Ok folks here it goes.

I live in the wonderful state of Kalifornism. My 2000 C5 is getting long in the tooth at nearly 200K miles. I am getting ready to do a balancer replacement along with timing chain and oil pump. My questions in regards to replacing the cam circle around our wonderful smog laws in this state. Any car 2000 or newer is no longer required to have a rectal exam (sniffer in the pipe). I am wondering how far out on the cam do you think I can go and still have good street manners? I would like it to have a decent lope at idle and make good power throughout the RPM range. I was looking at the GM "Hot Cam" 219/228 112 LSA but not sure how this thing behaves. I do know it is easy on the valve train which is why I find it appealing. I don't want radical big peak numbers. Looking for something that tells you it is there and comes out of the hole pretty hard. The car is daily driven and I want to be able to drive across country if I choose and not kill MPG. I am planning 243 heads in the not to distant future. Headers are out because of visual inspection but I also plan to do the C6Z manifold upgrade. The car is an A4, very mild stall, 3:42 gears, LS6 intake, with B&B Bullets.
Lets hear what you all have to say and Thanks in advance.

 

1st of all in days of the sniffer the max you could go on a cam would be no larger than apprx .225 duration @.050--a LSA no LOWER than a 114 --lift doesn't matter
Any cam bigger than this would create H/C 's beyond the allowed limit
Now without the sniffer It still can be somewhat of a battle Visual also mean audible to some smog guys So if your cam lopes too much they might refuse to pass as they suspect you have an aftermarket cam which in sense is illegal as it is a non stock part
If you go to a smog guy you know who doesn't care then you can get a lopey cam
Lope is generally caused by lowering the LSA which in turn INCREASES the overlap
Another thing that causes lope is having a larger "split" between the intake duration and exhaust
Low LSA cams are "dirty" as are large duration splits
I have tuned many "hot cams" and they are difficult to tune and would NOT be my 1st choice--especially now there are much better cams out there
Oh yeah--I live in Calif as well !!
I would get something like in the mid 230's range with a split of about 5-6* maybe like .233---239 @.050 Duration like a 114 or 112--the 112 would be lopier
Lift --don't go crazy here as it will be hard on valve springs especially if your car is a D/D
Something under .600
Of course you will need a re-tune ---Your tuner can turn off and permanently delete any false codes the cam produces
One more thing they look at in Calif------Your ECM goes thru what they call "readiness tests " These tests check all the sensors to make sure they are working---There are normally about 8 of them---In years past they would pass a car with 2 readiness tests that have failed----However now it's only 1 in Calif !!!
Again a cam will cause some of the tests not to pass---- and again your tuner can make all of them PASS permanently with correct tuning
Hope this helps any questions just ask----

 

laws change at a moments notice and you also have to keep resale in mind. you can pass a 224/224 on 114 and not be down all that much from a larger cam

spend the money on the heads that's where the power is

 

Tblu92...Thanks for the input. Looking at Texas Speeds 233/239 112lsa cam might be just what I am looking for. I have done some reading on this cam and it seems people are pretty happy with it. The 2 piece timing cover is going to be installed so I can swap when/if I need to.

Racebum...this car has 200k not so easy miles on it. It shows well and is pampered but no garage queen. Unfortunately with the miles shes not worth much to anybody other than me. No plans to sell her so I will just keep fixing and upgrading as I go. She will have a C6Z as a stablemate not too far down the road.

Thanks Guys!!!!

 

if you want a race car then yes

if you drive it on the street in traffic i would never go bigger than a 228R if you're looking at texas speed