Heads cam intake build suggestions
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 18
Likes: 4
Heads cam intake build suggestions Looking for any “while you’re there’s” or been there done that advice. I’m doing my first LS heads cam intake build. It’s a stock 5.7 auto car in a 99 ws6. Currently tagged and running and driving great. So far I’ve got PRC 225 as cast heads, Tsp stage 4 tsunami camshaft. 7.475 tsp chromoly hardened pushrods. Michigan motor sports rockers with trunion upgrade. Still need an intake and throttle body as well as a stall converter. Looking to build an aggressive street car. I’m open to any advice or suggestions . Motor will be out of the car. I’m getting a mellings oil pump. Ls7 lifters also once my money catches up! I forgot the car already has SLP headers and loudmouth II exhaust.Stage 4 Cathedral Camshaft (Tsunami235/240 duration, .629/.615 lift, 111 LSA
Last edited by J.Dexter; Aug 14, 2025 at 08:21 PM.
Figure out what you will do for tuning before changing anything. If you already have this covered and just did not list it, then disregard. However, the tuning forums are constantly full of people who built the hardware, then find they have no idea how to make it run properly. I also notice you did not list fuel injectors, which will definitely be needed, or any other fuel system parts such as a pump, which may (or not) be needed for a 26 year old car.
Headers and a good flowing exhaust. No sense spending money trying to make power, and it all gets choked by the exhaust. Gametech is 100% correct about the tuning. You should budget $750 for a good tuner to make all this work right together. If you skimp on the tune, you’ll hate the way the car runs and sell it. I see it ALL THE TIME.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 18
Likes: 4
Figure out what you will do for tuning before changing anything. If you already have this covered and just did not list it, then disregard. However, the tuning forums are constantly full of people who built the hardware, then find they have no idea how to make it run properly. I also notice you did not list fuel injectors, which will definitely be needed, or any other fuel system parts such as a pump, which may (or not) be needed for a 26 year old car.
yea I actually do plan on buying injectors I was thinking 42lb but that’s somthing I’m looking for input on. Also wondering if my stock fuel pump will handle everything. It’s an OEM pump I just put in 2yrs 1000miles ago. And my plan is to do a tune after everything is together no doubt👍
yea I actually do plan on buying injectors I was thinking 42lb but that’s somthing I’m looking for input on. Also wondering if my stock fuel pump will handle everything. It’s an OEM pump I just put in 2yrs 1000miles ago. And my plan is to do a tune after everything is together no doubt👍
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TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 318
Likes: 52
From: Charleston, SC
Headers and a good flowing exhaust. No sense spending money trying to make power, and it all gets choked by the exhaust. Gametech is 100% correct about the tuning. You should budget $750 for a good tuner to make all this work right together. If you skimp on the tune, you’ll hate the way the car runs and sell it. I see it ALL THE TIME.
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I’m going to second the bigger isn’t always better with camshafts on this one. 235/240 is pretty radical for a ls1. You are really going to need a good tuner that knows how to tune these cars well for drivability. If you don’t care about decent drivability then go for it with this cam. The sweet spot for ls1s seem to be in the 228-232 range for something that makes good power and doesn’t sacrifice drivability.
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 36
Likes: 13
In to put emphasis on the cam choice, especially for a first build. I put in a cam with 11 degrees positive overlap as my first build. I live in BFE Mississippi, zero access to a close tuner. Where you live matters. I took it to Memphis, WOT only, as others mentioned. Unless you pay and wait for a great tuner, you may be doing street tuning yourself and end up hating to drive the thing anyway. Mine won’t idle in closed loop, I had to use a hybrid open loop with only 11 degrees of overlap. Personally, I bought a Cam Motion Titan 4 that I plan to put in when I get time. The word on this forum is 6 degrees positive overlap is the limit for stock-like manners. I’m sure that number goes up with a great tuner.
