XtremeVette

Need Cam advise for an A&A V3si Supercharged LS1 with stock heads. Car right now is making 550/520 rwhp/rhtq. Iam thinking of putting a cam in since my balancer is needing to be changed. I been trying to read up as much as I can about cams and how they work etc.

My goals are simple: I want a little lope at idle so you can tell its cammed vs my stock cam. I want to maintain and or increase my torque and horsepower down low - mid rpm band. So like from 2500-5000 area or so.

Iam still learning and honestly still a bit confused about the numbers and how they directly correlate to idle sound characteristics as well as adjusting where power will be made.

I thought perhaps the lopey idle came from a cam that had a lope separation something like 112 - 114 but then I heard the CCP Jam Cam and that was at 115+4 so that blew my theory out of the water lol. I dont know what the stock LS1 241 heads flow via the supercharger. Not sure how that works, if they flow more by the supercharger ramming the air in or if they will only flow a max number no matter what. I do know that the heads will affect and should be factored into what cam to go with. I dont want too high a lift and over saturate the cylinder if Iam understand how that works correctly.

So these are all the Supercharger Cams I have been reviewing so far:

A&A Supercharged Cam
220/230 Lope Sep 116+3 Valve Lift .581/.591
This one sounded almost stock to me? Not sure if other people can see or watch the video but here it is in one of my posts.
https://www.facebook.com/…/7498051083942…/2621290587912363/…

BTR CCP Jam Cam
230/242 Lope Sep 115+4 Valve Lift .608/.615
Idle sounds just a little too choppy and think perhaps I will lose tq/hp down low?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-g-7854jUY

BTR LS3 Supercharged Cam
22X/24X Lope Sep 115+5 Valve Lift .61X/.59X
Idle sounds just a little too choppy and think perhaps I will lose tq/hp down low?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Ayvs7N_O1w0

Vengeance Racing VRX4
228/230 Lope Sep 112+4 Valve Lift .588/.592
This one I like the sound and it seems like its still not too big or have a ton of lift.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd4ZOoAoNDY

ECS Big Blower Cam
23X/23X Lope Sep 115 Valve Lift .6XX/.6XX
like the way it sounds...I don't have very much information on its true size as ECS keeps those numbers to themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39wH6RnrbVk

So yeah also have read how a good tuner can tune a cam in a car that sounds pretty much like stock and give it more a lope at idle as well. I don't know if thats true or only up to a certain profile size etc.

So yeah, thoughts, recommendations, tips, advise and correcting me where I might have not understood something correct...all feedback kindly appreciated. I don't want to put in a cam I will be unhappy with. Oh and yes, I have reached out to quite a few people, Andy at A&A, Doug at ECS, a few local tuners and install shops, Vengeance Racing etc. I understand everybody has their own opinion and its just tough trying to determine what is going to work best for me and my goals.

Podium

I run this and its great and sounds like something you would like. Your tuner will pay a big role in how choppy it idles.

https://www.tickperformance.com/tick...1-ls6-engines/

0Daniel@Vengeance

There are a LOT of good options for a combo like this, and most any camshaft will technically "work". Sound is ultimately a combination of overlap (duration in relation to LSA) and exhaust combination. Ultimately go with what you like the sound of the best, and all of them on a supercharged car will fall within a relatively similar area with the same boost level on performance. The VRX4 is obviously my choice, but I may be a bit biased

95BlueBomber

I'm going with the BTR LS3 Supercharged Cam myself. That video posted sounds like the tuner had not nailed that idle down yet. It's not quite that choppy

XtremeVette

Well I'll be honest I been way over stressing all week about whether or not to cam or not to cam being I have 102k on it. I have heard from lot of people and shops that I value their expertise, knowledge and advice. I understand how no two shops are really going to probably agree on a complete plan of attack. Hearing everybodies input you have so many "yeah what he says makes sense" thoughts in your head, you end up more confused then when you started contemplating the idea. Just not sure what to do at all. Seems like it's an all in or nothing type of situation. Do the balancer only or spend serious $$$$ to do a top end refresh full heads refinish or replace, lifters, oil pump, water pump, gaskets, timing chain, balancer and tune. But then your leaving the bottom end untouched so yeah hmmm.

aaronc7

Overlap is what will give it the lope and also negatively affect driveability etc. There are online calcs that will tell you overlap based on intake duration, exhaust durations and LSA. I have a mildish NA cam, 226/230 113, and it has 0 or 2 degrees of overlap. For blower cams you will typically see a larger exhaust duration and a larger LSA to bring you back to the same overlap... IE 226/234 115 or something. The nice thing about blowers though is that they are really not picky about cams, and if one works well NA, it will work great with a blower too. So I wouldn't stress about it too much. I wanted something that was going to give a good gain across the entire powerband and not kill driveability... I ended up with the above and kept lift at or under .600.

Don't get a super aggressive cam trying to get an extra couple hp out of it, when you could just pulley down a bit and make that same power plus more, and have a car that isn't miserable to drive/idle.

XtremeVette

Thanks Aaron, no iam not stressing over the cam selection i have that narrowed down pretty good now. My concern is "will my 102K motor hold together if I do this and dont change the lifters on it." It was supercharged 2 years ago/roughly 8,000 mile ago. I have so much conflicting information its crazy lol.

aaronc7

Doing lifters will add a significant amount of labor.... if it aint broke dont fix it IMO.

balancer, Cam, oil pump, timing chain/damper, supporting cam mods such as springs, rocker arm bearings and call it complete, IMO.

Naturally Vain

2 Guy you should talk to: Bret- "BlownBlueZ06" and Arun at CCPerf.ca (he created the Jam Cam)

The way I see it, if you plan on keeping the car forever like I do, or at least a very long time, buy parts for longevity and a setup with parts that will last you going into the future. Patience is also key! haha

Take a look at my thread on here as I am doing about the same things you are.

Naturally Vain

Aaronc7, Neutron82, Smoken1 and a lot of others are equally as valuable to talk to as well! So many great people on here.