MrTyler1798

Hi I'm building a 5.3 with ls6 heads and ls6 cam what type of power gains would I expect with that cam and heads?

G Atsma

Which LS6 cam? There are two, early and late.

Early- 204/211, .525/.525, 116LSA
Late- 204/218, .551/.547, 116LSA

To be honest, for a 5.3, you would be better off with the early cam, as the late one loses too much low end power.

handyandy496

iTrader: (9)

What were the factory ratings for the ls6's?

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

Since the LS6 heads have larger chambers you'll lose compression and the power will be about the same as before or less, especially torque.. the gains if any will be higher in the RPM range and it's gonna suck if you're putting this in a truck.

If you mill the heads then you may gain 20-30, in the upper rpm range, and you'll lose some down low.

Darth_V8r

iTrader: (4)

I've done the LS6 cam in a 5.3. it makes it a turd

garygnu

consider a GM ASA cam ,I believe it works with GM valve springs .

G Atsma

You probably mean the later cam. The early one actually does pretty well, as it's also the LS2 grind. Now if only it wouldn't float the valves so early....

CattleAc

iTrader: (7)

I run an LS6/Z06 cam in a 5.3 that's in the A-body wagon in my avatar...doesn't have the bottom end I would like it to.

Gets great mileage, good driveability, just not much grunt.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

Even the earlier cam will lose low end over the stock truck cam.

I wonder if anyone every tried an LS6 cam and advanced it a few degrees to see how the low end would look in that scenario...

Darth_V8r

iTrader: (4)

That's kind of what I meant by a turd. no low end grunt. But in a Suburban, that translates into LOST fuel economy, because you constantly need more pedal to get it moving. I thought about advancing it, but the exhaust opens so early that you still lose energy. really, the best thing would have been to just swap in a cam motion drop in cam. If I still had the truck, that's what would happen.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

I fully agree on the cam motion cam. When I had my 04 truck I initially looked at LS6 cams then saw the drop in cams, total no brainer on doing one of those instead. Same valve springs, push rods etc and light years better performance.


Thanks for the insight on the advanced LS6 cam, been kicking that around for a while but I don't yet have the grasp on valve events and how to read the big picture like you do.