Well I recently pulled my LE/BRE 224/230 .574"/,570" @107LSA billet cam and replaced it with the LE 226/232 .578"/.574" @110LSA cast cam and I wanted to share my street results and dyno results. Strip results will follow ASAP.

When I started the motor with the new cam, I quickly noticed that the idle sounded a bit tamer meaning not quite as lopey as the old tight LSA cam. Dont get me wrong, the new one sounds great but actually sounds better at WOT.

Upon driving on the street, I quickly noticed some huge improvements. This new cam has very, very little cam surge/low RPM issues compared to the old cam. It drives dramatically better at all NON WOT conditions and I could not be happier. Also the BLMs are much more balanced in all of the cells and the PCM is not having to work as hard to maintain stoic and the random knock counts are much lower as well.

With the old cam, I got 12 MPGs city and 20 MPGs highway @ 75MPH. With the new cam, I am getting 14 MPGs city and 23 mpg highway @ 75MPH so obviously thats a great big plus as well. I am now routinely getting over 200 miles out of a tank unlike before with the old cam. Also the exhaust is not quite as smelly as with the old cam which is noticeable with a vert with the top down.

With the old cam and the tight LSA, I was getting 12" of vacuum for brake assist and now I am getting almost 15" of vacuum so now the brakes are working much better than before.

On to the power differences with the only change being the cam. The new cam is making 4RWHP more power over the old cam but it did pick up 10 pounds more RWTQ so that was great news. All in all, the motor just feels strong and reliable under all conditions and I finally think I am at peace with my motor. Final dyno numbers were 394RWHP/370RWTQ through the 9" rearend.

Old cam vs. new cam graph:


With the old cam and only a single trip to the strip in recent memory (once again guys, I dont race and this ain't no race car and I have run at the strip only three times in my life), the best I could do was 12.51 @112MPH with 1.9 short times likely due to not being able to launch the M6 well. We fully expect the car do do better with the new cam at the strip now but even if it does not, the improvements expressed above have made the cam change very much worth doing. Also I hope to get to the strip soon.

It appears that the LSA change contributed to the improvments above as opposed to the duration change. I am really liking this cam and I just wanted to share some thoughts and results.

 

Good numbers man. Your cam is really really close to the one Lloyd spec'd for me so here's hoping I have similar results when I finally get a new stall and get to the dyno.

 

Thanks for sharing! Seems like a worthy upgrade.

Would you mind sharing the criteria that drove each of those cam selections?

 

Main criteria then and still now was a streetable cam with good manners and good low end torque. Also I did not want to rev it any higher than 6500RPM in the interest of longevity and not busting **** up. Again this is only a fun fast Sunday driver, near showroom quality hotrod and not a race car.

Performance wise, I wanted something that easily and consistently could run mid 12's and thats where I am at. If my lack of skills can do 12.5, I am certain a good driver could put in the low 12's. I also wanted something close to 400RWHP so obviously that requirement is satisfied as well.

 

Nice midrange gain. Don't like how it drops off in the 5800rpm range though. Tell Bert to go punch sand.

 

LOL.
I have made it clear in years past that I have never been a big fan of Bret and I am glad he is not associated with LE any longer. Its been proven IMO that he has torched many folks with dangerous cam specs. The only problem with the old BRE cam that I recently pulled was the billet cam gear but I will assume the blame on that one (even though it was supposed to have a pressed on cast gear) for not being aware of its impact on the oil pump drive gears four years ago.

As far as that little hole at 5800RPM, we tried everything to fill it in but no dice. I do now have 4 years and 15K miles of use on the Patriot springs so maybe I should think about a spring change this winter. I also want to resistance check the plug wires and ensure they are in good shape. Dont know what else could casue that little hole. I am also pleased that the shift point came down a little bit.

 

Was this old cam the one you were wearing out the oil pump drive gears with? How did the drive look when you finally changed the cam? I seem to remember you had a Lunati everwear gear.

 

Good numbers...not to far off from the older cam which is expected since they are so close in spec from the .050 numbers. Alittle less overlap is always nicer to tune tho.

I never had a problem with Bret tho. On my second cam from him but havent tested this one yet. I liked my first setup tho. Not sure why so many had problems

 

Nice little bit of torque gain there where it matters.

