2015 2ss l99.
looking at cams to help me get to 500rwhp. Looking at ss4 nfc or tsp f35. Which is the better option? Is one better than the other or just preference and pretty much the same ?
will be doing supporting mods, gears , 260cc PRC CNC heads, 4k stall, cooler , eventually ported intake and tb, etc .
and is a oil cooler really necessary?

 

Wow.....didn't realize that cams were external to the engine.

OK....I got the same heads on my Impala.....with a Lingenfelter GT1-1 cam and 1 7/8 LTs and I dyno in the mid-490's hp and mid-440's tq to the wheels through a 2 1/2" exhaust and a 4L60E transmission.

Excellent drivability with only 7.5* overlap.

That said, BTR also has a cam (229*/244*, 114* + 4*) that'll get you to that same point....or a tiny bit better with 8.5* overlap.

Best of luck!

KW

 

They are until they aren't.... lol

 

Yeah sorry about that I wasn't paying attention all I saw was gen iv lol I mean they are external until u install them lol

 

.625 lift is all we recommend with a factory 1.7 rocker to avoid wear. We prefer the factory rocker with a trunnion kit because it’s the lightest at the valve. We would recommend the SME-K-143023 assembled GM rockers with upgraded trunnions. These are coated for reduced friction. If you wanted to change out the trunnions in your stock rockers you could use the SME-143002 trunnion kit. You would need the SME-906011 install/removal tool.

Here is a back to back Chassis dyno test on a L99 equipped Automatic Camaro with stock converter. It had headers, Magnaflow cat-back, and a CAI on it and was making about 424 to the wheels prior to the swap with a tune. No other tricks, fuel, glory runs, etc…just a 100k plus mile 2010 Camaro with heavy factory wheels and the heads were never off it. There were no other engine modifications except TFS-2500286P valve springs and HDR pushrods. Same Tuner.

The first test was our Pro LS LS3 specific Stage 4 cam SUM-8711. Piston to valve was .076 intake and .096 exhaust clearance and would allow you to mill .015" off factory heads for a healthy bump in compression. Specs on that are .625/.605, 234/247, 113.5 + 2.5 for 14 degrees of overlap. Idle KPA was 62 at 750 rpm. It made 482 hp @ 6500 rpm and carried well. Peak tq. was 433 ft. lbs. It will carry well past 7k if you want to turn it tighter.

Next was the stage 3 SUM-8710 LS3 specific cam with .081 intake and .103 exhaust clearance. Specs are 231/242, 113 +3, .625/.600, and has 10 degrees of overlap. This allows factory heads to be milled .020" to pop compression. These engines need compression more than they need a huge cam. This cam was down about 5 horsepower at peak to our own Stage 4, but up 19 ft. lbs. at 3000 rpm and driveability was great. Power carried well on this one too. Idle KPA was 58. The owner preferred this cam over the stage 4 and that’s what stayed in it.






Pro LS cams are manufactured in large runs and milled near-net before heat-treat to ensure they won’t flake like small run customs may. They are finish ground on a Landis 3LB and lobe finish is the very best possible. Here is an article on how our Pro LS cams are manufactured.

You’ll probably hit your 500whp with the PRC 260 heads, but we’d recommend the Trick Flow 255’s TFS-3261T002-C01. They are a 12 degree which allows more milling even yet. They are the highest velocity heads out there and we haven’t seen them get beat by anything in back to back testing. Quality is impeccable and they have a titanium retainer option so you can really spin them.

 

Seeing how cams manipulate the compression. I would like to see the max compression listed/recomended with the cam specs for use with pump gas/race gas.

 

That is a good point handyandy496.

Cams do change dynamic compression. The cams discussed in this thread are as big as possible without requiring flycutting of the pistons. This is because anything bigger limits the size of the market for the cam. Another limiting factor is heads can only be milled about .030 before correcting the intake is necessary. This also limits the size of the market of people willing and capable of doing that work. Either way, milling a head .030 is roughly half a point of compression which is around 2% of the power through the entire powerband. That’s a pretty good "bang for the buck" and it’s not going to hurt anything. Recommending a true maximum compression number is tough. This is because the quality and consistency of fuels can differ.

It’s a round number, but we typically see 11.5:1 as being a good target with 93 octane in cars. They’re lighter and it doesn’t take a lot of effort from the tuner to keep the engine out of knock. A tuner can make up for lower compression with timing. It’s not a good idea to constantly pull timing if static is too high.

 

Very true. I run about 11.35/11.4:1 SCR.

Never did the math....I just know that I'm in that general neighborhood.

KW

 

OP, a buddy ran the SS4 and on stock heads/intake made 480rwhp. Same car.