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Old Oct 16, 2016 | 02:51 PM
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Default Ls1 5.7 cam & turbo setup

Hey guys
Am about to upgrade my ls1 with good cam, i have found this on ebay by howards cams which is coming on 274/280. 224/220
Valve lift 609/604 and also they offer 612/604 ?
Next with the turbo setup , i have selected s400-72 /1.10 a/r 83 turbine wheel any recommendation ? How it will work with 317 heads and stock bottom ?
My goal to hit 500 to 600 rwhp
It is a weekend car street car
Any recommendation on which gasket to use ?
Any thing i can added to the bottom to keep it safe in a budget ?
Max boost will go 10 to 12 psi
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Old Oct 16, 2016 | 03:06 PM
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Originally Posted by M16
Hey guys
Am about to upgrade my ls1 with good cam, i have found this on ebay by howards cams which is coming on 274/280. 224/220
Valve lift 609/604 and also they offer 612/604 ?
Next with the turbo setup , i have selected s400-72 /1.10 a/r 83 turbine wheel any recommendation ? How it will work with 317 heads and stock bottom ?
My goal to hit 500 to 600 rwhp
It is a weekend car street car
Any recommendation on which gasket to use ?
Any thing i can added to the bottom to keep it safe in a budget ?
Max boost will go 10 to 12 psi


i did exactly what u are trying to do but i took a slightly different approach to reach my hp goals which i was able to do i make 610 on exactly 10psi. i used an iron 5.3 bored to ls1 bore size but i did not use 317 heads inused 853 heads with -3cc pistons which is pretty much flat top pistons. my truck doesnt feel gutless out of boost because the compression ratio stayed the same. i used an on3 88mm which is a small turbo not a real 88mm at all. with 3.27 gears and 10lbs i am at 600 to the wheels l use a 230/230 615 on a 115 works good 80lb injectors stealth aeromotive fuel pump all.in all simple set up drives well in the street spools up fast th400 3800 stall nothing real expensive mostly second hand parts
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Old Oct 16, 2016 | 04:18 PM
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Thats sounds good , which pistons you have used ,
Do i need to porte the heads for better performance or just replacing the valve spring and the other stuff ?
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Old Oct 16, 2016 | 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted by M16
Thats sounds good , which pistons you have used ,
Do i need to porte the heads for better performance or just replacing the valve spring and the other stuff ?
got my cam from martin smallwood he specd it for my setup and i ordered rhe brian tooley 660 springs eith it as a kit no port work all factory junk man stock 853 heads stock ls6 intake with holley fuel rails wiseco pistons eagle rods but honestly u could probbly do it on stock bottom end but i dont know your budget
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Old Oct 16, 2016 | 11:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Dimeomboost
got my cam from martin smallwood he specd it for my setup and i ordered rhe brian tooley 660 springs eith it as a kit no port work all factory junk man stock 853 heads stock ls6 intake with holley fuel rails wiseco pistons eagle rods but honestly u could probbly do it on stock bottom end but i dont know your budget
am not having any budget problems but am planing to do the job step by step to enjoy the car , i dont want to do everything in one time , so as i said 317 heads with BEEHIVE VALVE SPRINGS ,STEEL SPRING RETAINERS,STEEL VALVE LOCKS and VALVE STEM SEALS as i hv mentioned the two cam option which one will give the good preference, next step to upgrade the bottom with forge pistons & rods btw the engine swapped to a subaru
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Old Oct 17, 2016 | 01:39 AM
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Umm.. I thought aftermarket / more aggressive cams was a no go with turbos.. better to keep it stock or very similar to stock.

And I believe 1.10 A/R is a bit on the big/laggy side for an LS1.. around 0.8 A/R max. would be better.
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Old Oct 17, 2016 | 04:38 AM
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Originally Posted by ChevFTW
Umm.. I thought aftermarket / more aggressive cams was a no go with turbos.. better to keep it stock or very similar to stock.

And I believe 1.10 A/R is a bit on the big/laggy side for an LS1.. around 0.8 A/R max. would be better.
You can get turbo aftermarket cams made specifically for turbocharged vehicles from BTR liljon ect and they are better for turbocharged cars than a normal cam, now a NA aftermarket cam would be bad for a Turbo car yes. Like my aftermarket NA cam would be horrible for my turbo build right now.
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Old Oct 17, 2016 | 05:16 AM
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Originally Posted by Ragna
You can get turbo aftermarket cams made specifically for turbocharged vehicles from BTR liljon ect and they are better for turbocharged cars than a normal cam, now a NA aftermarket cam would be bad for a Turbo car yes. Like my aftermarket NA cam would be horrible for my turbo build right now.
Yeh but the cam he mentioned doesn't seem to be for turbo applications.




WTF is with this forum? Every time I'm here my laptop plays up, it tells me to recover the page... and it just took me 20 minutes to log in! *****! I don't have these problems with any other website.
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 02:29 AM
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Thats cool guys , okay what about the ls9 cam what do ineed to replace to get that cam fit in my ls1 , i noticed ls2 timing chain , ls2 timing cover , sensor , do i need to change the timing gear ? What els ? Pac 1218 valve spring ? Ls7 lifter ? What about all of these items it could work great withn my low budget
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 02:31 AM
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Originally Posted by ChevFTW
Yeh but the cam he mentioned doesn't seem to be for turbo applications.




