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I'm a fan of the Truck Norris cam which is supposed to be around 212/224 107lsa with .552/.552 and wondered what a stage 2 version of it would look like. Meanwhile I follow Richard Holdener and in his Sloppy Stage 2 vs the world the Summit 8720r1 (218/227 112+2lsa .600/.600) stuck out to me. It beat the next size up Summit cam in low and mid range and tied it on the top end. I took all that info and did David Vizard's cam lsa formula for a 5.3 with 243 heads and came up with 109lsa being "best" for my combo. I wanted to limit it to 5 degrees overlap so I came up with this cam. What does everyone think of these valve events and thoughts on how the car would behave? The car is a nice day driver, 99% street and 1% test and tunes. My thought is it should pump up the low/midrange over the 8720r1 even more and hopefully tie it up top. It will idle choppier but its got the same overlap as the SS2 which really not that much and is ok with me, I have a Terminator X to tune. I have a 3k stall which should be plenty. I think it should be all done by 6200-6500. The car is a 2000 TA. I think that's all the relevant info.
I've considered it. I'd like something that kicks in a little earlier I think. I don't spend a lot of time up high.
in that case, the 212/218 Texas speed works really well. I had that in my 5.3 Silverado and it would outrun a 350z from a roll or a dead. And it pulled my camper and got 18-20mpg on average. It had a very slight lope. I got the high lift version. I really like that cam.
in that case, the 212/218 Texas speed works really well. I had that in my 5.3 Silverado and it would outrun a 350z from a roll or a dead. And it pulled my camper and got 18-20mpg on average. It had a very slight lope. I got the high lift version. I really like that cam.
gotcha. Summit also has a cam that size. But I would probably prefer the 8720. Don't like it? Specs are very similar to the ghost cam. Kicks in earlier but doesn't carry quite as high.
gotcha. Summit also has a cam that size. But I would probably prefer the 8720. Don't like it? Specs are very similar to the ghost cam. Kicks in earlier but doesn't carry quite as high.
I’ve never run that cam but looking at the specs it should work well for you. I don’t find the ghost cam is soft down low though. And let’s be honest, my combo isn’t exactly geared towards stump pulling bottom end. But it’s responsive and plenty torquey. My combo is
9.4:1 compression 5.3
3800lbs independent rear suspension 3.45 gear ratio, turbocharged with a 1.25 exhaust housing, tight 3800 yank. All things that soak up lower end tq. So the cam you mentioned ought to do quite well.
Cam Motion will grind up a custom cam for as low as $400. I'm sure other places would too.
their cams are pretty conservative and imo not the most powerful. I do realize that they are valvetrwin friendly and its all a tradeoff. More power = more risk. Slower ramps = less risk. Relatively speaking of course.
You should ALWAYS go with a custom grind from a trusted source if you can afford it(not the guy working at the computer using their employers computer program to "spec" you a cam).
Oddly enough my BMW has an LC9 in it that first had the SD powermax plus cam in it when I first put it together. It wouldn't fall out of a tree, it was a dog! I put the high lift summit truck cam in it (I hate saying "stage" anything when referring to a camshaft) but the 8720r1. It runs as good as I could expect for a pretty heavy car with a 5.3l and a 4l80e. I've always had a pretty loose converter in it which is why I expected it to run much better with the Powermax plus cam. I liked the whole idea of that cam, but I was very disappointed.You'll notice there aren't many Dyno videos out there of that cam..
95% of the time a custom grind is not needed.
With all the grinds from even just the mainstream outlets, there IS a grind very close (within a couple degrees) or even spot on for what you need.
Don't waste your money.
DV's LSA computations do nothing to isolate the individual valve events. It's LITERALLY making four changes at once when you change LSA or Adv. by one degree. We''ll see how his entry fares in Eric Weingartner's 408 test though. We're wondering if he sticks to his tables or does something different.
You should ALWAYS go with a custom grind from a trusted source if you can afford it(not the guy working at the computer using their employers computer program to "spec" you a cam).
Oddly enough my BMW has an LC9 in it that first had the SD powermax plus cam in it when I first put it together. It wouldn't fall out of a tree, it was a dog! I put the high lift summit truck cam in it (I hate saying "stage" anything when referring to a camshaft) but the 8720r1. It runs as good as I could expect for a pretty heavy car with a 5.3l and a 4l80e. I've always had a pretty loose converter in it which is why I expected it to run much better with the Powermax plus cam. I liked the whole idea of that cam, but I was very disappointed.You'll notice there aren't many Dyno videos out there of that cam..
Edit: grammatical goofup
After 27yrs of LS engine development I doubt a custom grind will gain much of anything on most builds. Certainly not on a stock head 5.3. There aren't many dynos of that SD cam because it hasn't been available that long and most people don't post dyno vids of cam 5.3 / 6.0's anymore. That being said I have the regular power max cam(204/222 .550 .570 112 with LS6 springs) in my 4wd 5.3 Yukon. Baseline stock with E fans was 239whp/269wtq. With the cam/tbss intake/ 1 3/4 headers it made 322whp/313wtq. The power max cam does want a lot more timing in the tip in and part throttle areas. Otherwise, it runs and pulls great. No problems pulling my 17ft deep v boat down the highway. Very seldom has to unlock the converter. And the gearing is super long with the 32" tires. First gear- 51mph shift @ 6300rpm, Second gear 96mph. So it would likely wake up a ton if it had a 4.10 or 4.30 gear but it still does fine.
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How would this "custom" cam perform on a 5.3? 
