I've been searching a lot for others experience with their camshaft setups. I learned early on that excellent results come by attention to detail, not just the breadth of you checking account. I stumbled onto the Life in a Forged Daily Driver thread in the LS2/LS7/L92 section yesterday. If you haven't seen it, there are a few regrets in there about the path that many modders take.

I know that Patrick G and others have tried some relatively mild mannered durations with great numbers and drivability. Some of the results from Pat's Torque Cam, the OMC and CheaTR are simply amazing.

So with that said, who's done it? Who's had it with <blank> and is ready to go with something smaller, or back to stock? What else would you have done differently?

Also, please withhold your response if you "got a TRex and never looked back". I think we've all seen those threads and there is nothing more to learn from them. I'm talking about something that most everyone can live with, not just a track car.

 

You probably read my post in that thread. I started going back to stock today. As strange as it sounds, going back to stock has me more exicted than any of the mods I've ever done. I can't wait until I'm finished

 

Are you saying that you are going back to a factory stock cam in your 427, or are you taking out all mods?

I am a big fan of mild cams in big engines, that´s the reason for asking.

Br//

 

Patrick G also laid out bigger cam numbers that he'd use if he did it again. I forget the thread.

 

All you have to do is drive a bone stock F-body to remind yourself of how nice these cars are before we ruin them. In my opinion, the things that make you hate your car later are:

Too loud of exhaust (especially if it sounds unrefined)
Too loud of valvetrain
Too much vibration and harshness from hard bushings
Too much overlap to the cam...poor street manners
Too loose of torque converter or clutch that chatters
Stinky exhaust

Being that my TA is my 5th LS1 project, I did not want to ruin it. That's why I've taken a no-compromises approach to modding it. The cam I have is about as good of a dual-purpose cam as I've ever had. The only downside is the louder valvetrain. I am at a crossroads of making more power currently. I'm going to do 1 of 3 things in the near future:

1. Keep my current heads/cam 346 and build a slicker, larger nitrous system.
2. Build a larger motor, keep it dual-purpose, but add a bigger nitrous system.
3. Keep stock cubes, drop compression, go milder on cam, then add a blower.
Choice #3 is the most ideal for a mild approach, but it's going to cost a ton to do it right. Driving my bone stock Firehawk reminds me of how nice and quiet these cars are and how fast we can ruin them if we make too many compromises.

 

Funny post, I HATED my modded 2002 Z28, the rough idle, the off road y-pipe fuel odor, the gear whine, etc. All were cool when the parts were first installed, but grew old quickly. When I returned it back to stock to sell, I had forgotten how awesome and fun an LS1 fbody was, how smooth, etc.

Shawn

 

If I read the original post correctly, the 427 is going bye-bye. Very unfortunate experience with a "professional" shop.

 

Patrick,
For all intents and purposes, my car is still stock, and I enjoy it very much. The only performance mod's I have a GMMG cat-back and a lid. At times, I'm not so sure I want it any louder. I've read with great interest your experience with the CheaTR cam because you don't have to have headers to get a substantial performance gain.

Personally, I think the best approach is to try and enhance the existing performance envelope of the stock setup, rather than trade torque for HP and drivability/reliability for an extra 20-25 hp. I think you've found at least two different ways to accomplish that.

 

if i had to do it again i would just have put a turbo on my SS and not mess with the heads and cams like i did twice and spend the same amount of money or even less and have more power.

 

Pansy's all of you

Ok ok I'll admit it... driving my mother's stock, based suspension, '99 vert 6-speed can be more relaxing than my car, but when it's time to play nothing beats the modded Z06.

 

I agree, I am always driving my bosses 02 SS, and it is bone stock. Yes it is nice to take it to lunch or just for a quick spin around the block but like he said when it is time to play nothing beats a bad *** vibrate your teeth out so loud you can't hear the radio modded LSX vehicle. Mine is not a daily driver so maybe that is why I feel that way. If I had to drive it everyday I could see it becoming a pain in the ***.

 

I know exactly what you mean when you say you've ruined your car. My car isn't stock, but my g/f's is so I am reminded of how nice it is to drive a stock f-body everytime I drive her car.

It's a good thing I didn't go radical on any of my mods, except for the exhaust. At one point, I had an X-pipe dumped at the axle and it got old real quick. Now that I have the SLP D/D, it's a whole lot nicer to drive around everyday. I also have a relatively small cam (TR224) and unported LS6 heads, so driveability is still very much there. There is only one more thing that I don't like on my car right now... The spec 3 clutch. It is not fun compared to a stock clutch, so I'll more than likely swap it out for an LS7 clutch when it gives up the ghost.

