what size cam do i need?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 21
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what size cam do i need? I want a good performance cam for a daily (120+ miles per day sometimes) 05 m-6 gto What all will i need to buy along with cam? I will be running wet kit maybe twice a year How much will i expect to spend? Thanks in advance.
t.s.p does have a good rep. i have ran all the LG motorsports cams g5x1,x2,x3,and x4 they all produce great driveability,and better power. if you don't want something too big try the x1 cam 228/232 or the x2 is also a great cam 232/236. get some new springs and stronger pushrods with it. give them a call.
Originally Posted by mike c.
t.s.p does have a good rep. i have ran all the LG motorsports cams g5x1,x2,x3,and x4 they all produce great driveability,and better power. if you don't want something too big try the x1 cam 228/232 or the x2 is also a great cam 232/236. get some new springs and stronger pushrods with it. give them a call.
TECH Regular
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 459
Likes: 0
From: Arlington, TN
If you don't plan on having the heads ported out then a 22x size cam is pretty good choice (especially if your are running a stock exhaust).
Reason: GMHP showed that with a stock LS2 a 22x size cam made the best power levels.
Going to a 23x size cam added 5 hp but lost a little in the under the curve area (with stock heads).
Note: This was on a engine dyno with dyno headers.
A 23x sized cam would be a good starting point for a ported heads and long tube header setup.
At the lowest point your looking at something in the line of cam+springs+push rods (22x size cam).
example: LS1speed SI+1 (comp 918's and comp push rods) $289 along with a good 22x sized cam (SI2 224/224 112LSA .581" max lift) $379 {this is just an example and may not be what you want}.
Support components for the 23x (and larger) sized cam's would call for ported heads (or aftermarket heads), spring upgrade, lifter upgrade, headers, push rods, and other goodies.
To get a little more out of that second setup (23x) get the manifold and tb ported (along with tweaking the stock air box or getting a CAI for the Goat).
Throw in a LS7 clutch and flywheel to be able to handle the extra power.
To be honest the 05/06 GTO's have a full dual 2 1/2 exhaust setup with decent mufflers and would hold up well with a set of long tube headers.
The stock cat back has only small area's on the drivers side exhaust where its been slightly crimped (flattened out) to go under the rear end.
The 05/06 GTO stock cat back is one of the better exhaust design's I've seen come from GM in a long long time (yeah it even beats a vette's snake tubing layout).
You can spend the extra $$$ on a GTO cat back but its mainly going to be just a sound difference and you will not see alot of power gains.
Yes, this is coming from a guy that went with the SW full dual 3" cat back setup, but I had flowmaster 40's before the SW. The SW is actually quiter inside the cabin the a set of flowmaster 40's (super 40's have lower incabin noise as well).
The 2 basic questions you need to figure out are:
What are the power levels you are looking for?
How much are you willing to spend?
Put those down on paper and then start looking at the parts that are available for the LS2 and 05 GTO and you'll start to figure out for yourself what you want and what you are going to buy.
[you can stop reading if you want to]
Now I went with a set of Patriot stage 2 LS6 heads -vs- doing the spring upgrade because the price differnece of $600 wasn't that much of a difference to me, to sum $600 is alot.
That was a choice between a Comp LS1 valvetrain kit (918 springs, Ti retainers, and pushrods for around $600) and the assembled Patriot heads ($1189 in march of 06).
I had already purchased the 1.85" roller rocker's and with my cam choice I was going over the .600" max lift (.618" lift actually).
I thought this was too close to the comp 918's .625" max lift listing.
The Patriot's came with .650" gold springs (lift became a non-issue).
With a 222/228 cam and my car idles well and has nice power levels for a daily driving.
I probably should not have gone with the Comp 1.85 rocker's though as they added alot of unneeded valvetrain noise to the engine bay (cam was designed for a 1.7" rockers and has an agressive ramp up).
I went through LS1speed and SummitRacing for all of my parts then found someone intown that could do the install (as I don't have the tools needed to do a head cam swap). My exhaust guy didn't talk to be for nearly a month after the header installs (I warn him the drivers side header was going to be a b*tch).
And if you do go for a head swap with the cam install, the engine does not have to come out of the bay.
GM's listing says it does but thats for newbie mechanic's or someone that just wants to charge you an arm and a leg for an install.
The local pontiac dealership gave me an install price quote of $3500 (for roughly $2500 worth of parts).
