
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You are going to get 100 different answers on your cam question. Best thing to do is figure out how you want to use the car and how it sounds. Look at youtube videos and other's track times and see what you like. Depends on if you are auto or six speed also. If auto, decide how much gear you are willing to run and stall you want to run. Either way, you will get different opinions on that. I had three different cams spec'd and ended up going a different route, so I know what you are going through. A very aggresive sounding cam will hurt the performance because it will most likely lower the compression with the low LSA and be very close on ptv.
#3
TECH Senior Member
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Howell & Fenton MI
Posts: 11,145
Likes: 0
Received 16 Likes
on
16 Posts
Well as you can see by the mods in my signature, I have the long tubes, ORY, and SLP LM 1 setup with my HCI build. Let me tell...if you like LOUD then you will love it lol, but make no mistake it is very raspy at times At idle and WOT it sounds incredible, but it's that part throttle stuff that you might not like
#4
Teching In
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Westchester
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well as you can see by the mods in my signature, I have the long tubes, ORY, and SLP LM 1 setup with my HCI build. Let me tell...if you like LOUD then you will love it lol, but make no mistake it is very raspy at times At idle and WOT it sounds incredible, but it's that part throttle stuff that you might not like
You are going to get 100 different answers on your cam question. Best thing to do is figure out how you want to use the car and how it sounds. Look at youtube videos and other's track times and see what you like. Depends on if you are auto or six speed also. If auto, decide how much gear you are willing to run and stall you want to run. Either way, you will get different opinions on that. I had three different cams spec'd and ended up going a different route, so I know what you are going through. A very aggresive sounding cam will hurt the performance because it will most likely lower the compression with the low LSA and be very close on ptv.
#5
TECH Senior Member
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Howell & Fenton MI
Posts: 11,145
Likes: 0
Received 16 Likes
on
16 Posts
Overall...not really lol. Like I said it sounds like an animal at idle and WOT, but that's only a very small amount of total drive time. Yes there is definite drone at certain rpms on the highway, but it's not something that can't be controlled
#6
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (24)
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Plano, TX
Posts: 731
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Mines a six speed and im not much a a track person. Its really for driving on nice days and getting a real mean sound. Could I run something like either of the Magic Stick cams or the Torquer v2 or v3 with stock heads and a double spring kit?[/QUOTE]
With a six speed and a big cam, it would not be fun to drive around town. The torquer V2 should do good. Call TSP and see what they say about the LSA. Best to get a custom cam that's tailored to what you want. When I first got my cam spec'd I wanted the same thing you wanted. These are the specs I had.
230/230 .600"/.609" 111+4 LSA (This one was spec'd with stock 241's in mind)
226/230 .598/.609" 112LSA +4
231/238 .617"/.585" 113+3
With a six speed and a big cam, it would not be fun to drive around town. The torquer V2 should do good. Call TSP and see what they say about the LSA. Best to get a custom cam that's tailored to what you want. When I first got my cam spec'd I wanted the same thing you wanted. These are the specs I had.
230/230 .600"/.609" 111+4 LSA (This one was spec'd with stock 241's in mind)
226/230 .598/.609" 112LSA +4
231/238 .617"/.585" 113+3
#7
Teching In
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Westchester
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
With a six speed and a big cam, it would not be fun to drive around town. The torquer V2 should do good. Call TSP and see what they say about the LSA. Best to get a custom cam that's tailored to what you want. When I first got my cam spec'd I wanted the same thing you wanted. These are the specs I had.
230/230 .600"/.609" 111+4 LSA (This one was spec'd with stock 241's in mind)
226/230 .598/.609" 112LSA +4
231/238 .617"/.585" 113+3
230/230 .600"/.609" 111+4 LSA (This one was spec'd with stock 241's in mind)
226/230 .598/.609" 112LSA +4
231/238 .617"/.585" 113+3
Trending Topics
#8
TECH Regular
iTrader: (2)
I was running the ms4 with stock 241's and stock bottom end. The car ran strong as hell with the cam, m6, and 3.90 gear. It put down 390 rwhp on a mustang dyno. The only driveability problem I had was the car would buck a little under 1500 rpm's in gear but the idle sounded awesome and the car was a real performer for only having cam, intake, 1 7/8" headers, and exhaust. you will have to change springs about every 20k miles. Theres some good idle clips of the ms4 on youtube. I guarantee I'm gonna get bashed over this cam. Probably on the very next post! lol
#9
Teching In
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Westchester
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I was running the ms4 with stock 241's and stock bottom end. The car ran strong as hell with the cam, m6, and 3.90 gear. It put down 390 rwhp on a mustang dyno. The only driveability problem I had was the car would buck a little under 1500 rpm's in gear but the idle sounded awesome and the car was a real performer for only having cam, intake, 1 7/8" headers, and exhaust. you will have to change springs about every 20k miles. Theres some good idle clips of the ms4 on youtube. I guarantee I'm gonna get bashed over this cam. Probably on the very next post! lol
#10
12 Second Club
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Kansas
Posts: 458
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've got the TSP Rumbler catback with the Torquer V3 cam. First off, the exhaust is very loud, which is fine since it's not my DD, but if it was I would definitely be running a different exhaust.
