I have a 2002 Pontiac trans am and recently found out that it has a 6.0 in it. I’m pretty sure it is a lq4 or lq9. it’s already cammed but it’s not enough for me. I want to replace the cam myself but I do not understand any of the terminology of it. I’m thinking of replacing it with a stage 4 cam but I have no idea what to look for. The engine is also running with 799 heads. Can anyone tell me which cam to get that is a stage 4 and the pushrods and springs I need as well? Please and thank you!!

 

We really need more information to make any sort of reasonable suggestions. What do you specifically want in a new cam?

Just lope and sound? Probably can have a tuner lower the idle and tweak the tune if that's the goal.

More bottom end, explosive mid range, top end power? Drag race, daily driver, road race or drift car?

All of that specific information matters. Help us help you.

Overlap and Valve Events Editorial - Read great information

What transmission, gears & supporting mods does your ride have? Which intake? Headers or stock exhaust?

This my idea of a big nasty stupid cam in a 6.0, probably half the folks wouldn’t want to drive it in city traffic. It's not for the faint of heart. I wouldn’t want in anything less than 7 liters.

GM Hi Performance Grand Am Cup Camshaft P/N 88958606

Adv. Dur Int./Exh. 294/306, Dur. @.050 Int./Exh. 239/251, Lift .570 .570, Lobe Separation 106, RPM range 4000-700

The above cam has 33 degrees of overlap. That's a very nasty sounding and behaved cam.

Most serious streetable cams are less than 15 degrees of overlap. Stuff like a 239/244 on a 114

Sweet driving street cams are usually less than 5 degree of overlap depending on engine size. Something like 226/234 on a 113 etc

Stock cams are -20 degress or so

 

Slightly unplug cylinder 7 and 2 plug wires and let her eat!

 

I'd read up and then read up some more so you can get a good feel for what the terminology means and what it does. Definitely don't want to take everything all apart and then have to do it again because you made a wrong choice.

 

GM Hi Performance Grand Am Cup Camshaft P/N 88958606 Adv. Dur Int./Exh. 294/306, Dur. @.050 Int./Exh. 239/251, Lift .570 .570, Lobe Separation 106
I need that kind of valve timing in my life, That's about as race car as it gets!

 

I'd look. at a Brian Tooley cam, they have everything from mild to wild but the NA stage 4 with their .660 spring kit, titanium retainers and chromo pushrods would be where I started as well is making sure you have a trunnion upgrade. On a 6.0 I'd expect 450-460 rwhp with all the rest of the supporting mods on a good tune

 

I would get the Donald Thump from Hawks

 

see I’m not completely sure what’s going on with the car simply because when I bought it the man told me it was a “stock” 5.7 LS1 with a cam, headers, no cats and just got tuned by a corvette shop. But my engine started leaking so I got my gaskets replaced and that is when we all found out that it had a 6.0 stamped on the block and the mechanic said that the transmission couldn’t be original either, the rear end isn’t original as well. I guess if you can tell me how to find out all that information that would be awesome!! And as for goals I really want a bit of both world. I want a really choppy idle but I’d really like some hp gains to compete with all these mustangs and Camaros at my school.

 

I was actually just looking at this last night and didn’t seem too bad for me but since it just says “n/a stage 4 cam” how would I know if it won’t be too much lift or duration for my heads until a valve breaks or something like that?

 

I’ve definitely don’t a lot of research about over 3-4 hours of it and all I’ve gotten is that my 799 heads flow at a peak of 250.2 cfm at .7000 of an inch. Ig the problem would be I don’t understand how to put everything together to find the correct cam that will be good for my engine and not reverse the power because the lift or duration is too much.

 

You should work directly with a cam company, like comp cams.

 

Call cam motion and talk to them. I know you are looking at a stage 4 cam but from what company? there are many stage 4 cams out there.

 

Throw Alan Futral into the name game. His cams (ground to his specs by Cam Motion) are great. Pat G. also specs excellent cams. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS: Be HONEST with yourself as to how you'll use your car, THEN relay that info to the cam grinder. IMHO, I prefer Cam Motion over Comp. My .02

 

@jimmytorres113

If you want to hang with the newer cars and get the most out of your car the first question is your 02 TA an automatic or a stick?

A high quality torque converter (Vigilante, Yank, Circle D) will do more for an automatic transmission 02 TA than a cam swap.

Given the car has a 6.0, headers, cam of some sort & was tuned, that should make a very good starting point. How are the tires on the car? Good tires are as much safety as performance. Check the date codes, check for cracks & condition etc.

Can you share a few pictures of your 02 TA with us?

 

I can tell you it's fine if you get the full kit because they are leaders in the lsx world. Everything they have has been tried and true for years. You can always call and they will custom spec you a setup fit your exact needs. I ran a PDB Cam on my ls3 with a gpi intake and was over 480 rwhp, without a blower, Brian Tooley himself helped me spec out my project and it was probably the best running C6 I'd ever been in. 464 hp before intake and tb on CAM ONLY! through a 6l80e

thats going to 100% be your best bet, or GPI Gwatney Performance, though they mostly deal with ls3s and newer now

 

My choice for chop and power that wont break the bank with valvetrain upgrades
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-8702

 

Stage numbers are meaningless. They are basically defined as follows:

Stage 1 - bigger than stock
Stage 2 - more bigger than stock
Stage 3 - even more bigger than stock
Stage 4 - a whole really lot more bigger than stock
Stage 5 - They'll sell it to you if you really insist you want it, but they also think it's a bad idea

For a 6.0 and little other information to work with, your ideal cam size is likely going to be to put the intake lobe in the 228-232 range and the exhaust lobe in the 232-236 range. Anything more than that, and down low will suffer, and the car might actually feel slower vs the cam you have now. If the cam you have now is already in that range, then changing it is an exercise in futility. Larger and larger cams don't just magically generate more power. They generate more power by extending RPM. So, your intake manifold, exhaust system, rear gear, compression ratio, valvetrain, etc really need to also be looked at rather closely to support the RPM necessary to get the performance you expect from a larger cam.

You will truly gain more from optimizing what you have first. Otherwise, if you just go the cam route, you'll end up initially disappointed, start going to various tuners to get it to run right, and each tuner will have recommendations for different reasons why it's not running right, and different parts recommendations. So you'll inevitably start throwing parts at it. Some will help, others won't.

Alternately, if you just want it to thump harder at idle, crank up the adaptive spark settings in the tune, and the constant overcorrecting will sound like a lumpier cam without all the pain in the *** drivability problems.

This is very good advice. I would add changing your rear gear before going into cam upgrade territory, since you'd need to change rear gear to take advantage of a cam swap anyway. 3.73 for auto, 4.11 or even 4.30 for manual.

 

Here's your stage IV Specs from their page

 

Their 460 hp claim isn't hype, they rely on people to send them dyno from their products. I've seen dozens on ls2 gtos with that cam, all around 460 rwhp.

 

With tuning you can make it drive as bad as you want it to and create whatever stage XYZ cam that you want.