Heads???
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,974
Likes: 14
From: Pinellas Park Fl
St. Jude Donor '08-'09 & '12, '14
The LS3 head is a hard head to beat and it won't be cheap doing it for the slim gains unless you are going big
Racer
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 370
Likes: 0
From: Wellington FL
Check out/google the recent artical from GM High Tech Performance. They tried all kinds of heads and found only minor improvement over the stock LS3 heads. If I recall, it might have been around 5-10 ish HP for most heads. Then they tried cams, and found solid gains. Because the heads are already so good, LS3's respond very well to a bigger cam. It's not unusual for an LS3 to pick up 50-60 or so RWHP with a medium cam. Most on the CF know best, but I think a typical LS3 with headers and cam will drop about 460 RWHP to the dyno. Comments?
Team Owner
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 27,236
Likes: 121
From: Short Hills, NJ
Cartek Performance Engineering (www.cartekracing.com) has done some amazing things with their custom ported LS3 heads.
One of their heads and cam packages recently went well into the 10s (multiple 10.8s trapping as high as 129mph
) in the 1/4 mile in a heavy 5th gen Camaro SS LS3 so just imagine what a package like that could do in a much lighter Corvette! 
515rwhp in a totally streetable/daily drivable package.
Here's a dyno video and dyno sheet of said Camaro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjgtU...eature=related
And here's the same car on a 10 second pass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACO8O...layer_embedded
One of their heads and cam packages recently went well into the 10s (multiple 10.8s trapping as high as 129mph
) in the 1/4 mile in a heavy 5th gen Camaro SS LS3 so just imagine what a package like that could do in a much lighter Corvette! 515rwhp in a totally streetable/daily drivable package.
Here's a dyno video and dyno sheet of said Camaro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjgtU...eature=related
And here's the same car on a 10 second pass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACO8O...layer_embedded
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Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 5,022
Likes: 18
From: Tampa FL (formerly Justinjor)
Tech Contributor
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14
I'm torn between having my stock casting ported or going with the TF 235s. I want to up the compression with some milling and a thinner gasket but I'm at .080 PTV right now as is.
My car made 494/443 and is a 10 second machine cam-only but I know I'll want more shortly.
I don't really want to flycut so I'm leaning towards the Trickflows but $3000 when all is said and done is a tough pill to swallow.
My car made 494/443 and is a 10 second machine cam-only but I know I'll want more shortly.
I don't really want to flycut so I'm leaning towards the Trickflows but $3000 when all is said and done is a tough pill to swallow.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,974
Likes: 14
From: Pinellas Park Fl
St. Jude Donor '08-'09 & '12, '14
I'm torn between having my stock casting ported or going with the TF 235s. I want to up the compression with some milling and a thinner gasket but I'm at .080 PTV right now as is.
My car made 494/443 and is a 10 second machine cam-only but I know I'll want more shortly.
I don't really want to flycut so I'm leaning towards the Trickflows but $3000 when all is said and done is a tough pill to swallow.
My car made 494/443 and is a 10 second machine cam-only but I know I'll want more shortly.
I don't really want to flycut so I'm leaning towards the Trickflows but $3000 when all is said and done is a tough pill to swallow.
Halltech intake, OBX 1 7/8 with o/r X pipe, CNC ported TB, EPS 230/238 .600/.615 cam, Powerbond 25% UDP, Formato Tuning
To me 'cam only' means just that, a cam, nothing else 'cept a tune to work it
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 5,022
Likes: 18
From: Tampa FL (formerly Justinjor)
Tech Contributor
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14
It's common understanding that cam-only refers to never having the heads off the car. Bolt-ons are bolt-ons, cam-only is bolt-ons+cam and heads/cam is bolt-ons, cam, heads
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 11,841
Likes: 107
From: God's Country, ID
Team Owner
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 27,236
Likes: 121
From: Short Hills, NJ
Not to start an argument, but, you keep saying "cam only", don't you have other mods?
Halltech intake, OBX 1 7/8 with o/r X pipe, CNC ported TB, EPS 230/238 .600/.615 cam, Powerbond 25% UDP, Formato Tuning
To me 'cam only' means just that, a cam, nothing else 'cept a tune to work it
Halltech intake, OBX 1 7/8 with o/r X pipe, CNC ported TB, EPS 230/238 .600/.615 cam, Powerbond 25% UDP, Formato Tuning
To me 'cam only' means just that, a cam, nothing else 'cept a tune to work it
It can also literally mean just a cam and nothing else at all but almost NO ONE does that.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 5,022
Likes: 18
From: Tampa FL (formerly Justinjor)
Tech Contributor
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14
Also, it would be a little strange to do a cam as your first mod. The factory exhaust isn't designed to flow the amount of air that an aftermarket cam would allow so you'd probably not see much benefit without the supporting mods.
There's a reason the majority of people go intake, headers, _______
There's a reason the majority of people go intake, headers, _______
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,790
Likes: 29
From: STL MO
St. Jude Donor '09-'10
I'm torn between having my stock casting ported or going with the TF 235s. I want to up the compression with some milling and a thinner gasket but I'm at .080 PTV right now as is.
My car made 494/443 and is a 10 second machine cam-only but I know I'll want more shortly.
I don't really want to flycut so I'm leaning towards the Trickflows but $3000 when all is said and done is a tough pill to swallow.
My car made 494/443 and is a 10 second machine cam-only but I know I'll want more shortly.
I don't really want to flycut so I'm leaning towards the Trickflows but $3000 when all is said and done is a tough pill to swallow.