I want to put a ZO6 cam in my 6.0. I heard somewhere that you have to change the pushrods. If the cam base circle, deck height, and rockers, are the same, why would I have to change pushrods? Thanks, Chris.


P.S. I know there are better cams, but I can get a good deal on the ZO6 cam.

 

even if you got the cam for free, still not worth the labor. youll be bored in a month with it, its not that much different from stock.

 

on 02 up the base circle is smaller on the ls6 cam. and if your doin it yourself the labor is free, i did mine in a day with springs. id recommend matching springs too. i have the cam in my truck and noticed a huge diffrence right out of the box and after tuning was alot better. it pulls good all the way to 6300 even with the truck intake.

 

i think its worth the time if you want to keep it "stock" with more power. i dont think you need different pushrods, it will just give you less lifter preload which might give more midrange.

 

this ? has come up many times in the past. pros are stock smooth idle, you would NOT know i have a cam unless i told you. works great with my factory stall , gains about 18 - 20 rwhp on the dyno peak hp came in at 5750 rpm thats not to say it wont rev to 6500rpm. so drivability 5 stars. negatives, very low dyno #s for the time and labor. im kicking myself for not listening to a lunati rep. i told him what i wanted, he thought a 221/ 565 lift on a 115 lsa would work great giving me excellent drivability but i chose the factory 2002 ls6 zo6 cam 218/204 w 550 lift 117 lsa. goodluck, i may upgrade to a 224 / 228 w 570 lift cam however if it doesnt idle nice im ready to get a stall.

 

I'd get some hardened pushrods! It's way too often that we see pictures here and in person where someone goes to swap a cam or removes the covers to look for some strange noise and the stock pushrods are bent all to heck (even with stock camshafts and springs)!

 

yup, happened to me haha

 

The valve stem is longer on the corvette head.

 

What does the valve stem length on the z06 head have to do with the pushrod length when switching to a z06 cam?

 

I think the point is that in stock Z06 form, the longer valves compensate for the smaller base circle of the cam as compared to the vanilla LS1. It allows for the same pushrods for either engine.

 

If that is true, then wouldn't it also be true that one of the two motors would have poor valvetrain geometry? Or are the mounting points on the 243 heads also slightly higher to maintain the correct geometry (Although if that is true you would need longer PRs again, a bit of a paradox).

 

i wouldnt waste my time on that swap, you should get a tr224 or something that will actually benefit you. TR cheater cams sound stock and give a lot of power

 

I've researched this myself, the 243 heads have valves that are .05 longer than 241 heads which allowed the use of the smaller base circle Z06 cam. If you put a z06 cam in with 241 heads or a similar head with the same valve length, you will need to use 7.450 pushrods. If you have 243 heads with the longer valves, you can use the stock length 7.400 pushrods. The valvtrain geo. will remain correct with longer valves and 7.4 pushrods as the difference is made up with the smaller base circle of the cam. I'm doing the same swap, but I'm ditching my 241's for some 243's. Have fun with it.

 

How much power you think a f-body gets with a ls6 cam,heads,intake pkg.

 

LS6 motor in stock trim is rated at 405hp at the crank.

 

I run hardened 7.4 pushrods with a 03 ls6 cam and 317 heads. Have no problems with it. My car traps 122mph with the setup na.

 

a push rod measuring tool is cheap,take the time to check for correct push rod length to avoid any problems.