So, I guess my contribution to this thread is making sure you choose an exhaust and clutch you can live with. Good luck with your modding.

 

Yup, there's no way I would want to drive my car with heads + cam everyday. It would definately be annoying to start the car up every day and shake the ground and set off car alarms from the cam thumping, have that lovely smell of dumped duals to wake you up in the morning, drive down your neighborhood street and all the squirels run for their life, everybody knows billy bad *** is leaving the house.

That's why I bought another car for my regular everyday things around town where I don't want to disturb the peace

 

Over the past several months I've begun to appreciate the quality of OEM parts and engineering. In May I swapped my T-ReX for a 228/232 cam, and now I'm planning to swap my Hooker/ORY combo for the Dynatech SuperMAXX system with a catted y-pipe. Without cats, the fuel stench is just too much, and I hate not being able to drive around with my wife without us both smelling like gas whenever we get out of the car.

I'm also planning to do my best to get rid of the horrible gear whine I've struggled with since installing my Moser 12-bolt.

There have been several times recently when I've thought of selling my car to purchase another and start with a clean slate. There's a lot I would do differently, and learning first hand how difficult it is to strike a balance between performance, durability, and driveability has given me a new appreciation for stock cars. Not only that, but it's proven that you really do get what you pay for, and cutting corners rarely, if ever, pays off in the end.

Josh

 

when i had my fm14 cam, the car bucked like cazy in slow speed driving. i hated it. the fm6 i had in the car after the fm14 was great. none of the issues of the bigger cam. now im gonna go up a little on duration and see what happens i have a corsa exhaust which is perfect. a nice rumble at idle, decent sound up to 3k rpms and sreams at WOT. im lucky no gear whine at all with my 4.10's then if i dont like this cam, ill go back to a 226 i dont think id ever demod the car, im to used to having decent power

 

This is pretty much the conclusion I'm coming to as well.

The car isn't my DD anymore but when I do drive it I miss it a lot. But after awhile the noise from the 12 bolt, no sound deadening, loud smelly exhaust, clutch chatter etc gets old. But she runs the number! Oh yeah, it's just a bolt on car .

I drove a customers car awhile back that had headers and magnaflow catback, stock gears etc. Boy it was nice driving that thing.

During the process of making my car a street strip car I thought about buying a stripper Camaro and leaving the T/A stock so I could enjoy that. Too late now that I have removed everything from the car (A/C, heater etc).

At this point I don't know if I should find a Formula WS6 and just enjoy that or get into a Vette.

 

Some of you may recall my 5.0, BIG cam (.542 224/224) 4.10's, TKO500 tranny, carbureted setup, no emissions, dumped before the axle...

Yeah...thats the reason my WS.6 stays stock.

 

I'll report back in a few weeks when I put my G5-X2 114 cam in my bolt-on Z06... if it gets too annoying I'll swap my stingers for some Ti stockers. My pops has an '04 Z16 Z06 and he's been thinking of some stingers, so it may work out well.

However, I'll drive the car for a few months first. It's not my only ride (I have a beater truck) but if it's not snowing I'll be driving the car.

 

I had a 1990 gt e303cam {224@.050] thats a small cam . I drove mine daily ,I got around 20mpg avg city/hwy Mine was 2chambers dumped only difference in between mine and yours was I had FUEL INJECTION . That car was nothing compared to my dads dual carbed 6-71 blown cammmed headed built stalled 70 1/2 Camaro . runs on pump gas ,drives all over the place in it, it will never be de modded

 

After reading all these posts, it's making me want to put in my plea as well. When I first bought my car, I knew I wanted a turbo and maybe some suspension adds. It all started with the turbo, then two clutches, then injectors with the heads and cam (small 222/563 cam), then noisy adjustable control arms which I did retire to the stock pieces for driving, then a 9 inch that wines worse than a bottle from 1920 and a locker that ratchets like a cheap swap meet wrench. If that's not enough, I've had to tune it 4 times and still not running right even after a dyno tune. It now blows the driver side injection fuse quite often and it JUST PLAIN SUCKS TO DRIVE!
Well now that there's snow on the ground, I have been throwing the idea around of leaving the cam and heads on, changing into a limited slip w/ new gears and just driving it and enjoy the ride when spring comes.