Completely agree on light clutch. I was hung up on the cam specs.

 

Yup. It isnt constipated

 

its about the deal to me when I’m a 20 year old college student going to school full time delivering pizzas to fund my car addiction. Just trying to LS swap my Chevelle for fun and daily drive it.

Sorry to the OP should’ve said nothing about my clutch set up and just gave the cam suggestion, which I received from a few very knowledgeable people on this forum.

 

That's cool.....the deal is sometimes working with what you have. You'll typically learn more like that.

From the first time i ran my car to the last time i ran my car it picked up 1.5 second and as much as 13mph with the same stock cam that came in the ls6. On top of that it didn't get run in it's most powerful form. And i guarantee ya i woulda stretched that to 1.8 second if i hadn't of hurt it.

So when i tell ya it's not about the cam......it's not about the cam. Atleast not until you get some of the other bases covered. Then the right cam could really improve your power.

 

When I originally did my swap the LS7 clutch was suggested as it is heavier and easier to drive. And at the time I wasn't so focused on all out performance. The car orignially was just a fun nice day cruiser but that quickly changed and a few years later now I want to wake it up some more. However, I want some attitude out of the thing and a cam is the way to go. I've done some light reading on air flow rates in comparison with lift and duration etc so I know that yes, I can easily go way too big on cam and kill how the car runs just to say I have a big cam in there, which is why I'm asking. So yeah, being a bit infantile of wanting a car sitting at a light that gets people looking.

I don't expect stock driving manners... And don't want "stock" driving manners, just don't want something I have to rev out to 7000 to hit peak and it can still cruise in 6th at 1500 on flat highway. Shoving it down to 3rd and ripping around someone with a nasty sound coming out the back is part of the fun of the car. Just a weekend warrior car. I live in New Brunswick, I'm not dealing with much traffic, certainly nothing like Toronto or Montreal... And being in Canada, the decision to just upgrade a clutch is not cheap, as we pay an extra 32% to match your $ and then there is shipping and duties, so parts are 75% or more expensive once we get them here.

HioSSilver I greatly appreciate your input, your car obviously performs and you obviously know what you're doing, so a clutch upgrade will be on my radar... I think I'm tearing up my input bushing anyways so I may be going in there sooner than I expect.

I spent last summer building and racing a 4cyl car for our local asphalt circle track, ended up winning a race and 3rd in the season as a rookie in a class of well built cars and experienced drivers, came very close to setting a track record in a year where it seemed the top 5 cars were faster and faster every week as we were really dialing them in. And before that I spent a decade racing MX seriously and my big focus as far as the bike was, was suspension as I raced a 250f in a class full of 450s. I had a note book full of settings for different tracks and conditions, and had some money in my suspension set up.
My T/A has full tubular adjustable rear suspension, and I'm working on the geometry of it this summer. Will be doing a weight jack set up, good strut mounts, shocks etc and won't be going cheap on tires either.
Brakes are LS1 swapped with high quality pads and rotors, so as far as that stuff goes, the car is alright.

Considering the BTR stage 2 cam now, bringing the duration down a bit from what I was previously looking at.
Heads are very likely in my future, just not this spring. I'm one of those people that can get carried away with projects like these, I've had to talk myself out of an LSA blower a few times... At least until I get an 8.8 or similar in the back of the car.

 

Lotsa truth in that first statement!
And I like the second one! Too many jump onto the "magic" cam that's gonna transform a stock motor into a fire-breathing ET eater, when it's all the other details that should be addressed first. Mainly heads as far as the engine proper, as you have said. Good stuff!

 

I learned the cam isn't necessarily the go to mod out of broke ***-ness and the need to have the utmost reliability. I used to run all over cammed cars in my 2000 SS that had the stock cam and stock **** heads. It had an LS6 intake, long tubes, lanes true duals and a Yank stall and 3.73's. The highly efficient Yank stall and lanes true duals I think were the key things that helped me beat cammed cars that had single 3" and cheap tci stalls.. I even beat a couple stick shift manual trans cars on the highway. It ran 7.6 in the 1/8th on really heavy ZR1 wheels and a system in it. I learned cams aren't always the answer by happenstance. I drove the car 1000 miles a week and drove it really far distances and I was concerned about valve spring life with a decent size cam so the only thing done to the long block was LS6 valve springs. So I fully agree a cam should come last or near last, in a really well done, really well matched, overall setup. I didn't beat all cammed cars, but I beat a lot that were cam and bolt ons only. I couldn't beat a heads cam and FAST intake car with dual exhaust though. Those usually ran 7.2 ish or so. But I wasn't too far off with just a couple of really good bolt ons and a tune.

