Was in the process of swapping out the springs yesterday for some cc918's and got to the # 7 intake and noticed something wasn't right. Took off the spring and the seal came w/ it and then 1/2 the valve guide along w/ it. 116K on the motor and original springs. I got lucky.

So now I'm getting new guides put in along w/ ARP studs. Want to bump the compression up to 11.1 and possibly get some new rockers since I'm in there. What do you guys recommend that's tried and true? Also will be putting some LT headers and deleting the cats. So tempting to do a cam but gonna leave well enough alone as best as possible. Hope to have it put back together before thanksgiving and get it tuned.

 

Yella Terra Ultralites or just rebuild the stock rockers with the comp cams trunion upgrade.

 

Do a small cam if your going to have to pull the heads. You will enjoy it. Good cam choice and a great tuner is key.

 

Heads are already off and out to the machine shop in the morning. Gonna ask my friend if he's got a cam laying around. I just know how this goes...cam and then a host of other parts will follow along. Thanks for the suggestion on the yellow Terra Ultralites.

 

heres my .02 cents on this... i have owned lots of cars, stroker mustangs,lt1 drag car,ls1 camaro drag car all of those with built motors and heads,cam and lil nitrous. while they were all some pretty cool cars and ran incredible i had no regrets except my c5 z06.....

dont get me wrong i love the car in the status is in right now but if i had to do it over yea i probably wouldnt have cammed the car. with full bolt ons and full exhaust longtubes,off road xpipe and catback i loved the way it drove. then i thought i needed a little more so i ended up camming the car. ended up going to a low 230's all around cam at 112lsa. by all means it runs awesome sounds incredible and scares little children and makes old folks jump but for some reason i feel different about this car. i kinda liked it being just a bolt on car, it was a perfect driver and so smooth. i think the stock ls6 cam is a fantastic cam and a full bolt on c5 z06 is awesome driver. if anything i think i may have should have opted for like a smaller cam at 114,115,116 lsa something like a 216/224 218/224 224/224 etc etc if i had to do it over again. its kinda of pain n the *** driving around with a bigger cam but not too bad, its all in the tune. smaller cam i think i would have probably left it alone but now im looking to do heads,gears,diff etc etc haha..i promised myself i wouldnt do anything to make it like my previous other cars more like a street/drag set up but what do you know im heading that way lol. my opinion is that for a car like this its already pretty awesome from the factory just full exhaust and full bolt ons and shes good.

 

Funny you say this as my friend has said the same thing. He only recommended a baby cam if any at that. Full bolt-ons, tune and call it a day. I bought the car only 2 mos ago soley to enjoy in--- it's basically stock in configuration. It has borla stingers and breathless CAI and that's it. Susp is all new w/ C6z components, new pads, rotors, calipers, new pp, clutch and flywheel. No tune which it needs badly as it's reading 18% leaner w/ a Tech2 scanner. My only work was going to be preventative maintenance ie, springs, fuel fitler, 02's and call it a day w/ the hope of headers down the road and short shifter. Well it came sooner than expected so I may as well get it all out at once as I don't plan on laying on my back w/ this car ever. I have a 900hp LTx where most of my back laying comes from now. LOL

I like the fact the Z prior to this is dead reliable and a whole lof of fun to drive. I'm not going to mess that up under any circumstances. One money pit is enough. If he's got a baby cam laying around like I think he does we'll swap but if not no biggie that stk cam gets the job done for what I need it to do.

 

Well he's got a CC laying around brand new. 224/228 112LSA .534/.537 @ .050 lift. Searched on here for similiar cams and seems to be a good all around cam which is what I'm looking for if anything. Really just debating on whether to do it or not. Feel w/ the slightly higher cr along w/ this cam, LT, X-pipe, CAI and a good custom tune by him should wake it up a little more than what it is already. Never got to baseline the car though so I don't really know what it puts down.

Heads are back from the shop and now just waiting on the cometics.

 

Hell that cam has less lift then a LS6 cam....

It would probably still make a good power improvement but......All of the quirks from aftermarket cams will probably occur...

For what you want, you are probably better off with the stock cam...Maybe throw some bigger rockers on it or something..

I went through the same scenario with my old 99 Trans Am. The car ran great with bolt ons and was super smooth, very torquey and great part throttle power. I eventually slapped in a MS3 cam (237/242) and it made great power on the dyno (for what it was anyway), sounded great etc etc.... But the car was a turd. it lost all of its bottom end power, only picked up like 2-3 mph TOPS with the cam and was much harder to launch....More importantly it lost a lot of part throttle acceleration.... I hated it...