 

Last year I had I ran a 12.9 @ 111MPH. That was with stock heads, cc503, stock TB, 1.6rr's, 30 lb injectors, 2.5" duel exhaust and 3.07 gears. Over the winter I got my hands on a set of what I would call LE1.5 heads(factory size valves but flow very close to LE2's). an LE 232/240 .578/.574 110 LSA, 52mm TB and full 3" exhaust. Still the same 3.07 gears but the car runs so much harder now! I can't wait to hit the strip! I was hoping to trap at least 115ish mph. I'm not sure what the car would dyno but I would figure around 400rwhp. That seems to be the norm anyways.

 

The old billet LE/BRE LE1 cam caused a very minor wear pattern on the gear with about 20K miles. When I saw this, I over-reacted and began investigating the concern. I then installed the Lunati Everwear gear because Lunati stated in print as well as on the phone that it would greatly outlast the OEM gear, BULLSHITcause that gear was shredded and hanging on by a thread after only 1000 miles or so. DONT EVER RUN THIS GEAR UNLESS YOU WANT TO BLOW THE MOTOR UP.

I still believe that if I had just left it alone with the OEM gear, it would have been fine assuming that I inspect it from time to time but in the interest of 100% piece of mind which I blame on the engineer in me, I decided to replace the billet cam with a cast cam and do away with the problem all together plus it allowed me to make a spec change to the LSA which I was "hoping" would improve street manners.

 

When I switched cams I had the exact same results on the street and dyno. Problem was it never ran as fast at the track. Was very close but never got the same number. I did change a lot of other stuff on the car I was fighting but none the less I never matched the ET or MPH. All around the car was much better though.

 

Congrats at getting the car where you want it. Making some nice power!

But what fun is an fbody that your actually happy with? hahahaha

I want to change cams too, but I also like the challange of my dreaded camshaft that noone wants.

Also makes me wonder what that other company (AI) could do with a head/cam car. Hate to compare the two or say ones better then the other, but it just makes you wonder.

 

good numbers

 

I think there is too many variables to compare them. Head vs head would be the closest you could do.

 

I don't see how switching from a cam that is 224/230 .574"/,570" @107LSA to one that is 226/232 .578"/.574" @110LSA is going to get you a net gain of 3mpg. No way in hell. Obviously the tune is a big factor in the mileage. You also mention cam surge with the old cam. That is 100% a tune issue when you are talking about a mellow cam with moderate duration. There are hundreds of guys running cams much larger with zero cam surge. What tunes were used for these 2 cams?

 

Both tunes were dyno tunes done by Bluecat in eastern KY. If you are into GM EFI motors and you live within a 200 mile radius of eastern KY, I am certain you will hear about his ability to tune LTx and LSx engines. I am confident that both tunes for both cams were optimized. Just google "bluecat tuning".

The MPG increases are not exagerations, I was shocked as Hell when my first tank went 235 miles but I will admit that has been the high average. 210 miles to the tank appears to be about the average when before it was tough to get 180 on the old cam. Believe it but I cant explain why other than to say the 110LSA is much more fuel efficient.

Regarding the cam surge of the old cam. It was eliminated with an OL tune but I preferred to run a CL tune (to maximize gas mileage and reliability) and the motor wanted more fuel at the surge points than the PCM was willing to deliver IIRC.

 

If that 107lsa cam is 4 years old and has bret bauer influence, you cant compare the two.

Id be willing to bet that ALOT is different. The entire cam lobe and ramp rates are probably the factors. I dont think Lloyd just throws out numbers and lobe designs and gets lucky anymore. 4 years of research is probably why it makes a tad more power and is also a tad more fuel efficent. Noone would buy LE if it was garbage and hasnt gone with technology. If people put out a product that made less power then the old, youd have to be a moron to buy it! (glad its not the mid 70's)

 

Great numbers! I will swapping my cam for a custom LE to go into my caprice.

 

Good to read about another success story.
That little modification to the power band should show up a tick better in ET when you make it to the track.
I think you should race it some more.....come join us at the LTX Shootout, and the KY Horsepower Shootout in Oct