Hello all,

I'll start off that I am new to the LS-series of engines. I picked up an LS1 off the local craigslist to swap into my E36 M3 for road course use. Now, everything the seller has told me thus far is true.

Engine has 70k miles with LS6 243 heads, PRC? valve springs and a cam.

My dilemma is about the cam. It is a comp cam XFI xtreme truck cam... P# 54-452-11. Now, my plan is road racing for the engine. So far I've sent the heads out to be inspected and cleaned by Besnik Built Engines. I've ordered the LS6 valley pan for the updated PCV system, LS6 ported oil pump, new barbell oil fitting, etc, etc...

Though, I know the specs of the cam, just curious if anyone knows how this cam will fair for road-race use? I only plan on spinning the block to 6000-6200, possibly 6500. I want it to be SAFE to 7000 if I HAVE TO go there.

Can anyone shed some light on this cam? I read that the GM ASA Cam is a great road race cam with low lift values, easy on the valve train.

Thank you,

Bart

 

If you want to go 6000RPM+ you have the wrong cam IMO. Comp advertises an operating range of 800-5200. That's in a 6.0 and you might argue that you might get more RPM out of it with a smaller motor but not 1000 or 1800 more RPM. It might spin to 6,xxx but it probably won't like it. That cam is designed for a vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds more than your car(a truck) and with a truck motor. Get something else I think.

I'm sure you've already seen this but:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...csid=1096&sb=2

Good luck!

 

That was the impression I was under also. What is a good comp cam that is meant for road racing? I want to keep the lift a little low, particularly below .550 just to elongate the life of the springs.

 

I am by far not the best to get your final answer from but I'll chime in..

If your car is handling well you should be able to keep your RPMs up almost all the time so you should not be worrying to much about low RPM performance. But I don't know what kind of track you are looking at, so I might be wrong. Look at a cam that is more in the 2000-6000 range. You will have a light car with pretty damn good heads, so you really don't need that ridiculous of a cam. I think that on the budget end of things, an LS6 stock cam would work very well for you. If you are OK spending the $400-ish on a cam, maybe this cam might be a good place to start your thinking:

http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...csid=1085&sb=2

Advice is free and most custom cam shops will give you good advice and grind you a cam for exactly what you want for maybe $50 more than an off-the-shelf cam with better performance. Cam Motion happens to be a very reputable shop and in my home town so I'll give them a mention. I have called there a couple of times wanting to do hair-brained things and they didn't take my money and pointed me elsewhere. I respect that. There are plenty of sponsors on here that will be able to set you up with a good cam also.

If you are worried about longevity though, you can't beat a factory cam like LS6 which came in a motor that was expected to go over 100K miles without complaining. And to that end, for valve springs, PSI makes some "endurance" springs that circle track guys use. You could start looking at the LS1511ML and go from there. They are ~.620" max lift so you would have plenty of headroom with cam lift.

One more thing before you go turning 7K RPM: MUST have stronger rod bolts. Katech or ARP sell upgraded replacements. The stress on rods/bolts/etc. increases exponentially(I mean literally, I am not saying that to say "a lot") with RPM. So stress from 7000RPM is far more than 16.6% more than 6000RPM. RPM does build power for sure, but if you could do anything other than changing the oil to make your engine last long in a racing environment, it would be to limit RPM without sacrificing too much performance, IMO.

Again, I am no expert and I recommend you call one about your cam needs but that is where your situation sits in my head.

Good luck.

Chris

 

Thank you for your insight. A good friend of mine keeps preaching about the LS6 cam and I just might go that route. I don't want to shell that much money on a custom cam as I don't exactly know what I want just yet. From what I've been reading and seeing, the GM ASA Cam looks to be promising, so I may go that route in the future if I score a nice used one. LS6 cam will be the cam for the time being it looks like though, quite the upgrade for a LS1 with LS6 heads

I've been doing research on the rod bolt upgrade. I want to do it, though shelling out the money to get the rods sized just may be out of my budget to build this car... Though, I've also read about people upgrading to APR rod bolts and not resizing their rods.

Thanks again Chris!

-Bart

 

The classic rod bolt argument...er..discussion. For the record, I am going to risk it @ 45 or so with "cheap" ARP. But I won't cry if it comes apart. It will be a learning experience and a cool explode video if applicable. LS6 in a smallish 3-series(right?) will be such a ******* MONSTER it will be the darling every track day. Seriously, LS6 cam, $60 LS6 springs and it will flat out spank anything non-LS out there, and your LS6 valve train will still be saleable to someone like me 12 months later. Can't beat it. And it is always fun to tell the built motor guys you are running "stock" GM parts. Maybe the best part.

Anyway, kick butt and have fun.

Laters.

Chris

 

Yeah, the classic rod bolt argument I'll take one rod off, measure the bore, slap ARP bolts on there, remeasure and make a quick decision. In my opinion, I feel I should be okay.

It's a 1995 BMW M3 that weighs 2500#, so with 350rwhp it'll scoot!

-Bart

 

Camshaft selection is always a tough call. You don;t want anything too radical, as that can be hard on the valve train. Durability is much more important than ultimate power.

You do want your power in the upper range, though, like above 4,000'ish. You want to stay in lower gears for the torque multiplication.

My decision was to use a Howards cam. Same low lift as the GM ASA cam, but more duration. Should be easy on the valve train, and still make good power.

Springs should match the cam and intended use. I have PAC beehives, with slightly more pressure than LS6 springs. Drive train should be good for 6,800-7,000. But I'll probably set the rev limiter at 6,500.

I'm still building the engine, so I have no real experience on how this will work out.

 

All of these cams have fairly mild ramp rates so they'll be easy on the valvetrain and stable at high rpm.
http://www.ws6project.com/user_stor/...-lift-228-230/
http://www.ws6project.com/user_stor/...oducts_id=4933
http://www.mcssl.com/store/cammotion...-compression-4

Howards #190325-12 (226/232 112lsa+4, lift .578"/.587", ramp rates 55 I/52 E


The ramp rates on the Howards #197715-10 (ASA version 226/236 110lsa+4, lift .525'/.525" ) are aggressive with a 48 I/ 49 E so I wouldn't recommend it for what you want.

 

Thank you for the suggestions guys, as of right now it looks like I'll be staying with the stock LS6 cam and winter 2015 I'll be getting the heads CNC ported and make the move to a larger cam. I like the idea of reliability with the stock cam.