"The Ultimate Small Street-Cam Stackup"

Hey All....

I'd like some assistance in choosing the best all-around "street-cam" for my application. I am looking for the cam that will deliver the best street driveability & mannerisms, idle-quality, torque, and horsepower. The cam will need to work in conjunction with a set of mildly-ported LS6-Heads. Details are below. Easy task, right?

Anyways, my car is an '02 Firehawk LS1, M6 transmission. Mods include all the basic bolt-ons, StainlessWorks longtube headers, Predator programmer, LM-1 Wideband, and my currently installed cam is an '02 LS6. My car is used only on the street - no 1/4 mile track usage; and it is not my daily driver - strictly a sunny weather vehicle. Since its used on the street to/from work, I need it to have near-stock behaviors - in idle quality, driveability, cruising, etc. It has to idle fine on cold & warm startups (no surging/stalling), handle 0-20mph stop-and-go rush hour traffic, and cruise nicely at 75mph. I will gladly give up HP to retain stock-like driveability & mannerisms , but still want to get an increased kick-in-the-pants dose of power. I favor an increased amount of low-end and midrange torque over my current LS6-cam setup.

The reason for choosing an upgraded street cam is that I also am going to be installing a set of LS6 Heads. I plan on having the heads mildly ported (Stage-I, maybe Stage-II) prior to installation, keeping the runner sizing as small as possible (215-220cc or less) to retain as much low-end torque as possible. I feel my current LS6 Cam will no longer be "good enough" - especially to complement the extra flow that that ported LS6 Heads will have. So, now I have to choose a cam to complement the heads, .

So, with that all said, my knowledge of choosing a proper cam is not the best, so I would appreciate it if ya'll can help me in my decision. I pulled out a few contenders and listed them below (along with my current '02 LS6 cam) for comparison. Which of these will do the best *overall* job of meeting my goals?

How would you rank these street cams - in order from best-to-worst - using HP & Torque, Idle-Quality, and Driveability as your measureables?

............................... Duration ........ Lift ........... LSA
Baseline:
'02 LS6......................204 / 218 ... .551 .541 ..... 117.5

The Contenders:
Futral FM-F2-114....... 224 / 224 ... .586 .586 ...... 114
Futral GM-F5-114....... 224 / 228 ... .586 .581 ...... 114
MTI Stealth II............ 224 / 220 ... .576 .581 ...... 116
TSP 4-224114............ 224 / 224 ... .566 .566 ...... 114
TSP 4-224114R.......... 224 / 224 ... .581 .581 ...... 114
TR 220/220-114......... 220 / 220 ... .553 .553 ...... 114
TR 224/224-114......... 224 / 224 ... .563 .563 ...... 114
LPE GT2-3................. 207 / 220 ... .573 .580 ..... 117.5
others?

Which of these will do the best *overall* job of meeting my goals?


Thanks for the help. Sorry for the long novel above...

 

without knowing the duration at .006, and .200 you cant really make an accurate distinction between them. most though are on an XE or XE-R lobe or equavalent. you cant go wrong with any of the above, though personally i'd knock the gt2-3 off the list.

you might as well ask

blonde w/ pink panties
brunette with red panties
red head w/ white panties
black hair with lace panties

can you really go wrong

 

Long story short...... TR 224/224 114 LSA. It's the most proven cam for power and streetability on this board, period.

 

I'd go with the MTI Stealth II cam with the LS6 heads. That cam is suppose to idle good, get good fuel mileage and run pretty fast. That would be a good sleeper set up

 

FMS cams. No ones has said those yet Whatever lobes he uses work.

 

Id look at a 218 114 single pattern cam. This would probably give you the best lowend torque and drivability.

 

The 224/224 114 cams require very little compromise on drivability and will provide a solid bump in power. The MTI stealth and TR 220 will make a few HP less but should be even closer to stock in drivability. I'd vote for the MTI stealth or 224/224 116 +4.
LPE cam isn't in the running.

I'll take the red head with the no panties option.

 

"I will gladly give up HP to retain stock-like driveability & mannerisms"

The Stealth II is for you...and I DON'T think you'll be giving up any HP worth mentioning (if any) as compared to a 224 with a 112-114 LSA.

