So, I have a ticking problem. Assuming it's a dead lifter. I was planning on saving up money to get this fixed, and was thinking of getting an aftermarket cam installed.

Was reading on here, IDK if it's better to leave DOD on or turn it off, I was planning on just leaving it on. I'd love to get a tune done after the cam, but I'd like to know which is the best cam for the car. I don't want anything crazy, just something noticable and obviously a power gain.

My car has about 94,000 on it now, it's my DD and I work all over the place for my job so it definitely gets driven. I would just like an aftermarket exhaust, CAI and cam with a tune. any thoughts? Here's the cams I was looking at.

#1
http://www.streetsideauto.com/p/comp...rpm-54-412-11/

#2
http://www.streetsideauto.com/p/comp...ift-54-424-11/

#3
http://www.streetsideauto.com/p/comp...rpm-54-408-11/

Let me know if these are good cams for the LS4 or if there's something better out there. or if it's a waste of time installing a cam. Thanks.

 

Best bet is too have Patrick g spec you out a cam for you. He has built quite a few cams for members on here.

 

i dont know him so i have no idea how i could make that happen. plus I just want someone from a shop to install it when they do my lifters. wanted to do it all at once. none of those cams will work for my car?

 

Cam choice isn't something set in stone. Best thing you can do here is contact the cam manufacturer and go over what your goals are. Most will walk you through the proper questions to get you what you are shooting for. Camshafts, like most mods, will work differently depending on supporting mods - heads, exhaust, intake and so on. The manufacturer is an expert in what their cams will do with the mods you have.

Good luck!

 

thanks Madcat. thats really what i wanna do. just contact the person, go over my car and go from there. I don't want 500hp or anything like that, turbo n stuff. it'd be nice but i'm trying to think realistically and my car having 94,000m(new trans when i bought it), i just want something heard and something i can enjoy more. It's nice now but Exhaust/CAI/Cam/Tune would wake it up. I think those are pretty basic.

The *only* reason I'm thinking of a cam, is because of my lifters. (I thought) I read something on here saying the engine needs to be taken apart to get to the lifters, ($800+) and it might be hitting my cam? Since I have an 05, and again, (I thought) I read the lifters have been revised for newer models, so I was going to replace all of them, and if my cam shows signs of damage, instead of getting an OEM cam, just getting something aftermarket.

If I'm wrong on anything, please correct me. Thanks

 

Due to the transverse layout, there's a lot more work that will need to be done to replace the cam. While the top of the motor does need to come off to replace the lifters, that will only get you about half-way to cam change, as you would still need to get it out. This means pulling the accessory drive, balancer, front cover, etc. And just getting to that stuff means you're pulling the passenger-side front-end of the car apart. This is several hours of additional work, all at the shop's hourly rate.

As for your problems, nothing is hitting your cam. It's possible to have bad lifters, especially on the DoD cars like ours, but it doesn't necessarily mean the cam is wiped out, either. And that ticking could be any number of things NOT related to lifters, like an injector, a rocker arm, and even a lost spark plug will do this.

IMHO, if the problem is a bad lifter, but the stock cam is still good, just leave it. With the mods you want to do, it won't be worth the extra cost in parts and labor to put a new cam in it. The reason is, with a stock intake and exhaust manifolds, a cam change will provide very little benefit, and certainly not worth the cost because it's not the bottleneck.

Now, if stock cam is bad and needs to be replaced (which I think is unlikely, based on your symptoms), AND/OR you decided to get an LS1/LS6 intake and add headers, then a cam becomes worthwhile. In this case, don't by an off-the-shelf grind. Do what 99slpws6 said: Contact Patrick G at this link http://guerragroup.com/camshaft_help.htm, pay him $25, and he'll spec out a cam for your exact needs. You then go to Comp Cams and have them grind it for you, which will cost the same as those off-the-shelf grinds at fly-by-night motorsports, or whatever.

 

ok thank you. if my cam isn't bad, i won't even bother.

 

Even without a cam.. jus the cai, exhaust and tune will srsly wake the car up, dont think u would be disappointed

 

Quoted for truth! My car felt like it picked up 30 HP from the tune alone.

 

i like i like. i'm just worried driving around with it ticking. i have no money right now to fix it til i get paid. hope its not damaging anything.

 

Just get something small like a comp 212/218.

 

i just got NGK spark plugs put on (had a shop do it) not too long ago, and noticed this happening shortly after.

 

My Impala did this after the last plug change. It turns out that I had not tightened one of the plugs enough, and it started to back out. Once I re-tightened this, the tick went away.

 

I have a cam, lifters, ported Oil pump if you are interested. I am also trying to sale/trade my TEP transmission if you want to go all the way with your car.