11 Second Club
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 158
Likes: 15
From: fbg, tx
It’s worth reading this post again. Make sure you have access to a good tuner who has the ability and will spend the time to do a good street tune. I had a ‘tuner’ but he just did WOT tuning. I had a moderate/aggressive cam in an auto with a 3200 stall converter and I lost my desire for the car due to drivability issues after my cam swap - bucking, stalling, gas smell from reversion. In hindsight, I should’ve went with a smaller cam, the 10 hp gain wasn’t worth the loss in drivability. Bigger isn’t always better.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 18
Likes: 4
it also comes down to the tune, i had a tuner that was great for wot but thats it my car drove like a dog and would sound like one taking off the light i also stopped enjoying driving the car. Until i got hp tuners and started messing with my transmission settings man i had my camaro sounding and shifting like a 6th gen camaro.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 436
From: St. Louis
Guys, this thread is making me ache. I don't even know where to begin But I'll try
I'm going to create a build thread of my car soon and I also want to do something of a tutorial on pcm tuning primarily drivability stuff For the big cams because They really can be tamed, and the steps needed to do so I think are a lot simpler. Then some of the earlier threads an info that is written out there. It's pretty straightforward how I do it.
I've taught myself how to do all this over the years and I believe a lot of you guys could get the software and help yourselves along, However I think at some point I really do want to help others out with their tunes because there's no reason any good combination of parts can't drive just like stock with a little bit of patience and forethought given to the maps.
My current setup is 376ci" 11.9:1cr with a 234/246 113 cam with 14° overlap @ 0.050" zero issues
My car cold starts goes straight into gear and drives off just fine Even when it's cold It just gets Even smoother as it warms up just like stock without any driveabillity issues. It's daily drivable complete I can even make it through the McDonald's drive-thru and turn the car off so they can hear me at the speaker and then turn it right back on and drive creep forward just the same when it's hot without surging lmao.
Folks tons of overlap with the older carbureted stuff and never complain you Just have to think about your tune-up like an older machine, You got to twist that distributor back and forth until you get the base dialed in and then go from there right? Yeah more to come!
I'm going to create a build thread of my car soon and I also want to do something of a tutorial on pcm tuning primarily drivability stuff For the big cams because They really can be tamed, and the steps needed to do so I think are a lot simpler. Then some of the earlier threads an info that is written out there. It's pretty straightforward how I do it.
I've taught myself how to do all this over the years and I believe a lot of you guys could get the software and help yourselves along, However I think at some point I really do want to help others out with their tunes because there's no reason any good combination of parts can't drive just like stock with a little bit of patience and forethought given to the maps.
My current setup is 376ci" 11.9:1cr with a 234/246 113 cam with 14° overlap @ 0.050" zero issues
My car cold starts goes straight into gear and drives off just fine Even when it's cold It just gets Even smoother as it warms up just like stock without any driveabillity issues. It's daily drivable complete I can even make it through the McDonald's drive-thru and turn the car off so they can hear me at the speaker and then turn it right back on and drive creep forward just the same when it's hot without surging lmao.
Folks tons of overlap with the older carbureted stuff and never complain you Just have to think about your tune-up like an older machine, You got to twist that distributor back and forth until you get the base dialed in and then go from there right? Yeah more to come!
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 18
Likes: 4
Guys, this thread is making me ache. I don't even know where to begin But I'll try
I'm going to create a build thread of my car soon and I also want to do something of a tutorial on pcm tuning primarily drivability stuff For the big cams because They really can be tamed, and the steps needed to do so I think are a lot simpler. Then some of the earlier threads an info that is written out there. It's pretty straightforward how I do it.
I've taught myself how to do all this over the years and I believe a lot of you guys could get the software and help yourselves along, However I think at some point I really do want to help others out with their tunes because there's no reason any good combination of parts can't drive just like stock with a little bit of patience and forethought given to the maps.
My current setup is 376ci" 11.9:1cr with a 234/246 113 cam with 14° overlap @ 0.050" zero issues
My car cold starts goes straight into gear and drives off just fine Even when it's cold It just gets Even smoother as it warms up just like stock without any driveabillity issues. It's daily drivable complete I can even make it through the McDonald's drive-thru and turn the car off so they can hear me at the speaker and then turn it right back on and drive creep forward just the same when it's hot without surging lmao.
