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I have a iron 6.0 in my 67 chevelle. 4L60 - 9" 3:50
I have ported 853 heads, LS6 cam, LS6 springs,shorty headers. I just got back from a 1,700 mile trip and the car works great. Generic tune in a stock ECM. It got 20.7mpg on the trip that included numerous 75mph freeway runs for hours on end and mountain driving. It will get 23+ at 60.
. Anyways, anyone have good cam recommendations ? I'm not looking for anything radical as I actually drive this thing but wouldn't mind a bit more power but don't want to loose on the mpg. I know I'm asking a lot.
Just wanted to see if I could find a good winter project. (Ok, the main reason is my buddies new Skat Pack Challenger pulls on me a bit and I want to keep him in line. 😁
Which LS6 cam?? There are two, early (204/211, .525/.525, 116) and late (204/218,.555/.551, 117.5)
Cam Motion has their LS1 Stage 1 (210/216, .553/.553, 116+3) which would give a bit of a kick without wrecking your present smooth characteristics.
Which LS6 cam?? There are two, early (204/211, .525/.525, 116) and late (204/218,.555/.551, 117.5)
Cam Motion has their LS1 Stage 1 (210/216, .553/.553, 116+3) which would give a bit of a kick without wrecking your present smooth characteristics.
very good question that I don't know the answer to. I may call summit and see if they have it on file.
On your future cam, is a bit of lope allowed? If so, the doors open to a bunch more cams.
Cam Motion, Texas Speed, and Summit have some great cams that would fit your situation pretty well.
Call and talk to each of the sponsors G Atsma mentioned and tell them what you want out of a cam swap. They might even suggest a custom cam instead of an off the shelf
I have a LQ9 with TEA 243 heads milled Smallwood Racing Development cam 228-232 112+2 4l60e 342:1 rear swapped in a "71 RS Camaro. I haven't been on a long ride yet. Combined driving mpg with no interstate driving it gets 18mpg. I was hoping for a little better mpg but it runs extremely strong. I also have an issue with keeping my foot out of it
FWIW - The best bang for the buck performance improvement for your 67 Chevelle would be a higher than stock stall converter. Yank converters are very popular will drive practically stock. Probably a 3200SS or 3600SS. They are lock up converters and won't hurt highway gas mileage. (I have a 3200 Yank TH400 in my 72 Vette w/3.08 gear and can get 19 mpg without lock up on interstate.)
Best of the best would be to also do a cam for maximum rewards 😃 😊 The aftermarket stall will allow more flexibility in cam selection.
For a 6.0, personally I'd be looking at least at a Summit Ghost Cam It's a proven cam and would be best with ~2500 to 2800+ of aftermarket stall.
222/233 Stage 1 Pro LS Ghost Cam. 222/233 115+3, .600/.575 Lift, Ultimate Stealth Cam
Last edited by 99 Black Bird T/A; 11-02-2022 at 08:14 AM.
Thanks for the input so far now I have something to chew on. I'm not opposed to a torque converter. I just don't want to throw the mpg in the toilet but I drive this thing 5k a year and it adds up. I appreciate everyone's suggestions so far. Thank you. Keep them coming.
Since your heads are ported, you can certainly benefit from a cam with more lift. I like @99 Black Bird T/As suggestion of Ghost cam and a torque convertor. I would also swap the shorty headers for long tubes.which will improve power across the entire rpm band, and won't hurt gas mileage (may even mitigate some mpg loss from other changes).
I'm running ported 853 heads and a LS2 intake. I realize the intake isn't the best but what I went with.
As @68Formula mentioned long tune headers will definitely help vs shorties. The long tubes will help optimize additional mod's.
The stock LS2 intake is a sad story. It's a 90mm snout intake that looks so promising but in dyno testing failed to out power the older stock 78mm snout LS6 intake manifold. A Fast 92 or 102 (ideally ported by Mamo etc) will definitely get some very nice overall gains.