Now I have my 02 Z06 and guess what.... stock LS6 cam still in it.... Drives smooth as glass...lock it in 6th at 1100 rpms and it drives fine...no valve train noise and very responsive and torquey down low....great part throttle acceleration...

Even if I ever build a big motor and dump a lot of boost in it, I am keeping the LS6 cam...

 

I hear ya! I'm sticking w/ the stk cam. Thought about looking at rockers but for 500 bucks I can do other things w/ the car...get a RSD short shifter for one and keep the remaining 300 bucks in my pocket.

 

This thread is turning out to be an interesting thread.

I recently lost my 2003 TR CAM'd ZO6 to being rear-ended and it being sandwiched and totaled. I had a full bolt-on car and a nice CAM in it. I learned it was totaled on a Thursday and that Friday, I had a 2002 EB ZO6. I have installed the LTs, VR CAI, upgraded the brakes and shocks. I did the springs and pushrods and had a valve drop on me. I had the Air Intake Manifold off and was able to guide it back up with a set of long needle nose pliers (taped ends to prevent damage to valve stem).

I have kicked around CAM'ing this car, but I am not going to do it. I really loved the extra power, the sound, the shake the car had, etc. However, sense the accident, I learned how quickly it all can be taken away from you. The car in the form I have it in is fine, pretty quick, holds it's own and I can hear the radio and drive with a passenger and not have to yell, because it isn't overly loud. I do have plans; bushings, coil overs and to keep everything up to speed in the maintenance department then drive it!

I keep reminding myself...no matter what I do to my car there will always be something faster than me; but I still drive one of the best VETTEs produced, the C5 ZO6! That is what I love!

 

Interesting indeed..the OP got 116k out of his motor and had similar problem to the others who have posted about engine failures with much less miles.,..although technically his engine had not failed yet. Adds to the complexity of the issue IMO

Would be interesting to see if the OP had any track time on the car.

 

It truly is interesting that he has over 100K and the car was probably still running well until this point. The valve was probably being guided more with the stock GM seat/seal, because it is all one piece, that is if the car still had all stock valve train components.


I think that this just turned out to be wear and tear and with head work he will soon be back on the road again.

 

 

Sorry for the loss but congrats on the new acquisition! I too love the way the car is in it's current form and that's what made the decision easier to do. A friend has a head & cam z06 and it runs like a raped ape but he's still chasing bugs w/ the tune etc. He's got a little cam surge which bugs him to death but that comes w/ the territory when switching up. Ported AFR's I believe and a cam similiar to what I was considering but slightly larger. I sounds good no doubt about it but prior to this he was stock w/ no qualms. I'll keep it as is. Learned that lesson long ago w/ the LTx.
Yes I was indeed lucky in a lot of respect. Could've been a costly repair. Glad I caught it when I did. After reading so many others w/ spring failures even it the percentage was small, I didn't want to take the chance. Valve was bent slight too because of it and I had oil soot on the valence. Should've been my 1st clue had I been paying attention to it. Only have had the car 2 mos so no track time as of yet. I wasn't even reving past 2500 until I had new springs put in. The one time I did get on it I was scared but amazed at the power. 3100lb is a big difference esp w/ pwr to weight ratios.
Car ran great! Aside from detonation as it was lean. 4 of the new spark plugs were cracked as well when I removed them so it may have had a small part in the way it ran as well. But overall it ran superb for a high miler. She's got another 200K in it easy. Cylinder walls look literally new w/ the cross hatch in them. Pistons just need a good beating on them to clear up and maybe a can of sea form.

Valve train is all stock.

 

Thanks and tuning is definitely a huge factor in modding these cars. Getting the right person on the job. Where are you located? My tuner is outside of Houston and I will not let anyone else even touch my tune except him.

 

I'm in the Panhandle of Fl. PC. Local tuner is the man and he does it all from tunes to custom turbo setups. He also tunes my LTx so I'm good in that regard as well. He's the only person I'll let touch my car.

 

as far as rockers go, I cracked 6 harland sharps in about 15k miles of install. Trying out the yellaterra now.

 

OUCH! I'm staying away from HS. YT were on my radar but not that price...at least not now anyways.

Have a pair of crane's that cracked w/ less than 1K on them and switched those out for ultra pro-mags on my other car.

 

A buddy of mine is going through Flight School for the Navy there in PC. He just sold his C5Z with the front mount TT setup. I was pissed, because it was a badass ride!

 

The VR one? If it is I remember seeing it for sale a while back. I wouldn't have mind picking that one up. Sick ride for sure.