I've had my Camaro for nearly 6 years now. 2 years ago I put nitrous on it. Last summer I went up to a 150 shot. (that's on a 3.8 too!) This winter I put a Powerdyne on it. But it wasn't enough.

Now, I have an LS1 sitting in the garage to put in it. It will be a basic heads/cam setup. I'm working with TEA on it. So they are coming up with some recommendations on the cam, but I want to get a little more educated so I can evaluate the recommendations. I know about the 3.8, but the LS1 is all new for me.

The car is an automatic. 3.42 gears. I'll be running MAC headers and a Borla exhaust. (maybe Kooks later, but I got a heck of a deal on the MAC's and I'm still scrimping to get the money for the rest of the parts). TEA Stage 2 5.3 heads. LS6 intake, Z06 maf. Stock tb for now. I was going to put a 3000 rpm converter in it, but looks like the funds are going to mandate sticking with the stock converter for now.

I will be spraying it from time to time. Most likely a 125 dry shot. And I will probably put a 8 psi blower on it at some point, but not right away. I'm doing head studs and o-ringed heads just in case...

Ok, I think that covers the setup... As far as the usage, I will drive it some on the street, I autocross the car about 6-8 times a year, and I drag race it 3 or 4 times a year.

What cam specs are good for this?

I know the exhaust is great on those TEA heads. Normally for a sprayed or FI setup, I'd get a cam that favored the exhaust quite a bit. I think I might still need to favor it some, but not a huge amount. So what duration you think?

I don't want a choppy idle... And if I boost it, I don't want the boost blowing out through the exhaust. So I think a wide LSA is good. I thought I saw a post on here about some 118.5 LSA. That sounds TOO huge. 112 is too narrow. So what is just right?

Lift, I have no clue here.... I know on the 3.8 you can run up to about a .520 and beyond that there's no point. I don't want to have to change springs regularly.... Stock lifters, and stock rockers. I don't mind warming up the springs before bringing the revs up. I'm running stock pistons, and the heads will be milled very slightly, only to ensure they're flat. I think the duration is probably more important that massive lift numbers. So what is a good reliable lift, that is still a strong improvement over stock for NA operation?

And last, what about ICL? I don't think I've seen any mention of ICL here anywhere? Everybody runs 'em straight up? Is this the best? What do you think?

 

go with whatever cam TEA recommends for you application; TEA/FMS setups are some of the best overall numbers and usable power i've seen.

cam size depends on what your looking for, the ls6 cam and gt2-3 are great off the shelf boost cams and coupled with some 918's or better your looking at great spring life.

224/224 .561-.581 112/114lsa with 108/110ICL respectively is a bread and butter cam around here. you can run up to a new TR T-rex cam on stock heads (242/248 .608/.612 110lsa 108ICL ) but its only for the hardcore guys

if i were to spec my own boost cam i'd go with a 224/230 .560/.580 116lsa 113ICL.

wait till funds are fully available for a stall before you do you swap and mod installs. a new TC for an a4 is one of the best mods you can do.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...ght=cam+basics

 

JRP, thanks for the info. Your boost cam specs are almost dead on with the prelim recommendation from TEA.

Good link, and good writeup on the cam swap process too!

 

Hey John, also try posting in the forced induction section, as they'll more than likely have much better input as far as cam selection goes.