I'm very pleased with the TV3 cam. It has amazing street manners, even when my car was an automatic it was very smooth and could easily idle around a parking lot without surge. I chose it because I wanted a happy medium that wasn't too "big" and not fun to drive around town, but I also didn't want a "small" cam that would leave me wanting more. I also didn't want to be shifting my car at 7K+ to stay in the power-band.
With that said, I've ridden in a car with the Polluter that had excellent street manners and pulled like a freight train BUT he had a great tune that required a fair amount of time to get right.
You're probably going to need a clutch and want a set of gears along with an LS6 intake. Don't forget about the tune.
I'm very pleased with the TV3 cam. It has amazing street manners, even when my car was an automatic it was very smooth and could easily idle around a parking lot without surge. I chose it because I wanted a happy medium that wasn't too "big" and not fun to drive around town, but I also didn't want a "small" cam that would leave me wanting more. I also didn't want to be shifting my car at 7K+ to stay in the power-band.
With that said, I've ridden in a car with the Polluter that had excellent street manners and pulled like a freight train BUT he had a great tune that required a fair amount of time to get right.
You're probably going to need a clutch and want a set of gears along with an LS6 intake. Don't forget about the tune.
#11
TECH Fanatic
They one good thing about running a LM1, LT's, and an ORY is it wont cost you a the price of a hole new cat back if/when you get sick of the drone, rasp, and general excessive noise. Some people actual like it, but most can't stand it after awhile. But, if you do get sick of it you can just change the lm1 resonator out for any 18 inch long 4 inch round case muffler and you'll have a totally different sounding exhaust. You can also add 12 inch resonators before the tips to customize the sound even more. It kind of makes me want to start looking for a used loud mouth exhaust so I can do it my self.
#12
Don't worry about the heads man, you won't have to change the heads no matter what cam you want. What you would worry about is ptv clearance and the drivability in the cam. I would say mid to high 220's would be what you want. Everyone loves the 228r cam for a dd. Call texas speed for sure. Best of luck.
#13
Teching In
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Westchester
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
They one good thing about running a LM1, LT's, and an ORY is it wont cost you a the price of a hole new cat back if/when you get sick of the drone, rasp, and general excessive noise. Some people actual like it, but most can't stand it after awhile. But, if you do get sick of it you can just change the lm1 resonator out for any 18 inch long 4 inch round case muffler and you'll have a totally different sounding exhaust. You can also add 12 inch resonators before the tips to customize the sound even more. It kind of makes me want to start looking for a used loud mouth exhaust so I can do it my self.
Don't worry about the heads man, you won't have to change the heads no matter what cam you want. What you would worry about is ptv clearance and the drivability in the cam. I would say mid to high 220's would be what you want. Everyone loves the 228r cam for a dd. Call texas speed for sure. Best of luck.
Funnily enough, this is exactly how I would like mine to sound! He's got Pacesetter Lt's and ORY and LM1. Cam specs:
Texas Speed Cam 233/239 .595/.603 112LSA. Could I run this cam with no problems? Would it clear p/v?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSERQYdmVKc
p.s. As a sidenote, I would really like to thank everyone who commented for helping me out. As I stated in my welcome post, I am fairly new to everything LS and really appreciate all you guys taking time out to help me! ))
#14
TECH Fanatic
Other than maybe choosing between a 112 and a 114lsa you should pick a cam based on it's performance not how it sounds at idle. If you have a good tuner I've read that there are some tuning tricks to make a car sound like it has a bigger cam than it really does, I think you lower the idle and pull some timing out of it but I'm not really sure.
#15
Thanks dude. I know the pv clearance is really important and so is drivability, I just really want good cam thats works with the engine and and has a good idle. I really like the v2 cam. I think it sounds great but im not sure if it clears pv. Im definately going to call TSP and see what they have to say.
#16
No clearance issues with Torquer 2 is right and it sounds awesome with a Magnaflow cat back. You WILL be paying for not only a better clutch though, you will need a slave cylinder and master cylinder upgrade too. Maybe a fuel pump and injectors to keep up. Maybe.