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Good DD friendly Cam.. 5.3L

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Old Nov 29, 2011 | 07:45 PM
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Default Good DD friendly Cam.. 5.3L

I have an 81 Malibu I put a stock 5.3L in.. just exhaust work. It runs great but I'd like a little bit more top end out of it.

It has such great driveability now, is there any smaller cam that would run well on factory tune
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Old Nov 29, 2011 | 07:50 PM
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Do you have the truck intake or the f-body intake on it? Stock manifolds or headers? What size stall?

Give us this info and it will help to decide what will suit your engine best!

Also...I would factor in a tune for any size cam. It will help get the best power and drivability out of it.
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Old Nov 30, 2011 | 02:42 PM
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Originally Posted by mean_greenZ
Do you have the truck intake or the f-body intake on it? Stock manifolds or headers? What size stall?

Give us this info and it will help to decide what will suit your engine best!

Also...I would factor in a tune for any size cam. It will help get the best power and drivability out of it.
The 5.3 has a truck intake, no egr, evap, no cats, 3in exhaust with h pipe, 1 3/4 long tubes, 4in cold air intake. It also has a hughes converter that flashes to about 3400 rpm.

Thanks!
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Old Nov 30, 2011 | 03:21 PM
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I think a stock ls6 cam would be great for you by the sounds of it
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Old Nov 30, 2011 | 08:13 PM
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I think a 220/220 cam on 114* would work great for what you are trying to do...they have been around for a looong time and made by just about everyone...should be able to find a used one pretty cheap if you want to go that route or hit up a vendor.

You would be much better off getting a tune though...I think the only thing that would not need a tune for your application is an LQ9 cam, which was a stock cam. You are leaving a LOT on the table by not getting a tune...just in the timing advance tables alone.
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Old Nov 30, 2011 | 08:23 PM
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comp 54-408-11 or comp 54-455-11,or a mild TSP cam pkg..you will need better springs
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Old Nov 30, 2011 | 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by garygnu
comp 54-408-11 or comp 54-455-11,or a mild TSP cam pkg..you will need better springs
Both of these cams are excellent for their intended purpose, however I think they are a bit outside of what the OP is looking for. These are very strong low RPM torque cams that will have a very pronounced chop at idle in a 5.3.
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Old Dec 1, 2011 | 10:45 AM
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Who would yall reccomend for a tune? I'm atleast three hours from any reputable dyno tuner so until i would have time to have it dyno tuned, i would have to rely on a mail order tune
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Old Dec 1, 2011 | 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by superbean
Who would yall reccomend for a tune? I'm atleast three hours from any reputable dyno tuner so until i would have time to have it dyno tuned, i would have to rely on a mail order tune
Where in the hell are you? LOL...mail order tunes are not bad at all with just a cam etc., just make sure you go with a vendor. Look through the tuning section to get a better idea of the players.
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