WTF is with this forum? Every time I'm here my laptop plays up, it tells me to recover the page... and it just took me 20 minutes to log in! *****! I don't have these problems with any other website.
Thats right its for N/A motors
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 02:34 AM
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Originally Posted by Ragna
You can get turbo aftermarket cams made specifically for turbocharged vehicles from BTR liljon ect and they are better for turbocharged cars than a normal cam, now a NA aftermarket cam would be bad for a Turbo car yes. Like my aftermarket NA cam would be horrible for my turbo build right now.
Am not sure which cam to get , ma friends telling me ls9 cam will work great , an some of them they telling to get aftermarket custom cam am a bit confused help guys
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 03:03 AM
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WHY are you so OBSESSED with getting a damn cam????????????

LEAVE THE STANDARD ONE IN THERE.
You don't need some fully sick hectic cam on a turbo motor. People with LS1 turbos make a crap load of power with STOCK CAMSHAFTS.

Forget what your friends are telling you. You'll just be throwing your money away on an aftermarket cam + stressing out more for nothing.
Concentrate on your turbo setup, make sure you get the right sized turbo, wastegate, bof, exhaust, injectors... and the "insurance/strength" side of things like valve springs...

FORGET THE CAM! End of story.
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 06:45 AM
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Originally Posted by ChevFTW
WHY are you so OBSESSED with getting a damn cam????????????

LEAVE THE STANDARD ONE IN THERE.
You don't need some fully sick hectic cam on a turbo motor. People with LS1 turbos make a crap load of power with STOCK CAMSHAFTS.

Forget what your friends are telling you. You'll just be throwing your money away on an aftermarket cam + stressing out more for nothing.
Concentrate on your turbo setup, make sure you get the right sized turbo, wastegate, bof, exhaust, injectors... and the "insurance/strength" side of things like valve springs...

FORGET THE CAM! End of story.
Dude has a point u can use the stock one and make power, turbo cams are about maximizing the power you get from turbos not about being the go to for turbos. I am just going to try and trade my NA one for a boost cam or just sell it outright and use my stock ls1 cam, I also have a free cam kit from BTR that i won so i guess i dont have this issue? Id buy the valve train components before i buy the actual cam, like springs, lifters, seats, trunion upgrade...ect...
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 06:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Ragna
Dude has a point u can use the stock one and make power, turbo cams are about maximizing the power you get from turbos not about being the go to for turbos. I am just going to try and trade my NA one for a boost cam or just sell it outright and use my stock ls1 cam, I also have a free cam kit from BTR that i won so i guess i dont have this issue? Id buy the valve train components before i buy the actual cam, like springs, lifters, seats, trunion upgrade...ect...
Originally Posted by ChevFTW
WHY are you so OBSESSED with getting a damn cam????????????

LEAVE THE STANDARD ONE IN THERE.
You don't need some fully sick hectic cam on a turbo motor. People with LS1 turbos make a crap load of power with STOCK CAMSHAFTS.

Forget what your friends are telling you. You'll just be throwing your money away on an aftermarket cam + stressing out more for nothing.
Concentrate on your turbo setup, make sure you get the right sized turbo, wastegate, bof, exhaust, injectors... and the "insurance/strength" side of things like valve springs...

FORGET THE CAM! End of story.
I will go through your recommendations , for the valve spring any suggestion ? Turbo size s472 or go to the 3xx tto spool fast to get 500 rwhp om the wheel , btw thanks guys for helping
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 07:07 AM
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500-600whp?

Stock cam, stock heads, stock valvesprings.
Don't touch the long block. Don't complicate things.

The Borg S472 will get you there just fine.
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 07:11 AM
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Originally Posted by JoeNova
500-600whp?

Stock cam, stock heads, stock valvesprings.
Don't touch the long block. Don't complicate things.

The Borg S472 will get you there just fine.
Am having 317 heads with ls9 gasket so how many boost i can go to get 500
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 07:12 AM
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Originally Posted by JoeNova
500-600whp?

Stock cam, stock heads, stock valvesprings.
Don't touch the long block. Don't complicate things.

The Borg S472 will get you there just fine.
I personally wouldnt trust the stock springs to keep the valves closed under boost but thats just me, always over engineer your build so it doesnt break under load. You want a 600whp car? make it withstand 800+ so it will never break. Thats just my two cents. If you are on that tight of a budget dont build it till you can because you will just be fixing **** later anyways when it breaks, build it once, build it right. Id go BTR .600 springs? think thats what i have...also 1 piece pushrods from BTR or whoever you want does not much matter. Might be .660 springs..i can take a picture later and post it.
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 07:14 AM
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Originally Posted by M16
Am having 317 heads with ls9 gasket so how many boost i can go to get 500
you can get 500whp without boost, why bother with it if your goal is so low? Do nitrous at that point, cheaper, less work, and far less of a hassle tbh...at that point you just let the car do the tuning for you once you get the spark plugs worked out. Hell im at 435ish whp with just a cam, exhaust, headers, SLP lid, SLP CAI, if i threw a 100 shot at it id be close to 550whp.
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Old Oct 19, 2016 | 08:31 AM
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Originally Posted by M16
Am having 317 heads with ls9 gasket so how many boost i can go to get 500
I would just leave the stock heads/gaskets on it.
No point in swapping to 317s for 500whp. You can make that with 8 PSI on a 100% stock long block and it last forever.
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Old Oct 20, 2016 | 03:42 PM
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For your power goals an aftermarket camshaft is not needed in any way. Now, if you wanted to have some sound to go along with the build and turn some heads at stop lights then yes a camshaft would be necessary.

Stock cam, stock heads, stock intake, stock short block etc. All just fine for 500-600rwhp with the turbo you've chosen.

I would take the stock springs out and go with a PAC 1218 spring kit which utilizes the OEM retainers and OEM one piece locator/valve stem seal.

I sell the PAC 1218's for 175 shipped if you are interested. I'd also go with an aftermarket 7.400" push rod as well. I sell the push rods for 95 bucks shipped again if you're interested.
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