outhouse

Bone stock 06 zo6 with 44k.


My plans are adding as much HP as cheaply as possible while retaining a smog legal car in Ca, reliability must be maintained. Budget is 4k. Labor done myself. DRM's will be added soon enough.


AHP #4 heads decked .030 no porting.
AHP 116 cam and springs and rods
MSD intake


I will reuse trunions provided all bearings are perfect, if any are even slightly damaged I will go with the brass inserts.

Goal is 550 ish rwhp.


Any further ideas are welcome. Ive been porting motors for a long time and will probably address the stock TB myself.

SpnkbnkZ06

What Gas are you going to run? If only 91 decking .030 is risky for detonation on Californias crap gas.

moose.b3

"while retaining a smog legal car in Ca," Your doing a cam? Can't do it and be "legal". I know someone who pays $600 every other year to get away with it, but it's not legal.

Michael_D

Ya, don't go that far on decking. I'd go .010" and use a .040" gasket. Replace the lifters. Unless you have a flow bench, I don't know how you can port anything and know what you've done. I used to think I could port, till I got a flow bench..... I'd send that to V-Max for Pete's CNC port work.

outhouse

Ok rgr that. Yes 91.

outhouse

Understood, but it is mild enough there is no way they can really know it has been cammed.


I know AHP does quite a few as well as Synergy, and I have heard your tuner is going to make the difference here.

outhouse

Thank You Mike, using stock head gaskets what is the max you would recommend ? I don't know how thick the stock head gasket is.


Just the TB, I wont do the heads on this one, ive heard the flow well enough stock. If there were any uneven casting marks or roughness I might clean up the intake as well.

Michael_D

OE gasket is about fifty thou. Too much quench. Make sure you measure deck height first though. Some LS engines the piston is out, some it's in.... Shoot for 35-40 thou quench.

Be careful with the TB. It's ID is round for a reason.....

I'd also suggest you take a hard look at Geoff Skinner's LS7 baby cam (EPS). I think it's the best non-custom ground, "smallish" LS7 camshaft there is right now.

outhouse

I peeked at his website and liked the easier ramp construction for less noise.


I have heard a few complaints about the 116 and valve train noise, but excellent power and smog results.


Rgr thank you.


So .020 is about the max provided one has proper quench.

Brandon619

I agree with Michael here, using a thinner head gasket is the way to go. Once you mil the heads your committed using varying thicknesses of head gaskets is always an option.

outhouse

Ah! lights clicking on now LOL


Now I understand why he mentioned that route, Thank you for explaining it.

Michael_D

Running an optimum quench will help resist detonation. If you have quench distance of say, .055" AND you mill the heads - you have a double whammy that will encourage detonation. Throw some crappy low octane fuel at it, you have a perfect storm of detonation and you will be forced to run pathetic spark tables. Not only at high torque areas, but everywhere on the table - including the off idle transient areas where throttle response is key for a street car.

C5 Hardtop

Are you doing headers? Lou Gigliotti makes a very nice design. Check out the walk-through video.

outhouse

Nope.


As far as I know none will pass visual inspection without CARB#s


They would have to be shorties, and gains are minimal from what I have read.

Unreal

Solid advice in here. Would look at a few more cams, and 550 on a mild cam and stock exhaust maybe a stretch.

outhouse

I first started here with this one Vengeance Racing VRSP-2 Camshaft- 227/235 .614/.621 115+4


I like the 116 torque but heard a few complaints about valve train noise, but almost all positive reviews. Kohle recommends it and its origin is solid.


Open to suggestion, I know little about cam profiles for this motor but understand higher LSA #s are required for a smogable cam.

C5 Hardtop

To avoid pain buying and installing a cam that ends up failing smog I'd contact a well known tuner and give them your goals, budget and tell them you'd just be buying the parts from them. Lingenfelter might be of help.

Dan_the_C5_Man

I would reach out to Kipp at CamMotion - I've spoken to him a few times, he knows his stuff and tightly controls the manufacturing and QA processes of what he designs and sells.

If I ever do a cam in this engine (so far, not planing on it), he would be my guy.

Unreal

Would contact Pat g Ed Curtis btr or one of the other suggestions. I've never seen a bad result or unhappy customer when someone has a custom cam ground for them.

Michael_D

If you want to retain the OEM manifolds, you will want a large LCA, (117 min) and no less than 20 degree more exh duration. Port scavenging will not be as efficient with the OE manifold as is with LT's, so the valve events need to be adjusted for that. Guess what I'm trying to say is, don't be surfing dyno sheets where headers are installed and think you will have similar results by using the same camshaft.

CamMotion is grinding EPS camshafts. So if the selling point of their cams is QC, you have the same with EPS lobes. And Skinner probably forgot more about building engines (and tuning) in his sleep last night than most of us will ever know.