Also consider the gains when everything is done, then doing a cam, vs doing a cam then everything else. You'll get more acceleration from a well breathing setup than a choked up cam, or over cammed setup..
My current truck has picked up 20 mph over stock, and it's got a stock cam, heads, and intake, even has a OEM catback, but it's from a 6.2 truck so it's a good match to my setup. Throwing a cam in it wouldn't have done that on it's own, but once I do a cam it's gonna come alive now that it can breathe.

I don't deny that the cam is a piece of the entire puzzle. But it needs to fit. And too small is better than too big.

 

Pooter....what's a stupid *** flap?

 

Best name I could come up for it.

It's a dumb *** flap on a spring that comes in the 2014+ trucks, believe it's half ton trucks only. From what I understand it's there for when your v8 goes into ricer mode. It takes up probably 85-90% of the exhaust pipe.





At 27 seconds

 

Im running a Btr stage 3 and it is definetly a head turner. make sure you have a good tuner because cam surge between 1500 and 2000 is an issue

 

that is a stupid *** flap.

 

 

How nice of GM to put a choke hold on your HP production. Was there a noticeable increase in power and/or throttle response?

 

Increase in power and mpg. Very noticeable in both. But I did a straight through muffler at the same time so both contributed.

The day I did the muffler and cut it out I saw 16 mpg on e85 for the first time ever. highest before was around 12. I also had my mom with me that day so I was easier on the throttle than usual but we drove for hours around town and up and down the highway and cruised down town.

At my little test spot it gained 3 mph, it's approx 1000 feet (my best guess) and uphill

When I wedged it open, I didn't notice a change. Even wedged open it's good restriction to flow.

 

I'm currently doing a re build on my LS1 I don't want to rev past the stock LS6 rev limit of 6500 rpm either, I had Crow cams here in Australia do me a custom cam or 217/228 110 LSA (with 0 advance ground in) 2.7 degree overlap on installing I'll likely install it with +2 retard for 219/230. I'm confident It will peak just under 6000 rpm and pull cleanly to 6500 without losing power . When I change gears with m6 it will drop RPM from 6500 to around 5000 and unlike my last cam it will have negligible drop in power when I change. From numerous comparisons I've made I'd estimate difference in 0 to 60 mph times which is primarily what I use it for and a 230 duration Cam is likely to be to be much less than 1/4 second.

If I was using my car for racing or had an auto with torque converter Id think there was really a benefit extending the rpm to 6800 rpm and I'd choose another 10 degrees duration approx.

 

Retarding it does not increase duration.

 

Yes but it pushes the usable rpm further up in the rpm range similar to increasing duration alternatively advancing it lowers it.

 

True, but there is not the gain in power as if the duration actually increased. Really can't correlate the two.

 

Thanks I did not know there was not a direct correlation, appreciate the info, I've read lots of your posts. Ill reconsider retarding it.

​​​​​Regards Tim

 

Changing cam timing manipulates how much power it makes at a given rpm and IS A TRADE OFF

You retard it for upper rpm power, and lose low rpm power

You advance it for low end, and lose top end

If you do not want to rev the motor don't retard the cam

That's the beauty of VVT. It advances the cam at low rpm and retards it at upper rpm and gives you a BROADER power range, but it doesn't technically increase power in the way that more duration would.

Lets say you measured max power at 5000 rpm. You could manipulate the cam timing to change the power number. If you added some duration to that cam you would make more power AND still be able to manipulate the power at that RPM by changing the cam timing. And if you compared both cams, the higher duration cam (as long as it wasn't too much, were talking if you did say 10 more degrees duration which you easily could with a cam that size) would make more at the same timing. There's a ton more too it but that's a simplistic look at it.

Oh and that cam is way too small lol. You'd get more power by doing other things.