Which cam to go with for my ls1?
 

I have a 2000 ls1 with a volant cold air, msd wires, kooks headers and ory, and a mac cat back. I need some help in chosing the right cam. I want to get the most gain I can but still be able to use it for a daily driver. Also will I need to change the valve springs and retainers, and what about the pushrods and lifters? Any advice will be greatly appriciated. About how much time am I looking at on the install, and what specialty tools will be needed?

tr224 114 is a good start, any bigger and you risk not passing smog. some 918's or manley springs will work, and you can re-use your stock pushrods if you'd like, and new lifters arent needed.

thats the short of it. the long of it is to take the time out and research the great multitude of cam threads we already have and learn the basics of cams so you know what your looking at when you see specs.

http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=23

I dont really care about not passing smog since I allready dont have cats in there. I just want to add on some more hp and tq. I need to know what specialty tools that are required to do the swap.

did you look at the link :huh: :confused:

the puller for the pulley. some thunder cam install rods to hold the lifters and a valve spring changer from thunder works well,but there are quite a few not all work good under the firewall
if i were you id get the 224 112 lsa or the 230 that jrp has for a daily driver. the second may be to extreme for you depending on what you like

Yes I checked the link out.

and it has everythig you need to know parts and tool wise.

Yes this site seems very useful, thanx. What cam are you using? If you did it again would you go with the same cam? How long did it take you to do the install? Did you do a before and after dyno?

5 questions in two lines, impressive. :jest: you can do the cam in a saturday. as for the rest, jrp shall respond shortly.

went from stock cam, to tr230 to a T1. i would of went smaller the first time around and not bothered with the 230, great cam but just not for me. first time took me a few days for the install (cam/springs, pump,chain, pulley, intake) the last 2 times i did them out side in a 2 days just working a few hours both the days. can be done in one day if you know what your doing. no before or after dyno's.

Why would you have went smaller the first time? How do you like the T1 cam?

1. emissions
2. more low end

the 230 is a great cam but spinning to 6800 gets tiresome, to me anyway.

hey jer have you done a dyno with the T1 yet? did you overlay the 230 vs. T1 to comparte hp and TQ curves...you say you needed to spin higher but id like to see if you actually lost any hp/tq across the powerband and where exactly

no dyno overlays. from the seperate dyno's i've seen on both similar setups from about 3800 and under the T1 has the tq advantage and the hp advantage to about 4k. after that the 230 walks it.

kewl, thanks