Cam Motion 5.3 "drop in" cam results, +41rwhp/22rwtq
 

In reference to post #93 here: https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamomet...am-only-3.html

Kip wanted to see how one to of the 5.3 drop in cams would do in the real world but I lucked into being able to get a before and after dyno as well.

My truck, BEFORE:

1999 Silverado single cab short bed, 170k miles (unless engine was replaced prior to me purchasing the truck)
2.5" dual exhaust, no crossover pipe, no cats, Thrush welded mufflers, stock manifolds
home ported throttle body
ebay CAI (no gains over stock airbox)
very mild EFI Live tune (ls1 timing table with a couple degrees pulled, no TM, slightly leaned PE, no MAF or VE correction)

Added:
Cam Motion Stage 2 5.3 drop in cam (205/210 .510/.510 115+4)
GMPP blue beehive springs
EFI Live tune (updated to 02 operating system due to constant 8* KR post cam, stock ls1 timing table, MAF and VE corrected using CALC.VET procedure)
literally everything else is the same except gaskets and oil, reused stock rockers, pushrods, lifters, oil pump, timing set, etc

Notes: 2nd gear pulls, same dyno 2 weeks apart. Dyno seems stingy, a ZL1 automatic with 400miles went on right after me and made 436hp, but the gains are all I was concerned with. No dyno fan was used, literally pulled it in strapped it down and made some pulls. 89 octane fuel for both.

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I was quite shocked honestly. Seat of the pants is impressive from idle to the 6000rpm redline and I could definitely tell it was making more power, but I was expecting about 22rwhp tops. My MAF readings went from ~29 lbs/min to ~34 lbs/min.

The truck drives incredible around town and on the highway. The gains are enough to have severely reduced the converter's need to unlock pulling up hills and a few times around 40mph it's been in OD with the converter locked cruising down the road at 1000rpm like it's nothing.

Early MPG calculations (it's 200 miles to the dyno I used) are showing an approximate gain of ~1.2 mpg highway. Further monitoring will be done to confirm and get a better average. One of the front o2 sensors is currently reading 6% off so I need to correct that for best results.

Needless to say, I am very pleased and was expecting much less from such a small increase in cam size. Whenever the Speed Engineering longtubes come out, I will be adding those as well.

Very nice. Might be buying a 2001 GMC Sierra here in a few days. Told myself if I buy the truck, I'm going to leave it alone, but this might not be a bad option.

I don't typically hot rod my truck by any means, just makes for a peppy daily driver and gets used for a bit of hauling stuff around. It's also nice to be able to tow if needed.

The extra bit of power is noticeable in a good way around town and on the highway but it maintains all the manners of a stock truck. The extra top end is great for passing as well. Overall it just makes the truck more enjoyable all around.

It fired right up on the stock tune and you would never know anything had changed (aside from the lack of power at first due to it pulling timing, once that was corrected it came alive pretty good). The cam naturally idled like stock, but I dialed a little bit of lope type sound into it with timing adjustments for my personal preference.



Here is a quick run through:

That's crazy!

How in the hell did you get it to lope that much? Sounds great.

Pull timing

So in the tune, you pull timing at idle?

Or you drop the idle RPM.

Yeah, knew that, but you can only drop it so far. I guess if you really know your stuff, you probably know some tricks to make it even lower.

That's awesome!! I'm trying to stay away from modding my 2007 Z71 but this thread has got me thinking. More power tow my Camaro would be nice as long as MPG's weren't affected too bad.

What's your overall fuel economy street vs highway?

To get the lope I left the stock idle alone and left the regular idle tables alone. I increased the amount of idle overspeed or underspeed by 5* either way. I think there was one idle airspeed table I subtracted a little from, I would have to do a tune compare to recall if I did or didn't. I was following a lope tutorial on youtube but it was for HP Tuners and I was having trouble matching it to EFI Live.


Overall fuel mileage before was:

high 14s in town, no highway
15-16 mostly in town, some highway
18-21 all highway depending on terrain

The typical long drive I take is the 200 mile trip from Fayetteville, AR to Valliant, OK which goes through the Ozark and Ouchita mountains so it's not very flat most of the trip. On that I normally averaged ~18.5 one way and high 18s-19 the other way. This time I got high 18s one way (with about 50 miles city mixed in along with a good bit WOT and the dyno pulls) and 20.18 on the way home.

This week I will be tracking my typical in town usage since I don't have to do anymore tuning runs or anything. I expect the in town mileage to go up a little more than highway to be honest. It's very hilly around here.

Looks like a major win on all fronts! Impressive gains from a relatively small cam! Love the sound and it looks like it pulls hard for a truck!

Great! Now you got me thinking about a cam for my 2003 Yukon XL! You are a bad influence!

Nice report, I'm a small cam guy :nod: Excellent results!

The lope or chop is easily done with the over/under speed timing tables. As you mentioned leave the idle & main tables alone. I heard an LS3 with +8 & -8, that was a chop chop :swing: it also had a pretty good size cam & straight pipes.

Very impressive.

Great job on the install and write up. We are very happy to see your success with the "Drop In" cam. These cams are a great option for truck enthusiast who want more power, but they don't want to diminish their dependability and mileage.

We took the liberty of posting your video and dyno sheet on our Facebook page: Cam Motion Facebook

Thats some pretty impressive gains bud

I still absolutely love it. The truck still acts bone stock but even just daily driving you can feel the extra low end power and when accelerating for on ramps or passing traffic it just builds and builds.

And the best part is I can set it to shift close to 6000rpm WOT and not add a bunch of high RPM stress to the engine or high mileage transmission.

Eventually the truck will also get a set of Speed Engineering stainless longtubes and I can update this thread with those results also.

Interesting
have an 02 EX 1500 with 160k, 3.73 rear and am thinking about a freshening up next yr. Runs great but from having it brand new I know shes getting pretty tired.
Want to add a cam that will pass smog legitmately with no hassles (Im in Ca) act stock yet add tq
Plan on porting the stock heads, some GM spring, stock valves did the TB already stock exh.
Not concerned about lope, one of those sounds like it may work out.
Just wanting to take advantage of the portwork and pick up torque thats it.

Can the stock torque converter get reused? These 4l60es are weak and dont need any more trans heat than necessary

I am using a stock converter. Literally nothing but the cam, valve springs, crank pulley bolt, and water pump gaskets were changed as far as hard parts (along with oil and coolant).

Stock torque converter and rear gears are 100% as fine as they were with stock cam...the truck would benefit from them but they are by no means any more detrimental than they are stock.

To a person who had not regularly driven the truck there would be nothing different about driving mine than any other 5.3 single cab as far as normal driving goes.

It just has more power that builds progressively from idle to a larger hp increase around 2000rpm and then a steady build of acceleration that is very noticeably greater than a stock truck. The big giveaway is that it pulls so hard well past the stock shift points all the way to 6000 rpm. When it was stock it felt like it was just starting to pull pretty good then leveled off and shifted. Now it just keeps building in a noticeably stronger manner and generally gets a squeak from the right tire on a 1-2 shift.

Very nice!

It's hard for me to believe how many of these truck guys poo poo small cams like this, as this seems to be ideal to me. Or how many guys think a LS6 cam is better for a truck than a cam like this. Thanks for posting your results.