LS-ONE_DAY

If I wanted to go the cam only route, but upgrade the lifters (mine only have 28k on them currently but they're 14 years old) I'd have to pull the heads anyway but I didn't want to spend $1200+ on new heads what would be better to do, port my 853's or find stock used 243's/799's? Will one or the other be more powerful or about the same?

Budget wise I wouldn't want to spend any more than I have to for a long reliable and nice 40+rwhp power gain from the cam, but efficiency and practicality would suggest doing something with the heads since they'd be off...

garygnu

I think age dose not matter with lifters,keep them and do a cam only swap.find a cam pkg that will meet your hp goals ,and leave the heads on.if you do swap heads,some 243/799 with a TSP 228r cam should make 380rwhp.

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

The ls6 heads vs your ls1 heads are good for about 20hp in stock form.

Sales@Tick

iTrader: (3)

Ehhh, I don't know about 20hp but I can see 10rwhp being realistic, maybe 15rwhp at the most.

I honestly wouldn't worry about the lifters at all, I ran stock lifters in mine with 100k miles on them to 7400rpm many times. Depending on your stall size also and what you can tolerate as far as driving manners go we have several cams that will pick up a lot more than 40rwhp.

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

really? 20 flywheel hp? that equates to about 10rwhp -/+

LS-ONE_DAY

My converter is an FTI 3500 with 2.35 STR.
I want as close to stock as I can get with a mildly noticeable lope maybe, nothing seriously thumping that would cause surging and whatnot. Powerband between 1800-6600 would be the biggest range I'd want to go, probably set shift points to 6500 max. I'd hope for 385rwhp cam only but I'd be happy anything over 370.

Sales@Tick

iTrader: (3)

Figured you meant 20rwhp. My mistake.
Something like this?

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

IMO, something like the StreetHeat Stage 1 for the LS2 engine.
http://www.tickperformance.com/tick-...r-ls2-engines/

BKsNHRA

iTrader: (4)

I put down 380 hp and 373 tq with a cam and headers. Look in my sig. Nothing more was done to the car. Still on stock injectors and fuel pump. If all your lookin for is 40hp heads are not needed.

blackbird0230

400 here. 228/232 cam and long tubes. I upgraded lifters tho since one fell in lol

Sales@Tick

iTrader: (3)

That would also be a good option.

PREDATOR-Z

224/232 114+4 LSA,
0* overlap so little lope
42 IVC for 6200 peak with LS6 intake.
Power Range 1800>6500 rpm

LS-ONE_DAY

Thanks for the specs on that cam Pred! How would that compare to something like Damian's Spartan 228/232?

One area I am interested in also would be valvespring life. I want something that will be relatively easy on valvesprings (or is this just a matter of getting better springs?) For example I planned on getting springs rated at .650, one of the more common brands that ships with cam packages, but would BTR springs or higher end springs last longer will more aggressive lobes? I don't know much about lobes at all other than XE-R are pretty aggressive.

Martin, that Stage 2 does sound nice in the video, I checked it out. 2 things I noticed, one, I believe with my setup it would be better to have something with higher exhaust lift than intake lift but I could be wrong, idk. Secondly, the duration seems a little big for just a 35-45rwhp gain. Why is that? As compared to something like the Torquer v2 which is 232/234 and TSP estimates 50-55rwhp.

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

I'm not a spring expert but heres what I can tell you.

Im running HUC lobes which are much easier on valvetrain, im using TSP EHT springs rated for .675, running .630 lift and quite a bit of duration and Pat G said I can probably expect 40-50k miles out of my springs.

PREDATOR-Z

Guys, no need for high lift here on stock heads. Yes XER are aggressive but if setup is properly installed (not just a drop in job in the backyard) there is no issues I've ever faced running them as DD (and still do).

To the OP, IMO you need to educate yourself more. No serious vendor can just say (put this cam in for XX horsepower gain). That would be a marketing gimmick. Cams have potential and if TSP told you 50rwhp gain (they are stretching it a bit). I've ran that same Tv2 cam and on my setup it was a 35rwhp gain from before to after swap.

Since your knowledge on cam dynamics is limited, avoid marketing gimmicks and stick to matching your combo to work together.

I've had setups with a 224/224 110 cam making over 400 rwhp in M6 by 6100 rpm so it is not "bigger is more".
It is just like springs, many here believe that if they have the highest lift capabilities, they are better protected, truth is it isn't so.

I've not dealt with Martin (Tick) but from reading his posts around here he is knowledgeable and seems like a straight shooter.
Damian has good knowledge and experience, the Spartan is a good cam.

LS-ONE_DAY

Thanks for the input. I'm well aware of the fact that big cams don't always mean big power, I figured that a medium sized cam would be nice for me. I'm not sure what a cam only car with my mods would be capable of ET wise, but my total goal would be low to mid 11's. If I can do that cam only I wouldn't need heads. If not I would get a set of budget heads to meet that goal, and if I could hit 420rwhp that would be icing on the cake. My car is primarily street car, it may only see the track once or twice a season.

I wasn't however aware that a 224R type cam could make 400rwhp thats great for that car!

MikeWS6

It just depends on how generous the dyno is.
A 224 could make 400 on one dyno and 370 on another.
I have the 228R and I'm happy. A pair of ported ls6 head and it might get 420.

PREDATOR-Z

The dyno was dynojet and generous to the tune of 11.2s at 118>120mph. Back then I only used that one for all my setups.

Sales@Tick

iTrader: (3)

I knew I liked this guy, I agree 100% with everything you said. There are a lot of over inflated numbers out there and I am by NO means speaking bad about TSP as I like all the guys over there and respect the work that they do. I posted some results a while back of a "normal" cam-only cam swap that gained 38-40rwhp and was told I needed to go back to not grinding cams because it only picked up that much power. I think guys expect a lot more out of a cam swap than what it will really produce.

The only reason I can say that the TV2 would make more power would be one simple reason and that is overlap. The TV2 has 4 degrees more overlap than the Street Heat Stage 2 and overlap is torque, and torque=hp.

The numbers that our site says you can expect to gain are the lowest most conservative numbers I could come up with from my experience with similar cams. I will never overrate a cam and I'm usually pretty close with my guesstimates. The largest single gain I've seen in a N/A set-up would be the Polluter V.2 in a customers car we did 1-2 months ago and it gained 67rwhp I believe. That was not back to back dyno testing and even though they were SAE corrected numbers I was comparing, there still could be a variance in correction factors.

The one thing I really agree with Mark(Pred Z) with is exhaust lift. Guys get caught up in that "magic" .600" lift number and it just isn't that big of a deal. Do you know how much .015" of an inch really is? It's 1/3rd of what most TR55 spark plugs are gapped at out of the box. That's a great visualization there and is one I use a lot.

OP by no means am I nor Mark beating you down or nit picking with you. Just trying to educate you and bring you up to speed in a crash course on cam dynamics.

IllusionalTA

iTrader: (9)

Smh you guys..