Hi All. I've been contemplating a camswap in my 2004 5.7L GTO for a while now.

I've researched for countless hours reading on here and many other places and I have at least settled on the fact that the smallest I would go is a Summit 8720 (218/227, .600, .600, 112+2) with an overlap of -1.5. The largest I would go is the FTI Streetsweeper HT (228/232, .612, .600, 111+3) with an overlap of 8. So basically somewhere between 218 and 228 on the intake side for good driving manners. Torque (low and mid range) is more important to me than hp because I don't go to redline all that often. Thus, I like cams with tighter LSAs because they typically skew towards more lower end torque.

I've also considered some Rick Crawford racing cams since he has had great success with LS3 headed cars like the G8 and SS. They use a wider split between intake and exhaust but he would grind me something custom and suited for an ls1 like a 225/233, .612, .612, 111+3. Rick has updated lobes now, but the below video shows his older 223/231, .625, .625, 111 in an ls1 with just shaved 243 heads and a tbss intake. 400tq from 3k to 5700 RPMs. And 350 tq from 2400 to 6500. Almost supercharger numbers.


Anyhow, would it be unwise to use any of these cams with stock lifters? Car has 113K miles. I was hoping to just do a cam swap now because pulling heads would be much a bigger project and bring with it many other projects like a clutch upgrade, injectors, long tubes (right now I have shorty headers and high flow mids), steering rack swap, etc. Is .612 lift too high? Would the summit 8720 with .600, .600 even be too much? I could potentially even use a different truck cam like the Summit 8713 with specs 222/232, .550, .550, 112+5 if the lower lift would be easier on the valvetrain.

Let me know your thoughts. Also if you have any other suggestions, cam selection or otherwise, I am all ears. Thanks!

 

I have the old BTR stage 2 227/234 and it's quite streetable. As for lifters, spend the money and replace them either with BTR LS7 or Morel lifters.

 

Ive had a lot of different cams over the years on various Fbodys but I have to say, on my old manual WS6 I had a Thunder Racing 230/232 .595/.595 Lift on 114 lsa and that was by far my favorite for a street cam. That combo just worked.. sounded great at idle, pulled like crazy and just felt like it had power everywhere.

 

gotcha. If I pulled the heads, I would indeed use morel 7717s. They seem to do really well for people

 

they replaced the btr stage 2 with a red hot cam with a crazy split. More of a ls3 split. 221/24X, .619, .617 on a 113.

What do you think about these lifts? Kinda high for an ls1 or not an issue? Is higher lift worse for stock lifters?

 

Lifters see spring pressure and oscillation. Not affected by amount of lift.
Lift affects springs and rockers more than other parts.

 

Now, I'd order the Cam Motion Titan 4. They also have a cam with 229 duration but I'm not sure what that extra degree really gets you.

 

interesting. So I was thinking about using as low as spring pressure as possible, like 1218s with 310lbs or if I went over .600 lift then 1219s. Good idea to save stock lifters? Dual springs have over 400lbs of pressure

 

2 degrees but yeah. it's 227, 232, .612, .595, 113+4.

I love the specs of their hot rod cam as well. 227, 237, .595, .587, 111+4. Overlap is a little high though at 10.