03worthy4link

Do you guys ever get tired of reading these? Lol

Welp extended warranty is running out, so finally going to dig in to my Z, fix the heads and put in a cam along with supporting mods. I've bothered a couple members through PM, but figured I may as well just make a thread.

Like everyone else I want as much power as possible, but I think i'd rather drop the chase for 600whp and focus on making an honest 550whp while retaining as much drivability as I can. I was dead set on the BTR stage 3, but have been looking more and more at the stage 2 as things progress. Here's what i'm thinking/have -

BTR Stage 2 LS7 cam -230/246 .644"/.630" 115+4
AHP Stage 4 heads, stock intake, ported exhaust, milled .020
BTR .660 dual springs
American Racing 1-7/8 Headers no cats
Akrapovic cat back
MSD Airforce
Ported Stock TB or NW102??
Halltech MF103

Information/results on the BTR stage 2 are somewhat scarce. One member recently installed one, but the poor fella is deployed and hasn't got to drive it to offer feedback. BTR themselves said this cam would be about 10-15 peak hp behind their stage 3. What do you wise sages think this setup would net power wise, and how do you suspect drivability to be?

Thanks in advance to any input, and a double thanks to the poor bastards i've already bothered who are reading this again

MTPZ06

I like the build, and the sensible approach to a cam that doesnt sacrifice driveability, and no I'm not tired of reading these.

As for the TB choice, if it's a money thing...take the NW102 $ and put it towards a high end port job by Tony Mamo on that MSD intake instead. Ported stock TB and your combo of mods will easily attain and possibly surpass your HP goal.

As for the LT's...go 2" if you're buying new. No reason not to...zero downside.

LMB-Z

I agree with MTP...I think with those parts, you will get 550 or more. I did a small cam, no head work, headers, cai, and tune and got 525. With milling, headwork, and intake, you should achieve your goal.

cseaman

Ha ha. I am unfortunately still deployed, and my car is in storage for another week or two, when the caretaker (a previous owner of a few C5s and C6zs and long time forum member, b16gsr) will put a few hundred miles on it. Until then, I just have my baseline/tuned numbers, which were great, IMO.

The car was built and tuned by Restomod/Justune in KC, who told us the car simply drives like a completely bone stock Z until you hammer on it.

I will definitely have my caretaker update this thread as soon as he gets some miles on it. Either way, I'm subbed to your thread.

Sean_C

I have my mind 90% made up on doing the BTR stage 2 cam as well.... the guys at BTR said it drives extremely well and like the OP mentioned will only give up 10-15 peak HP to the stage 3....it would be my first cammed high HP car and I would hate to ruin the experience and my expectations/excitement in pursuit of big #s with a bigger cam....I would be happy with 560/515 with all the bells and whistles like 2" headers, Mamo MSD and NW 102.

can't wait to see ur results OP!!

03worthy4link

You're not the first to tell me this, but I've already procured 1-7/8 based on AHP's recommendation.

And I'm sub'd to your thread as well cseaman, awaiting updates!

TXGS507

I have opted for the G7X4, ported heads, FAST 102, 1 7/8's, B&B fusions... I too am searching for the 550-560ish to the tire. I plan on FI later down the road and was told the x4 is a great cam for that.

#subscribed.

03worthy4link

Received my MSD intake today. Pretty intimidating in person thought I wouldn't like the airforce and MSD logos but they grew on me pretty quickly. Looking at the ports the integration of the runners to the intake flange is prettyyyyyy ugly and hanging in quite a bit. I'm assuming this to be normal but it is an older production (2014) and didn't come with the orange o rings that the newer ones do. Anybody experience something similar?

outhouse

Black are the best and newest orings.


The orange orings are terrible.


Make sure you port the hell out of it to clean up the casting flaws.


Check the sharp edges where the injector seal sits, I cleaned those up as well.


The intakes all hang in at different amounts. Mine had 2 bad and 5 medium bad.


These manifolds are more like kits and are not bolt on and run items

outhouse

Sick build!!!!!


Why not 2" ARH ?

03worthy4link

AHP recommended 1-7/8 but general consensus seems to be 2". Now you guys got me wondering!

It's possible that I got the o-ring colors confused. I would say that I also have 2 atrocious ports, a handful of mediocre ones, and a couple 'good'. Did you port match yours outhouse? Rough measurements showed the MSD ports about .040 wider than the runners on my heads. I plan to mess with it more tomorrow.

outhouse

Cant go wrong with AHPs advise, they do so many. But I cant do headers but see people using 2" often. My question was out of curiosity.




Nope


Just dremeled for 2-3 hours minimum on the ports.


Once you run it for a few hours run time, you will pull it anyway to tighten the clamshell bolts as they will be loose and you cant get to the back ones on the car.


The 10 manifold to head bolts will be loose after a few days then a week and then 2 months.


I did a few days and a week and checked a month later an they were fine, checked after 8-10 weeks ish and they were all really loose again. YOU really need to stay on top of these. Tighten the crap out of these and the clamshell bolts.

American Heritage

Which color O rings do you have?

In case anyone does not know MSD had 2 gaskets they used on the clam shell portion of the intake. The first version was a thinner red gasket, the second was a thicker black gasket.

03worthy4link

All gaskets/o rings are black aside from the 3 small ones on top in the middle that seal the bolts of the upper piece. Those are red.

03worthy4link

Been playing with the MSD intake on and off this weekend. So hard to refrain from going crazy. The more I inspect it the more I respect whatever it is Mamo is doing to these. Overall good design aside from the flashing and poor port matchups but he's finding more somewhere.

Must_Have_Z

You have almost exactly the same build I finished up last fall! I had a custom cam spec'd by Pat G and it's very close to the BTR 2 cam. 230/246, .634/.634/ 116+4. All your other mods are very close to mine. I had Mamo port my MSD. My car made 556/490. Very streetable cam, you'll like it, and the NW102 helps with throttle response and I actually enjoy driving the car more now than when it was stock! Post up #s when you're done!

ncsurveyor2007

Do you have any video of your car? I'd love to hear it idle. I'm considering the same setup and want to make sure I don't go too big on the cam choice. Hows the drone on the highway?

Unreal

You can't tell if a cam is too big, or how it drives based off video. You can make a video that makes a complete crap driving cam look great.

ncsurveyor2007

I agree but I don't have any experience with different cams and don't know anyone locally with a camed Z. Trying to do as much research as possible and a video and someone's experience is better than nothing. I'd love to drive a few different cammed cars to decide what I want....

03worthy4link

So I had another .015 milled off the heads today (I bought them supposedly milled .010) to bring them up to .025 total mill. Yet even with a dirty chamber with some carbon build up still only pulled a 68CC chamber size, confirmed back to back and on 3 chambers. I'm wondering if between the valve job and aftermarket Ferrea exhaust valve(valve looks to be more tuliped by design than stock), I've negated ~2cc's worth of milling.

I'm more or less pleased with less compression for the Florida heat, but also may need to have a touch up pass made on one of the heads as I'm not all too happy with the finished surface from the machine shop. So am wondering if I'm as safe as I think I am or if something is tricking me here.