just put tips on my new rumbler catback when we start the car to hear how it sounds, it starts making a ticking noise from the engine bay which goes away after a few minutes. we decided it was probably a lifter leaking down. i decided that if i am already going to be tearing the engine apart to do lifters i would go ahead and do a cam swap. what is a good inexpensive cam that will not need much tuning to run in my car? will it be worth it on my basically stock car? is there anything else besides lifters that could be causing this noise?

car-99 M6 with air lid tsp rumbler catback and diablosprot programmer

 

tsp 224r cam/springs/push rods for $590.TR 224 cam.comp LSr 54-455-11 truck cam,lots of torque .

 

with an m6 you can go bigger like the 228r from tsp. very tolerable cam with good power

 

how does having a cam effect driving a standard transmission vehicle? do you know if any of those come with lifters too. thanks for yalls insight

 

Go to LS7 lifters first..absolute LS1 upgrade..then pick the rest..

 

I would do it right to start with. A custom cam from just about any sponsor is going to cost the same as an off the shelf grind. Since you have a clean slate to work with I would advise looking into the EPS cams. Geoff can set you up with something to compliment your current mods, and possibly future mods.

I would save yourself the trouble also and sell the diablosport tuner. You will not be able to tune for a cam with that handheld. Most of the time a cam will cause the stock sensors to act a bit out of the norm and you will see misfires and whatnot after the fact. Nothing running wrong though. A street tune or dynotune with all these codes adjusted via HPTuners or EFILive may benefit you greatly over the handheld which is highly limited on its "tuning" capabilities. Plus most re-tunes down the road with the majority of tuners is just pennies on the dollar and or free in some cases. I would almost consider it a worthwhile mod. Plus you living near Houston, there are lots of capable folks for tuning within a short distance from you. Just something else to think about that most people usually skimp on.

It will affect you differently depending on what size it is. The higher the duration usually the more overlap you will have and it is gonna cost you some low end. Gears can make up for this deficiency on a M6 car. Tuning has a lot to do with its street manners as well. Once you get set on a certain cam we can probably give you a better idea of how it will run.

Just to make sure you know what you are getting into, it may be a good idea to drive a cammed car if you have the ability to let someone allow you to. It is a different animal that what you are used to by all means nearly.

 

could just be piston slap...

 

He will know for sure after replacing the lifters and the majority of the top end with new parts for a cam swap.

 

that would suck to do all that work and find out that its piston slap

 

Yeah, because its just something that plagues 90% of the LS1's out there.
New shortblock should cure it.

FWIW I have had 4 LS motors and not one of them had it from the get go or developed it later on. Lucky me.

 

would piston slap come and go like that after only a few minutes of idleing?

a friend has had great success with nelson performance tuning his truck and they can make custom diablosport tuning. do you think that this could be a good option? i am leaning towards it as i am on a slim budget and they cam llifters are pretty much going to excede it already. lol

 

the stock pistons are cast "aka" hypereutectic which expand more then a forged piston. when the cast piston is cold,the tolerances are looser causing piston slap. as the engine heats up the pistons expand the fill the void in the cylinder and noise disipates.

 

the car had ran for nearly ten minutes about a hour before so it had some heat in it and it has not done it another time even after sitting over night. do you still think that could be it?

 

i would say so,if it goes away after it heats up. i would put some miles on it and park it. if it does it when you first start it the next day i would say you have piston slap,some ls1's have it worse than others.

 

drove home from work let car sit for over thirty hours and it didnt make the noise again

 

Could just be the weather, or you are listening too closely to your car.

 

good to hear.

 

does any one sell a cam package with lifters or are they generaly sold seperately?

 

I thought Vengeance did. TSP maybe. I am sure they can throw them in for a small discount if you are buying more than a couple things anyway.

 

listening too closely seems likely im kinda paranoid about it now. lol