Im ready to click the buy button and i have been reading and searching threads for days and have not gotten the answers I want. I need some reassurance as well since this is a big deal for me. I cant between the two cams listed above. I have a 2000 coupe mn6 with 3.42s and borla stingers and 119k mi. Everything is stock. Can anyone share some advice, pros cons, how critical is the oil pump/timing set replacement. I understand I will be doing valvesprings and pushrods. Oil psi seems fine. I will be installing everything myself. Thanks for any and all info! ps it is a daily driver but am looking for a nice lopey idle/good street manners if there's sucha thing.

 

I have the MS3. Its a great cam, (alot of lope) but if you DD the car and get stuck in a lot of stop and go it sucks the gas down. I only drive mine about 2 times a week. I would go with a smaller cam and do a 111 or 112LSA to get a pretty good lope if it was a DD. With that many miles I would do the LS6 ported oil pump and double roller timing set. I made 413rwhp with full bolt ons and stock intake manifold

 

233/239, love mine, see below for numbers in sig

 

I dont see any numbers? Any other input about it? It seems theres more people with the MS3 than the other one (which I'm leaning towards). Thanks for the info Marine!

 

You must do a new timing chain and new springs with any cam change. Checking your valves and valve retainers is a good idea too. Those MAY have to be replaced. but you wont know until the heads come off

Oil pump and under drive pulley would also be highly recommended.

 

The heads wont be coming off, I will be "rolling the dice" on the valves but will be doing new springs, retainers, locks, pushrods. I wanted to get an idea on timing components and oil pump from others. Thanks for your input!

 

If all you are looking for is a "nice lopey idle" you can achieve that with a lot less cam that what you are considering. As far as good street manners is concerned, that is a matter of opinion. The only way you will get some acceptable drivabilty for a DD with a cam with that much duration and overlap is with extensive tunning from someone who knows what they are doing. Be prepared to spend additional funds for that. Do not be surpprised is you loose some low end torque with that set-up.
As far is the oil pump is concerned, I re-used mine I looked essentially new when I disassembled it, so no need to replace a prefectly good oil pump in my opinion. I used a new OEM single roller chain, I believe if you use a double roller there may be some modifications required for the timing chain cover, run a search to verify.

 

If you were between these two cams, I would go 233/239. It will still have a nice aggressive idle but have a little better street manners. You should also take a look at a Torquer v.3 cam. Even smaller on duration but with the lobe profiles it is ground on you should see similar numbers and better street manners. Also, being ground no a 111 LSA, you will have no doubt the car has a nice aggressive cam in it at idle! Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks!
Jon

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Im not buying a cam solely for a lopey idle. Its the foundation for just about any other supporting mod, so i want the right cam to get me where i want to be in the future. My goal is a moderatly powered street car with an occasional road course. I have no interest in drag racing. It looks like itll be the 233/239 after all. thanks everyone.

 

2000 MN6 Z51 Coupe -
TEA Stg 2 LS6 Heads, TSP 233/239 112 Cam, Vararam Intake, 85mm MAF, YT UL RR's, Ported TB, LS6 Manifold, 58lb Injectors, U.D. Pulley, TSP 1 3/4 LT Headers, 3" H-Pipe, Z06 Ti Exhaust, DMH Cutouts (Gave Extra 7 RWHP), Centerforce DF Clutch (12"), 1/4" Tunnel Plate & a Hurst Short Shifter.
440 RWHP 400 RWTQ - DYNOJET (Cutouts Open)
410 RWHP 379 RWTQ - MUSTANG DYNO (W/O Cutouts)
11.50 @ 122 MPH 1.80 60'

 

If oy uplan to road course it I would go smaller, the cam you want (I have it also) has ALL of its power from 3800 rpm+, down low its not that great, I still love it cause thats what I wanted, a rpm car. TQ V3 will better suit you or even a 228R.

 

Thank you for that info! It would not be beneficial to my driving style/preference to have my power that high in the RPMs. I'll look into those cams. I'm still looking for that intimidation factor of an idle lope though, is the LSA what gives it that? I read that the lower the LSA the higher in the rpm range the power comes but gives a more lopey idle? Any comments on that or am I *** backward? Would I just have to shift more with the bigger cam? I race motocross and am not afraid of frequent shifting. Any and all info is greatly appreciated!

 

I'm running a cam (219/225 on 114 LSA .510 lift @ 1.7 RR) that most on this forum would consider extremely mild, it works very well for autocross and road racing.

Good low end torque, (kind of handy when coming out of a tight corner) easy on the valve train, pulls well all the way from 2500 to 6400 RPM. It has relatively good street manners and yes it does have a lope even though I have it idling at 900 RPM

 

I loved my ms3 but be ready to run to about 7000 rpms cause it kicks in late

 

That is an extremely mild cam,

 

Yes and it works very well for my intended purpose.

 

You pretty much got it, you can have TSP get you the 228R on a 112 LSA for the lopey idle, you would be happier with that cam over the 233/239 or MS3 for what you want out of the car. Also no point in going that big of a cam unless you plan to change the heads, the stockers will start to restrict the full power of the cam up top.

 

which is?

trk - yea you got the basic idea. personally, street driven i wouldnt dip below a 112. a 112 should kind of meet in the middle for what you seem to be wanting to do, as far as with an off the shelf grind goes at least. if you were to say, run the same duration/lift on a 110, you'd be losing some idle vacuum as well, which at this size cam, you're already running out of fast (you need it for your brakes, though, with the vette im not sure how far you can push that particular parameter)

i think the most aggressive cam i've ever run on the street was ground on a 108 LSA, was installed in just under 420 cubes, and still bucked and jerked like crazy below 2200 rpm. pulled about 8" of vacuum at idle. i effin loved it tho lol.

im a die hard custom grind fan.

you wont be shifting more per se, just perhaps changing when you shift when you're wanting to go fast. personally, if you just wanna go fast and sound cool - you'll be fine. all the dudes that crowd the cam threads with how much power a certain cam makes at 2000 rpm drive me crazy. how many races do you run at that engine speed? if you can drive, even on a road course i cant see you ever falling below 4000 rpm.

with that said, however, a good custom grind will (almost always, at least in competent hands) give you more power in a broader range, and still meet your intended goals. bigger is not always better, this is ESPECIALLY true with street driven camshafts.

btw, if you wanna do LS-anything camshaft research, goto ls1tech. you can read cam threads until your eyes bleed over there.

 

Thank you everyone! I placed my order for the TSP 233/239 @112lsa. I appreciate the info and advice and i think that this cam will be best suited for my driving style and will support the future mods nicely (if not, I'll adapt). Heads, LTs, intake and throttle body are in the future its just not practical for me to get it all at once right now. Thanks again guys!

 

Post back and let us know how you like it. Be prepared for low RPM bucking (below 1900 rpm)