ShadowLightCSU

iTrader: (1)

Just curious if there are any little things I don't know about with cam swaps. What kind of behavior changes in your car when going to a larger cam?

SouthFL.02.SS

OK, with an A4, you're gonna have to go with a higher stall.
Big cams produce their power higher up in the rev range. Below 2000 RPM's they're basically useless, so you need to complement them with stall. For M6 guys, we need to throw in deeper gears (I'm running 4.10's).

Tuning has come a long way in letting us run big cams on the street.

Bad drivability = bucking, hunting for idle, engine stall, etc....

jrp

iTrader: (16)

ya, thats pretty much it. most of that all goes away with the proper tuning or keeps sit to a minimum. m6's can get away with less tune and a bigger cam due to having a higher set idle. big cams tend to stall out on the a4 w/o due to the low in gear idle. theres always a trade off with big cams and small cams, just depends on the kind of setup your looking for. i prefere the low end and great mid range over the huge top end of some of the bigger cams.

ShadowLightCSU

iTrader: (1)

So with a good tune, a relatively big cam can be quite nicely mannered, without stalling with AC on, pulling in to parking spaces, etc?

jrp

iTrader: (16)

correct . the car will not behave like it was bone stock but it can be very managible.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Exactly. Some will tell you that it can drive completely 100% like stock with proper tuning, but that's subjective, and I have yet to see one that can. Sure, a good tuner can get it pretty close (close enough that many would call it 'stock-like'), but I've been in cars with mid to aggresive type cams that have spent tons of time at some top name tuners and I can still find some small issues with driveability I guess it all depends on how picky you are. Hell, I've spent over a year messing with the tuning on my little B1 and I'm still not 100% happy. I am the exception though, I'm VERY picky.

For the most part, you can have most LS1 cams tuned to run great on the street. If you are the super picky type with your idle and such, then you might want to stick with a smaller cam.

equandt

iTrader: (2)

The hesitation sucks too. Nail the gas and for a split second the car feels like its going to fall on it's face...then all hell breaks loose and you light the tires.

SSactionLs1

with 4.11 gears, its just spin, none of that bog stuff

samz28

with a decent stall, you'll have a higher idle, and a little more touchy freezing cold starts, but the car shouldn't stall/die once well tuned. you already have a stall that will keep you out of the misery band.. cam/boltons produced more power from 2500rpm and up and your stall should likewise keep you up and over that range most of the time.

Car will not buck at reasonable speeds with the TC locked up even with cam. Surging/etc is all in the tuning. that being sad it is more difficult to tune an A4 with mild/big cam.

Don't expect to throw in a 112lsa 224 cam and expect your car to just be happy. It probably wont idle for ****, stall on cold days alot,etc. Gotta get a good tune in there to keep her happy

Country Boy

iTrader: (24)

I had the G5X2 and was quite happy with it. Idled at ~850-900, no stalling, no starting issues, no idle hunting, worked great with the AC and has great throttle responce even at 2000 rpms. All on a mail order LG tune. I only had one issue and that was ~1200 rpms idleing down the road, it would start to buck, but that because of the cam.

Slowhawk

iTrader: (12)

A good tune can make a big cam easy to drive.I run a 236/230 with .600 lift and it idles at 900rpm smoothly,never stalls and drives great.My car drove worst with a TR 220 and no tuning.

OWENMUSTANG

iTrader: (2)

I agree all above. it boils down to this. what do you want your car to do?
if this is a daliy driver (and your over 28) I'm guessing you would like something
with the least amount of idiosyncrosies(spelling??) anyway, i have never been a
big fan of lumpy cams, but i think tuning should help make things more agreeable

Steve01SS

iTrader: (43)

Tuning is the key... along with a higher stall converter on an auto car. My buddy had a big cam with an auto (non-LS1) and stock converter. The car died a lot. Tuning and a converter = ran like a raped ape It was really fun after that.

My car has been a little tricky to get the car to idle right (especially what warm). Takes a little playing with it and tuning. Not too hard though.

Steve

Debian Dog

I am going thru that right now (surging/stalling). I (well actuall James from RWTD) is so close to getting it right I can taste it.

TTopJohn

That's basically it - if you get too big of a cam, no matter how much tuning is done, you're not going to be able to idle up hill with your foot on the brake at under 5mph in a downtown parking garage. Instead of going, the car will buck and stall.
If you don't need to do that, or anythign like that, you may be a canditate for a big cam.

SouthFL.02.SS

Oh, you'd be suprised.
But from your description, sounds like you're talkin' A4, so I can't speak for that.

BigPlanTransAm

i dont know about anyone else but i consider gas mileage to be a factor in driveablility and the bigger the cam, the more your gas mileage drops. like the rest of the issues, tuning can help but it wont be = to stock

ShadowLightCSU

iTrader: (1)

It can get worse?

Debian Dog

Mine seems to have gotten better with a cam and LTs (no cats) but no hard #'s yet. https://ls1tech.com/forums/generation-iii-internal-engine/135588-new-comp-224-228-better-mpg.html

samz28

huge overlap and low rpm's causes reversion of unburnt gas into the exhaust, this can then trip out the closed loop o2 system. Just takes careful tuning, and alot of it.

Then again when you put that 4400 rpm stall on an a4 driveability is less anyways