I'm wanting to do up grade my cam this summer, on my 97 6 speed. I was wondering if I need to up grade the valve springs, pushrods, retainers, etc...? I'm getting a LS6 intake, and have TPIS headers and will get the R/T cats soon. Just needing to know about the cam and other items with it?
Thanks

 

You will need springs at the least. Also the necessary gaskets... pushrods are a good idea but not required..

 

you will need a spring kit (springs,retainers, seats) and hardened pushrods, also look into a ported and shimmed oil pump, and double roller timing chain. The pump and timing chain arent a necessaity but i would do it if i had the money. Other than that you will need the gasket kit for cam swap and thats about it.

 

I personlly did it this way 918 springs and retainers. Did not go with the hardend pushrods . I'd rather bend a pushrod than brake the valve train.

 

You need springs, pushrods and a new timing chain. The LS2 chain, now the replacement for the LS1 chain, is inexpensive and pretty stout. The standard pushrods are marginal so I personally wouldn't leave them in there.

Cam swaps are a big discussion topic at LS1Tech.com, you might also want to get some input on the that board as well.

 

 

Bare minimums:
1. drop-in replacement springs (918's, Manley or Patriot dual's, etc)
2. LS2 timing chain
3. Front crank oil seal
4. oil pump pick-up tube o-ring
5. Water pump and timing cover gaskets. I say this only because your seals are 8 years old and probably will fall apart upon disassembly. Normally, though, you can reuse these oring-encapsulated gaskets.
6. pin the crank pulley- dont want it spinning back off.
7. degree the cam- yup, check that cam
8. Custom PCM tuning

Luxury items you dont necessarily need, but nice to have:
1. Ti retainers
2. ported oil pump
3. U/D pulley- worth about 8-10rwhp
4. dual valve springs vs single- the CC918 single ovate is a very worthy & reliable spring, ample but not too much seat pressure for your application. I've been installing them on my customer's C5s for several years. Only one failure- my 389 motor, but I was pushing it with .610" lift, 7k rpm limiter, 300 shot nitrous. My other drag race customers with 918s really beat the helll out of their rigs, no issues. Even with a dual spring there is not gaurantee both will break. I had one customer who had dual springs, both broke on #7 intake, valve hit piston, destroyed the piston, what a mess.

Items you dont need:
1. hardened push rods- only needed in high lift, aggressive ramp, high rpm race applications. Like the other guys said, I prefer to have the pushrod the weakest link in the valvetrain.

Robert Judd / Gen 3 Motorsports LLC / Portland, Or

 

Thanks for the replies. I called Comp Cams and they suggested I go with cam 54-414-11 with valve springs 941-16. I don't know all the specs off the top of my head and since I know nothing about cams, will this cam be able to get my 97 6 speed up to the 400 hp mark with the listed mods? Blackwing, opened fog screens, high flow duct, TB bypass, ported TB, LS6 intake, TPIS headers, R/T cats and Borla exhaust.

 

400 hp at the cranks yes. At the wheels probably not. I have a Comp cam 220/224 581 114, LS6 intake, Blackwing, Kooks headers. Dyno was at 368 rwhp. 358 rwtq. Stock LS1 heads.

 

Would adding heads and a good tune be the next steps with getting me to 400hp at the wheels?

 

I have a LPE cam for sale- brand new- in the box, dadadadada. I am going to a bigger motor and the cam is a bit on the small side (Read: Too much cylinder pressure for 400 plus C.I.D.) because the duration is 222 degrees@ .050 lift. It has .570 lift and a LSA of 112. I don't know what, if any, emissions tests, checks, etc., that you may have to hurdle, but I am asking $250.00 for it. It is ground by Comp for LPE. Corvette Fever recently used this cam and picked up around 40 horses over stock, without even a handheld tuneer,if I remember correctly. If your emissions KGB's are bad, you may not want to go over this duration and may even want Comp, Futral, Thunder, or whoever to grind up a similar spec stick but with 113 or 114 degree LSA. Just my .02...

 

You may or may not be interested in this, but here goes. I ran a 12.89@109.97 1/4 mile without even an underdrive pulley on my car, through the stock exhaust manifolds. I did have the Granatelli MAF and a Blackwing, Flowmasters, an LS6 intake, 160 'stat, and had a Predator tune. This was on the runcraps and a 3.15 rear. No cats either. This fall ('04) I ran a 12.50@ 113.80 and the check engine light was on. This run had a 2.2 60' time as well! But I did have a Yank 3200 in it and B&B headers-not shorty but not longy, either!! I do believe that with some E.T. Streets or BFG drag radials, I may have been in the 11's, but I'll never know for sure (Assuming the 2.2 60' dropped to a 1.69, I'd say an 11.99 down to a 11.95 or so C-O-U-L-D have happened.). Good luck.

 

I personally do NOT agree with the pushrod being the "weak link". As expensive as any engine is to repair/build, why prefer to have a weak link anywhere??? Accurate valve timing events are crucial to a long lived valvetrain/engine-period. If you install stiffer springs and use a cheese pushrod, think it'll flex? Guaranteed!!! Your new .580 lift cam just became a .565 lift cam at over 6000RPM!! This idea is analogous to " I prefer to have my sleeves as the weak link in my piston-ring-bore assembly, as if it splits, at least my expensive rings will survive as well as my Mahle forged pistons"!! Manley pushrods are only $99.00 at Scoggin-Dickey, and others. Lets see, 16 pushrods/$99.00= Egads, $6.18 apiece!! I just don't get it when a guy will stick 3 or 4 thousand bucks into a motor, especially one as hard/time consuming as it is to R&R an LS anything into, and out of, a C5, and hedge on $6.18 more per pushrod!!!!!! I am not trying to be off topic or smart ***, just can't figure why? Corvette Fever, in the same issue I quoted in earlier post, found a 10-15 horsepower improvement over stock when changing the rockers, valvesprings, and yes, PUSHRODS, and nothing else!! And this was with the stock cam!! I rest my case.