Upgrading to 1 3/4 long tube heads, a Fast 92, a 222/233 Ghost Cam and a Yank 3600SS would awaken a beast of a car when the gas pedal was down but still drive nice and civil with a good tune👍.
Alwhite you mentioned your buddy pulls on you a little. Is that from a stand stop or dig? A 3200-3600 stall will improve your chances of beating him . I forgot to mention in my prior post I'm running a Yank spec'd by David for my car. yank PAS3400. I absolutely love it. I locks up super tight and hard
Alwhite you mentioned your buddy pulls on you a little. Is that from a stand stop or dig? A 3200-3600 stall will improve your chances of beating him . I forgot to mention in my prior post I'm running a Yank spec'd by David for my car. yank PAS3400. I absolutely love it. I locks up super tight and hard
I think I could take him from a standing start as he only has 245 tires that will not hook up and my car hooks up great. It's the 30mph roll ons I have trouble with. Lol
As @68Formula mentioned long tune headers will definitely help vs shorties. The long tubes will help optimize additional mod's.
The stock LS2 intake is a sad story. It's a 90mm snout intake that looks so promising but in dyno testing failed to out power the older stock 78mm snout LS6 intake manifold. A Fast 92 or 102 (ideally ported by Mamo etc) will definitely get some very nice overall gains.
Upgrading to 1 3/4 long tube heads, a Fast 92, a 222/233 Ghost Cam and a Yank 3600SS would awaken a beast of a car when the gas pedal was down but still drive nice and civil with a good tune👍.
I got the intake, rails, injectors and a 3-4 adapter for $200 so at the time it worked and I like how the Corvette coil covers work so I went with it. It drives great and gets great mpg. Just looking for a bit more.
i did try a 90mm TB and it was definitely faster but had the normal cheap TB issues. Whistling, fast idle speed. When you were on the gas it was great but driveability suffered so I went back to the truckTB
I got the intake, rails, injectors and a 3-4 adapter for $200 so at the time it worked and I like how the Corvette coil covers work so I went with it. It drives great and gets great mpg. Just looking for a bit more.
i did try a 90mm TB and it was definitely faster but had the normal cheap TB issues. Whistling, fast idle speed. When you were on the gas it was great but driveability suffered so I went back to the truckTB
The stock truck intake is a pretty good intake and sounds like the better intake vs the LS2 intake. 20-ls1-intake-manifolds-tested
Agreed, there's definitely a lot of cheap junk throttle bodies on the internet available. The Nick Williams is excellent but pretty expensive.
If you later decide to get a TBSS or Fast 92/102 maybe this can help with finding the new TB.
WARR Performance makes an excellent quality throttle body equal in quality that performs equal to a Nick Williams for less than half the cost. My tuner was happy with the quality of the WARR TB as well.
My 99T/A & 91 RS have Nick Williams TB's and my 02 Z28 has a Warr TB, speaking from experience with both products. The TB sensors have to be moved over to the WARR or Summit has new ones for like ~$80.
So, let's say you've got your trans/converter/gears where you want them.
To get more power, without hurting fuel efficiency, I would look at:
Get your compression ratio up. Not sure which 6.0 / pistons you have, or where your head CCs are, but in general, higher compression will gain power while maintaining or gaining efficiency.
Improved heads. Again, could depend on exactly how good the ported LS1 heads are, maybe nothing to gain here. Ported/milled 243s, Ported/milled 5.3 heads, or aftermarket may improve flow as get the compression ratio up.
Improved intake. Pretty much *Anything* is better than an LS2 factory intake. A Dorman replacement LS2 intake would be a great direct bolt in, but they got crazy in price lately. An LS6 would be find. If you can clear it, a TBSS manifold is a great budget option, and the best you can get in a factory intake.
Cam... likely something in the 210-220 range on the intake. I would talk directly with someone like Brian Tooley Racing, who is doing a lot of development lately on these small cams. The latest stuff I've seen from them on Richard Holdener's youtube channel is a little different mindset, with larger intake/exhaust splits than cams from a few years ago, showing some good results of adding high end without hurting the low end.