Folks tons of overlap with the older carbureted stuff and never complain you Just have to think about your tune-up like an older machine, You got to twist that distributor back and forth until you get the base dialed in and then go from there right? Yeah more to come!
I'm going to create a build thread of my car soon and I also want to do something of a tutorial on pcm tuning primarily drivability stuff For the big cams because They really can be tamed, and the steps needed to do so I think are a lot simpler. Then some of the earlier threads an info that is written out there. It's pretty straightforward how I do it.
I've taught myself how to do all this over the years and I believe a lot of you guys could get the software and help yourselves along, However I think at some point I really do want to help others out with their tunes because there's no reason any good combination of parts can't drive just like stock with a little bit of patience and forethought given to the maps.
My current setup is 376ci" 11.9:1cr with a 234/246 113 cam with 14° overlap @ 0.050" zero issues
My car cold starts goes straight into gear and drives off just fine Even when it's cold It just gets Even smoother as it warms up just like stock without any driveabillity issues. It's daily drivable complete I can even make it through the McDonald's drive-thru and turn the car off so they can hear me at the speaker and then turn it right back on and drive creep forward just the same when it's hot without surging lmao.
Folks tons of overlap with the older carbureted stuff and never complain you Just have to think about your tune-up like an older machine, You got to twist that distributor back and forth until you get the base dialed in and then go from there right? Yeah more to come!
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 36
Likes: 13
Guys, this thread is making me ache. I don't even know where to begin But I'll try
I'm going to create a build thread of my car soon and I also want to do something of a tutorial on pcm tuning primarily drivability stuff For the big cams because They really can be tamed, and the steps needed to do so I think are a lot simpler. Then some of the earlier threads an info that is written out there. It's pretty straightforward how I do it.
I've taught myself how to do all this over the years and I believe a lot of you guys could get the software and help yourselves along, However I think at some point I really do want to help others out with their tunes because there's no reason any good combination of parts can't drive just like stock with a little bit of patience and forethought given to the maps.
My current setup is 376ci" 11.9:1cr with a 234/246 113 cam with 14° overlap @ 0.050" zero issues
My car cold starts goes straight into gear and drives off just fine Even when it's cold It just gets Even smoother as it warms up just like stock without any driveabillity issues. It's daily drivable complete I can even make it through the McDonald's drive-thru and turn the car off so they can hear me at the speaker and then turn it right back on and drive creep forward just the same when it's hot without surging lmao.
Folks tons of overlap with the older carbureted stuff and never complain you Just have to think about your tune-up like an older machine, You got to twist that distributor back and forth until you get the base dialed in and then go from there right? Yeah more to come!
I'm going to create a build thread of my car soon and I also want to do something of a tutorial on pcm tuning primarily drivability stuff For the big cams because They really can be tamed, and the steps needed to do so I think are a lot simpler. Then some of the earlier threads an info that is written out there. It's pretty straightforward how I do it.
I've taught myself how to do all this over the years and I believe a lot of you guys could get the software and help yourselves along, However I think at some point I really do want to help others out with their tunes because there's no reason any good combination of parts can't drive just like stock with a little bit of patience and forethought given to the maps.
My current setup is 376ci" 11.9:1cr with a 234/246 113 cam with 14° overlap @ 0.050" zero issues
My car cold starts goes straight into gear and drives off just fine Even when it's cold It just gets Even smoother as it warms up just like stock without any driveabillity issues. It's daily drivable complete I can even make it through the McDonald's drive-thru and turn the car off so they can hear me at the speaker and then turn it right back on and drive creep forward just the same when it's hot without surging lmao.
Folks tons of overlap with the older carbureted stuff and never complain you Just have to think about your tune-up like an older machine, You got to twist that distributor back and forth until you get the base dialed in and then go from there right? Yeah more to come!
OP, to put some perspective, he’s referencing an auto. You can live with more when you have an auto stalled correctly. That said, what are you really gaining with a donkey stick? A little more top end, sure. Great at the track, big power under the curve matters more than this post suggests. “Small” cams have performed very well at the track with good manners. It’s your build, but when more voices are suggesting caution - maybe there’s something there. There’s always one guy that’s the expert and better than all the rest of us.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 436
From: St. Louis