Thankfully there was someone from the LS1tech forums (Brian) that was able to do it for around $700 or so. Shoot he had it done in 1 day as well (yeah I got lucky).
For my setup the 6 degree's more on the cam's exhaust duration works out well with the 2.055" / 1.57" valves that are in the patriot heads (PAT2031).
Right now I'm thinking about having a 3.75" crank cut to put together a 389 (6.5L) L92, just for something unique Poncho Unique.
If I do that it will be next year with my tax return + money that I'm saving up...
Reason: GMHP showed that with a stock LS2 a 22x size cam made the best power levels.
Going to a 23x size cam added 5 hp but lost a little in the under the curve area (with stock heads).
Note: This was on a engine dyno with dyno headers.
A 23x sized cam would be a good starting point for a ported heads and long tube header setup.
At the lowest point your looking at something in the line of cam+springs+push rods (22x size cam).
example: LS1speed SI+1 (comp 918's and comp push rods) $289 along with a good 22x sized cam (SI2 224/224 112LSA .581" max lift) $379 {this is just an example and may not be what you want}.
Support components for the 23x (and larger) sized cam's would call for ported heads (or aftermarket heads), spring upgrade, lifter upgrade, headers, push rods, and other goodies.
To get a little more out of that second setup (23x) get the manifold and tb ported (along with tweaking the stock air box or getting a CAI for the Goat).
Throw in a LS7 clutch and flywheel to be able to handle the extra power.
To be honest the 05/06 GTO's have a full dual 2 1/2 exhaust setup with decent mufflers and would hold up well with a set of long tube headers.
The stock cat back has only small area's on the drivers side exhaust where its been slightly crimped (flattened out) to go under the rear end.
The 05/06 GTO stock cat back is one of the better exhaust design's I've seen come from GM in a long long time (yeah it even beats a vette's snake tubing layout).
You can spend the extra $$$ on a GTO cat back but its mainly going to be just a sound difference and you will not see alot of power gains.
Yes, this is coming from a guy that went with the SW full dual 3" cat back setup, but I had flowmaster 40's before the SW. The SW is actually quiter inside the cabin the a set of flowmaster 40's (super 40's have lower incabin noise as well).
The 2 basic questions you need to figure out are:
What are the power levels you are looking for?
How much are you willing to spend?
Put those down on paper and then start looking at the parts that are available for the LS2 and 05 GTO and you'll start to figure out for yourself what you want and what you are going to buy.
[you can stop reading if you want to]
Now I went with a set of Patriot stage 2 LS6 heads -vs- doing the spring upgrade because the price differnece of $600 wasn't that much of a difference to me, to sum $600 is alot.
That was a choice between a Comp LS1 valvetrain kit (918 springs, Ti retainers, and pushrods for around $600) and the assembled Patriot heads ($1189 in march of 06).
I had already purchased the 1.85" roller rocker's and with my cam choice I was going over the .600" max lift (.618" lift actually).
I thought this was too close to the comp 918's .625" max lift listing.
The Patriot's came with .650" gold springs (lift became a non-issue).
With a 222/228 cam and my car idles well and has nice power levels for a daily driving.
I probably should not have gone with the Comp 1.85 rocker's though as they added alot of unneeded valvetrain noise to the engine bay (cam was designed for a 1.7" rockers and has an agressive ramp up).
I went through LS1speed and SummitRacing for all of my parts then found someone intown that could do the install (as I don't have the tools needed to do a head cam swap). My exhaust guy didn't talk to be for nearly a month after the header installs (I warn him the drivers side header was going to be a b*tch).
And if you do go for a head swap with the cam install, the engine does not have to come out of the bay.
GM's listing says it does but thats for newbie mechanic's or someone that just wants to charge you an arm and a leg for an install.
The local pontiac dealership gave me an install price quote of $3500 (for roughly $2500 worth of parts).
Thankfully there was someone from the LS1tech forums (Brian) that was able to do it for around $700 or so. Shoot he had it done in 1 day as well (yeah I got lucky).
For my setup the 6 degree's more on the cam's exhaust duration works out well with the 2.055" / 1.57" valves that are in the patriot heads (PAT2031).
Right now I'm thinking about having a 3.75" crank cut to put together a 389 (6.5L) L92, just for something unique Poncho Unique.
If I do that it will be next year with my tax return + money that I'm saving up...
