Boggies69

I've stepped out of my box and made my purchase and will start building the 4.8l this weekend...

Picked up new rings and main bearings and cam bearings from Summit...along with a new gasket setup...

Also purchase a Comp Cam 206/212 Cam and LS6 chevy performance valve spring kit and LS6 hydraulic lifters and a set uf 5/16 hardened pushrods from summit as well..

This was a lot more than I ever planned on doing when I started this project...intended on just running the stock 79k 4.8l/4l60e at least for awhile..

Thought I should save myself some trouble and stick an 07-up waterpump on incase I wanted to change intakes later for clearance, and figures since I hadnit on the stand, I should stick in a new oil pump aswell, then...well, everything else came after that...

Cam, Springs, Pushrods, lifters, etc...

I'm thinking maybe I should do timing chain too...

What do you guys think?

Boggies69

Also quick question, does anybody have a pan out for a 2000 Chevy 1500 2wd(4.8l/4l60e)

And the 2002 blazer (4.3l/4l60e)

Hardcourt

Hi folks,

Just wanted to make you aware of my recent experience with a cam from Tick Performance. In July I had their "TowMax Stage 2" cam installed in my truck, a 2004 Silverado 1500 with a 4.8. Their site claims that, compared to a stock cam, this cam will produce "expected" gains of 45-55RWTQ and 30-40RWHP. All I got from their cam was 13RWTQ and 23RWHP. I've attached my before and after dyno results to this post.

As you can see, my numbers are nowhere near even the low end of the range that Tick claims. This is marketed as a towing cam so the torque gain was especially disappointing, with 13FtLbs compared to their claims of 45-55FtLbs. It's also marketed as a cam that's supposed to make power "under the curve" -- but, as you can see from my dyno sheet, it doesn't do that either. My gains were all at the upper RPM range.

In addition, the truck now idles poorly. It wouldn't idle at all as soon as the cam was installed (it had been a wonderful running truck prior to that) until the Tuner worked on the idle. Even with the best that the Tuner could do, the truck still surges at idle sometimes (I'm not talking ordinary cam lope, I'm talking 300-400RPM swings in idle speed. Surging).

Lest you think something about my truck or the install process is to blame, my truck has 118k miles and is in excellent condition. I spared no expense on the install process and had the cam professionally installed by a shop that has done over 250 cam swaps on LS trucks. I also had them install the valve springs and pushrods that Tick recommended, and I had them install a newly-rebuilt set of 706 heads at the same time. Then I had it tuned by the most respected tuner here in the Portland, OR metro area. The truck's only other modifications are a K&N cold air intake, and a custom dual exhaust with hi-flow cats and Flowmasters. It has stock exhaust manifolds. I informed Tick of all this when I bought the cam. The Tick salesman repeated that I should expect to see the gain numbers they were advertising on their website.

After the very poor dyno results, I called Tick to discuss the matter. Their response was to point out that their website says the expected numbers are "in a well-optimized setup." They claimed that phrase is supposed to mean that long tube headers are required to produce the gains they're advertising. However, their website says nothing about the need for long tube headers in the description of this cam: https://www.tickperformance.com/tick...-5-3l-engines/

This is a glaring omission on their part. When their other cams require long tube headers, their website specifically says so. For example:
https://www.tickperformance.com/tick...-5-3l-engines/
"Aftermarket Headers Required: Longtubes suggested for maximum power gains"
https://www.tickperformance.com/tick...-5-3l-engines/
"Aftermarket Headers Required: Yes, Longtube Style"

In summary, Tick's numbers for this cam are greatly inflated compared to the results I experienced. Their site claims that "Hundreds of hours were spent developing this camshaft to perform precisely the way we advertise." That is why I bought the camshaft. But it clearly did not perform the way they advertise. Buyer beware.