 

Here is a link to our cam page. We have designed many of our cams for low end torque and streetlight to streetlight performance. Call if you have any questions or concerns. Joe.
http://www.vincihighperformance.com/...%20LS1%202.htm

 

mti B1 cam....I made 386 at the rear wheels, stock heads

 

subscribing

 

I highly doubt that.

If your statement was true then everyone would be running these cams.

How many Stealth II cam's have hit 400rwhp cam only?

How many people other than you are running a Stealth II cam?

Colonel MTI

 

MTI's Stealth I here!

Made 405rwhp/375rwtq last year with an LS1 intake on car, have since installed an LS6 intake. At a dyno day a couple of months ago the car pulled 398rwhp/382rwtq, so lost a few hp probably due to not re-tuning car for LS6, but gained torque across the whole curve. All this with 4 year old Stage 1 LS1 CNCed heads from MTI, a comparable set of stage 1 LS6 heads should turn up a few more ponies.

Silky smooth idle, no lope, pulls hard in all gears 1-4, no stumbling in stop-n-go traffic, gets stock 28 mpg on the highway, this cam is hard to beat!...Randy

 

I personally would take:

Futral GM-F5-114....... 224 / 228 ... .586 .581 ...... 114

IF AND ONLY IF, it has 0 or any negative overlap .... you might need a 112 LSA to get that .... also, what is the ground in advance???

 

Hmmmm.... Lots of differing opinions (which is fine, BTW). KEEP THEM COMING!!!

I suppose an additional question to also ask would be.... "Is the new cam a worthwhile upgrade over the LS6-cam (for MY application), to go thru the expense and time of swapping them around?"

(My guess is a resounding YES!)

 

Any of those cams will drive fine if you get a good tune, with that being said, go with the F5.

 

I was exactly in your situation running the LS6 cam and wanting something bigger that would work well as my SS is a DD. I opted for the TR224 112LSA and couldn't be happier with the power and performance. As to your choices knock the LPE cam off the list and you will find that those cams are all about the same, one of them will not blow the others out of the water. Since you will be adding higher flowing heads that can take advantage of a higher lift cam I would opt for the Futral cams, MTI ST II, TSP 224R. However the TR 224 cams are proven performers and I love mine. Driveability after an LS1 edit tune is night and day difference in driveability and street manners compared to being untuned.

 

If your statement was true then everyone would be running these cams. Is that so? Then why aren't they? No, I believe that my statement can be 100% true and still people would not choose to run my cam. It could be that some people WANT a little lope. Perhaps it's because they're closed minded like you and believe that a 112-114 LSA magically means subtantially lower ETs? <snicker> Perhaps they want to shift at only 6300-6400 RPM? There could be alot of reasons that more people don't run this cam but it doesn't mean that my statement holds no water.

How many Stealth II cam's have hit 400rwhp cam only? How many cam only Stealth cams are even out there? Any? I don't know that anyone has even tried. Maybe they have. I don't know. Seems to be the best kept secret in cams. What's more important is not what peak HP numbers are made but rather the numbers they put up at the track. The SSII cam FAR exceded my expectations at the track.
How many people other than you are running a Stealth II cam? Again, there doesn't seem to be many possibly for the reason I mentioned above. It's certainly not because the cam doesn't work and work well. My numbers speak for themselves.

***423 RWHP with an A4, 11.20 at 121.5 MPH with a 3525 lb raceweight, 3.23 gears, and heavy stock wheels. I haven't seen ANY other 224 heads/cam package claim exactly that. Oh, almost forgot...it idles like stock.***

So, one question for you Linear Velocity since you had a few for me. What 224 112-114 cam would have performed substantially better in my car and by how much, in your opinion? Would I have scored 440+ RWHP on the dyno? More imporantly would I have seen 10.9s insead of 11.20 at the track perhaps? I'm just wondering by how much you believe my statement to be false.

And I'm an MTI leghumper because I recommend a 224 cam that I came up with the specs on (never mind the fact that MTI will sell you ANY 224 cam you want. Not like mine is the only one they'll sell.)? I know, maybe MTI is a Colonel leghumper for selling it!?

 

Keep this on the positive, guys.

Colonel - I appreciate the Stealth-II comments. A few Q's, though. What stage-porting are your LS6-heads? Did you need a PCM tune after the Stealth-II install? Where's this cam peak at & how's the 2k-4k rpm torque?

Lastly, got any soundclips of the Stealth-II at idle / revving?

Much Thanks...

 

Smile you have just been