"Minor lower rpm surge". You can't say that when many will claim their cam, with 15 degrees more on the intake and 5 degrees more on the exhaust, and with an LSA that's 3 degrees tighter, has ABSOLUTELY PERFECT MANNERS with no buck, surge, or shake. You shouldn't come on here and be that honest, but it certainly is refreshing!!!

 

I just got rid of a cam that had 0 overlap because it was not stock like driving. I believe it has been poorly tuned several times. The factory cam works out to -20 degrees. I am going with a custom cam from Matt Gower of GPX Tuning with overlap of -.9. He could have tuned my other cam but I went with the cam he knows well. Drivability is more important than all out power for me. If I can hit 525 to the wheels an sneak it by my smog guys I will be happy as hell.

 

I'd rather have a happy customer and tell him what he's getting than sell a cam that he will end up hating and tell the world. Any cam that is worth while putting in will change drivability to a degree... The stalker cam is a good compromise. Good sound and power with very little cons..

 

A "0" overlap cam in an LS7 has bad manners? I wouldn't have thought that. I just installed a 0 overlap cam in my LS3 and it runs decent even on the stock tune. More cubic inches will always eat up overlap. Mine's getting tuned Tuesday and I fully expect there to be no drivability issues after it's tuned. Just curious what your 0 overlap cam specs were. Also, what are the cam specs of the new one? -9 overlap ought to be just about impossible to detect in an LS7.

 

Someone didn't know what they were doing tuning it all. Motorhead what cam did you end up going with?

 

226/234 115+4. It will be interesting to see how it compares with your rig. Very similar except for the milder cam. We'll know Tuesday.

 

Glad to hear you can hit 135+ trap speeds with what sounds like a smaller cam. I know my posts are long, so I hope I can help some of the guys with my experiences. I had a Futral cam ground for my older 427. In 2005, unless you had the $$ for a C5R block, there were no options for building a 427, other than Darton sleeves. Head options then were limited, too. I put a set of CNC'd AFR 225s on a Darton sleeved block. The Futral cam I had ground was a 232/236@.050, 112° LSA, with .598/.603 lift. I was told the exhaust port on the 225 heads was very good, so you didnt need a huge "split". Rich Gala (who was then at W2W) did a killer tune on it. It was a mid-range-top end monster, with good low end, too. I'm sure the displacement helped this all-range torque a lot. I had NO surging at any speed. It idled around 900RPM, and-sure-the car rocked a little at idle. I am curious, though, as to how hard on the valve guides a near .670 lift cam would be. Is your car primarily a street car (mine is)? When I had my current cam ground, it was again a 232° duration @.050 intake lift, but now the exhaust is up to 250°@.050. Allan Futral told me the LS7 heads are exhaust limited, compared to their great intake flow, so a large split is needed. Same 112° LSA. Approx same lift. Do you have roller tipped rockers? I was afraid to go over .610 lift w/stock rockers due to a non-roller tip.

 

I agree on the need for a good split on the LS7 given the intake flows are so much greater than the exhaust. I had hand ported LS7 heads (which were CNC'd from the factory) from AHP with Moldstar 90 valve guides, with PSI 1511ML valve springs, Ferrea exhaust valves, and a CHE trunnion kit, when I went with a TSP custom cam on an 8620 cam core, on TSP's 1.8 rocker ration cam lobes at .635" intake lift, and .635" exhaust lift. I choose the duration off the many proven dyno results from Katech's popular Torquer cams, on a 116 LSA.

I didn't want any or very little lope, and my goal was really for someone to be able to drive it and not even know it had an aftermarket cam in it. Idle is set at 825rpm when warm. Katech goes out to .648" lift on the intake side, but I wouldn't recommend going any higher on an LS7 because there are many proven cam results out there with big power that don't have lifts past .650". You don't want roller tips on the LS7, they do more harm than good; look into that before you go that route. The wipe pattern begins to go to less than ideal between .615" and .650" lift, so I thought .635" was a happy medium. With a great PatG tune, I made 520 rwhp on a conservative Mustang dyno and I'd wager most who drove it would never know there is an aftermarket cam in it.

 

Agree BIG TIME on Mustang dyno being stingy (maybe a curate is a better word). I agree on the roller tip not being a real good choice. At least a good economical choice. Pretty sure a Jesel roller rocker would be a great choice, but outta my price range. I also have the trunnion upgrade. I was reluctant to go with that much lift, because I'm getting too old to find much fun in replacing engine parts. But I think you made a real good choice on .635. Not too radical-Not too conservative. I believe my new tune-Which will be done when Michigan weather permits driving the car down to Motor City Speed-Will probably idle down to 850-900 RPM(at 900 now), but the car will slope pretty good. Your cam is probably as stock sounding as possible with that much lift and duration. I just wanted a nice lope. To each their own. I also think that your LSA would have considerably more high end horsepower (not saying it wouldn't have good low end/midrange) than mine would. Sounds like you have a nice combo......

 

Just my .02, but I have run ferrea valves before, in my AFR 225s. There are no better valves made, intake or exhaust.......