Tuning.. once you get it all together, get a great tune, someone who knows how to tune the cruise region, injector angles, etc. Many tuners are focused on power first and drivability second, and efficiency is not always in the conversation.
On the throttle body, I run a WARR 92mm on my LQ4, and their 102mm on my 403" LS2. I have no issues with either in several years. I have no issues getting idle speeds good. I do get some whistling on my 92mm. On my 102, I ported the idle passage and its not so loud. I will pull the 92 and port that one someday.
For reference, I run a 223/231 with a lot of lift (0.637/0.617) and aggressive ramps in my 6.0. (LQ4, stock c.r., CNC'd heads, TBSS intake, long tubes) It has a small amount of lope to it, but drives like stock with my Yank PT3200. I would guess you want a little less duration. My mileage isn't great, but its in a lifted GMC Jimmy 4wd, and I only do city driving.
The stock truck intake is a pretty good intake and sounds like the better intake vs the LS2 intake. 20-ls1-intake-manifolds-tested
Agreed, there's definitely a lot of cheap junk throttle bodies on the internet available. The Nick Williams is excellent but pretty expensive.
If you later decide to get a TBSS or Fast 92/102 maybe this can help with finding the new TB.
WARR Performance makes an excellent quality throttle body equal in quality that performs equal to a Nick Williams for less than half the cost. My tuner was happy with the quality of the WARR TB as well.
My 99T/A & 91 RS have Nick Williams TB's and my 02 Z28 has a Warr TB, speaking from experience with both products. The TB sensors have to be moved over to the WARR or Summit has new ones for like ~$80.
So, let's say you've got your trans/converter/gears where you want them.
To get more power, without hurting fuel efficiency, I would look at:
Get your compression ratio up. Not sure which 6.0 / pistons you have, or where your head CCs are, but in general, higher compression will gain power while maintaining or gaining efficiency.
Improved heads. Again, could depend on exactly how good the ported LS1 heads are, maybe nothing to gain here. Ported/milled 243s, Ported/milled 5.3 heads, or aftermarket may improve flow as get the compression ratio up.
Improved intake. Pretty much *Anything* is better than an LS2 factory intake. A Dorman replacement LS2 intake would be a great direct bolt in, but they got crazy in price lately. An LS6 would be find. If you can clear it, a TBSS manifold is a great budget option, and the best you can get in a factory intake.
Cam... likely something in the 210-220 range on the intake. I would talk directly with someone like Brian Tooley Racing, who is doing a lot of development lately on these small cams. The latest stuff I've seen from them on Richard Holdener's youtube channel is a little different mindset, with larger intake/exhaust splits than cams from a few years ago, showing some good results of adding high end without hurting the low end.
Tuning.. once you get it all together, get a great tune, someone who knows how to tune the cruise region, injector angles, etc. Many tuners are focused on power first and drivability second, and efficiency is not always in the conversation.
On the throttle body, I run a WARR 92mm on my LQ4, and their 102mm on my 403" LS2. I have no issues with either in several years. I have no issues getting idle speeds good. I do get some whistling on my 92mm. On my 102, I ported the idle passage and its not so loud. I will pull the 92 and port that one someday.
For reference, I run a 223/231 with a lot of lift (0.637/0.617) and aggressive ramps in my 6.0. (LQ4, stock c.r., CNC'd heads, TBSS intake, long tubes) It has a small amount of lope to it, but drives like stock with my Yank PT3200. I would guess you want a little less duration. My mileage isn't great, but its in a lifted GMC Jimmy 4wd, and I only do city driving.
11-01-2022, 05:21 PM
Help me pick a cam. 6.0 
. I forgot to mention in my prior post I'm running a Yank spec'd by David for my car. yank PAS3400. I absolutely love it. I locks up super tight and hard 
