As the title mentions, I'm looking for advice to upgrade the cam and valvetrain on my LS4. It will have DOD deleted, and it is paired with a manual transmission and LS6 intake. As a preface, I've only ever fixed broken stuff; but never modded motors to any extent, so this is all new to me. My priority is reliability. I don't care about scraping every last bit of power out of the motor if it compromises that. I just want to do whatever I can but keep it as close to "bulletproof" as possible. Also, the transmission has short gearing, and with being a 5-speed, it's quite easy to bounce the tach, so anything that will help protect the engine from high RPM is good too. Do I need to upgrade springs, retainers, etc? I am familiar with and am planning to upgrade the trunnions at least. Lastly, I don't have any plans to race the car. It will be a cruiser that may get floored once in awhile. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Call Cam Motion for Everything.....
1stop Shop.

 

The LS4 is a front drive car engine. Different from ALL other LS engines. Which vehicle did it come out of?

 

Yup, I pulled it myself out of a 2006 Impala. Being an '06, it is the earlier version with the 24x/ 1x ignition. I'm going to be running a P59 truck PCM, converted to DBC. It will be installed into '98 Monte Carlo, so the FWD aspect will be staying the same. The way I understand it, is most LS upgrades apply nearly exactly the same, hence I'm positing my inquiry into the Gen 4 forum.

 

Which manual are you using? You're charting some new ground here. I actually thought you did a typo on the engine type, lol!
I'm waiting for someone to design a rear/mid engine kit car using this engine/drivetrain combo. Doubt it will happen, though....
The only differences upgrade-wise are the front accessory drive and rear bellhousing/tranny attachment, but you likely know that.
Is the oil pan separate from the transaxle, and/or an app-specific piece? And does the normal LS oil pump fit?
Other than all that, I'm just here for the pizza too..... lol

 

It's a Getrag 284 used in '91-94 Luminas and Grand Prixs with the 3.4 DOHC. I converted my '98 MC to this transmission in 2013, so it's been a complete running/ driving car since then. The "only" thing I'm changing is swapping the supercharged 3800 with the LS4. I have everything more or less solved besides the motor upgrades.

 

I don't know how much torque the blown 3800 was worth, but I would bet a bit less than the LS4, which came with the L33's cam (193/193, .482/.482,114LSA).
There is room for improvement there, but I am clueless about the tranny's torque capacity, so you might need to be a bit careful with mods.
There are a number of "truck cams" that will put a bit more pep in the 5.3's step, without going too overboard.

 

Texas Speed makes three camshaft grinds for the LS4 in their FastFWD series. Not sure what makes them front wheel drive specific but the specs closely resemble truck camshafts.

TSP FastFWD - High Lift

TSP FastFWD Low Lift

TSP FastFWD V2 - High Lift

 

I'm sorry, I completely glossed over the end of your post. When you mention oil pan, are you meaning the engine oil pan? If so, then yes it is separate from the trans. I actually bought a custom Moreso oil pan through Furches Performance that incorporates a starter mount on to the oil pan, since the LS4 has no provisions for mounting the starter (it was mounted to the 4T65 bellhousing in stock configuration). The oil pump is a standard high volume oil pump, so any of the LS pumps will work, though I've seen its recommended to replace/ upgrade upon engine overhaul or DOD delete, so I'm looking into replacing it at this time as well.

So officially, the transmission was only designed to handle around 270 ft lbs behind the 210hp/ tq 3.4 it was originally paired with. It has been proven, however, to survive much more power adequately. There was a guy on the W-body forums (among others) that daily drove a turbo Grand Prix 3800 with this transmission. He was running nearly 600hp through it, and raced it occasionally without the transmission ever having issues. He had to upgrade clutches a few times, but the hard parts were just fine. The reason why seemingly nobody likes or uses this transmission are because:

1) It's rare
2) Rebuild kits don't exist
3) Clutches are stupid expensive because of the dumb pull-type style
4) Limited practical applications (60* bellhousing, FWD config.)
5) Short gearing with a 3.67 FD.

But as long as they're maintained and not driven wrong, they don't have any real problems, IMO. Synchros would be the only real weak point I'm aware of, but I have 3 whole transmissions to work with for spare parts, so I have a backup of sorts.

I contacted TSP, as their parts shopping seemed to be the most concise and user friendly (they list the cam specs in the drop down box). The one tech I spoke with recommended a "224R" when I explained my setup. Not sure where that falls into place with cam selection, but he said it would be a good performance upgrade while still being street friendly and easily driveable. I am going to contact Cam Motion as suggested though, and see what they say. Also, I see they have a "recommendation form" you can fill out and submit for $30 that they comp you if you purchase a cam through them. I saw they offer a build your own DOD delete package that appears to have the same contents as TSP and BTR, but there was no option to "add to cart" when I sorted through the GEN IV LS/ Car sections.

 

If that trans fails and u want auto, try a 4T80. Can u provide a link for that oil pan u referred to?

 

I have no plans to revert back to an auto, but if I were do build another car and stick with an auto trans, I would certainly be looking into converting to a 4T80. Regarding the oil pan, the only link I have at the moment is the YT vids where he discusses the pan and contact info on how to buy. I had to contact him email to get on a batch order list.

 

Oh, and here is the oil pan in question.