So I'm looking at my options for an LS7 cam. Right now the car has full bolt-ons. The car is pretty much daily driven so I'm looking to strike a balance between aggression and reliability. I realize that is asking a lot lol. I have been looking at TSP cams, particularly the LS7S. I'm not concerned with low speed surge as long as it's not crazy.

My performance guy recommended the LPE GT19 cam. I was looking at the specs and was concerned the high lift on the cam could result in wear on the valvetrain considering that I would like to keep the stock rockers.

I'd like to know some opinions on this. What have you guys done?

 

I don't have a LS7 I have an LS3 but what I do know is you may want to keep overlap low and it will have better driveability. But on that 427 I don't know at how many degrees is good without having problems.

Brain Tooley Racing Stage 2 for the LS7 is a 230/246 .644"/.630" 115+4 that's 8 degrees of overlap

Texas Speed Stage 1.2 228/240 .635/.635 114+??? is a 6 degree overlap

Judging by those if you keep it around a 6 to 9 degree overlap you shouldn't have the surge/bucking problems maybe a 10 degree at the most. But hopefully the LS7 guys can help you out. If it's a daily you may really want to keep it in the lower cateogry so it's still fun to drive. I know I'm not much help but the overlap does matter. If you see a cam spec here's the calculator: http://www.wallaceracing.com/overlap-calc.php

 

Thank you for the information.

This is definitely the type of info I'm looking for. Does anyone have some additional input as to what would be an acceptable overlap for a street application? Any thoughts on what cam to use are also more than welcome.

 

Hey buddy you may want to move or ask this in the Z06/ZR1 section and you will get more responses. But also with lower overlap it will not be a max effort cam so just keep that in mind.

 

If your "performance" guy just throws out a name brand off the shelf camshaft for his suggestion, he probably shouldn't be your performance guy. Anyone can say "LPE XYZ cam." If you're truly looking for an informed recommendation, use the services of an expert like Pat Guerra. You fill out a long form with your goals and current setup, and he recommends you a camshaft with every single specification and will have Cam Motion build it and ship it to you as well. That's what I did and am extremely happy with the result.

 

Respectfully, I disagree. Just because something is "off the shelf" doesn't mean it's not the best cam for many of us. Those cams are designed for common engine configurations. There are only so many ways to grind the same cam blank. Unless the OP is racing for money, he could very well save a few bucks and get one of the "proven" performers that other people are using, and use their feedback on driving characteristics to form his own opinion on drivability.

 

That overlap calculator is a great tool; keep your overlap under 5° if you want anything near OE driveability. Try and find a dyno pull or video clip of the cam installed if you can, or at least a lot of reviews that at least testify that the cam did what the owner wanted it to.

The Katech Torquer 116 and 110 cams have great reviews and dyno's to prove their gains. OE LS7 LSA is 120 so if you go too low, don't expect it to still idle and drive down low like stock. Suggest a cam with LS friendly lobes and an 8620 cam core. Start your research at EPS, CamMotion, and TSP. TSP has a $1m CNC cam grinder and while it can cut you a cam with almost any duration, LSA, and ICL that you want, their .635"/.635' lobes for the LS7 I think are a nice happy-medium.

Throw in the CHE LS trunnion kit while you're at it, and at the very least inspect your OE lifters and trays while you have them all out. (Highly recommend new OE LS7 lifters at the least, and I don't think anyone ever went wrong with a set of Johnson lifters.) New PR's are also inexpensive and wise.

If you haven't had the valve guides inspected, you may as well just have them fixed while the heads are off, too.

 

we used a katech 501 cam on a friends build with stock lifters, rockers and stock pushrods even. Turned out great, made decent power throughout the curve and was totally drivable with a great tune. sounded mean too and he went 10.7 with about 5 passes. He sold the car, got a stang350r, then sold that for a GTR, but he deeply misses is vette lol.

 

To me, I think the most important thing to consider in choosing a CAM is to fully understand what you want from your car. Are you looking for maximum power or looking for something powerful but well manored? You can have a 590whp build but your car will feel like a rocking boat or you can have 60 less whp and feel like you are in a stock car. I chose the path of a modest build and went with an " off the shelf " CAM from a company called Vette Air. The CAM I chose is called " Street Bully " CAM. I pumped out 520whp with that CAM and LG headers only. I barely feel the CAM and the car idles like stock which is what I wanted.

 

I think there is more to be said about the tune towards proper drivability with a more aggressive cam than people understand. Most tuners won't take the time to really dial that in either. Cold start, hot start, part throttle, clutch in Rev hang and on and on.
​​​​I have easily over 600 NA and it drives just fine on the street and in traffic.

 

This is why I made the comment about off the shelf grinds. My point was that any mechanic, no matter how good or bad, can throw out a name. But if he doesn't first ask you 50 questions on what you want out of your car, what the current set up is, planned mods, driving style, etc. then he did you no favors. I never said an off the shelf grind wouldn't be the perfect choice. I just said some research should be done first, and a good mechanic will ask you questions before just throwing out a name of a cam that literally every other mechanic would also know.

 

Contact CamMotion - they specialize in cams for late model GM LS/LT motors. They will want to know what you want from your motor, as well as what you don't want, and give you a custom cam to fit. The price is the same as an off the shelf cam.

http://www.cammotion.com/

 

The tune is the most important factor but sitting here acting like a tune will completely make your aggressive CAM feel like a mild to stock CAM feel is ridiculous.

 

I'd say a tune isn't the most important factor, but it's as important as selecting the correct cam. A bad tune can make even a baby cam unlivable on the street, but the best tune in the world can't make a cam with 50 degrees of overlap feel like stock.

 

You are putting words in the mouth. I said there's more to the tune to make an aggressive cam driveable then most people understand. maybe you should take a 2nd glance at my post instead of making stuff up and say that's ridiculous.
My car is a max effort NA setup capable of 9s, expect to see the slips soon with a new personal best. ran a best 10.14 with some bogging issues that I've just figured out and fixed. I don't often, but sometimes take the car to work and get hit with at least 20min of bumper to bumper traffic and the car does just fine. no surging, no hunting, smooth and easy off the clutch. Like a stock cam? no i didn't claim that but pretty darn good. I have been victim to getting a tune by a so called "Corvette GURU" and actually hated my car. Was told he did what he could for drivabilty but due to the nature of the cam i was limited. I was retuned by another who claimed he could do much better after looking at mine. Well he was on point and the car was fun to street again....smoothed it right out and also picked up 7mph on the trap while at it.
There is limits to everything, i Never said a tune is capable of making any cam stock like in drivability....I just claimed there's more to it, and if you have a tuner that's willing to work at it, the tune will play a tremendous factor in making the best of it.

 

First of all, if you haven't "fixed" the heads, you really should do that before installing a camshaft or you may be in for a crazy ride.

I recommend the Brian Tooley Stage 3 cam. It does not drive like stock but it isn't hard to drive either. I can lug it down to around 55-60 in 6th gear with great manners. With the right setup, it'll make near 600whp. Heads and cam only, I made 530whp. Heads, cam, and headers I made 550whp. Heads, cam, headers, and mamo msd I made 590whp.

 

The cam and heads make the power.... Plus a good intake. Baby cam will zap power if you want near stock driveability.... The biggest off the shelf BTR cams will be reliable... it's just how much chop you like at idle and soft power below 3500rpm.... above 4000rpm the Stg3 and 4 cams are animals....

An MSD Atomic intake with cleaned up ports will make 30rwhp+ over a stock LS7 intake. Great bang for the buck. Stock fuel rail and injectors work with it.

 

I know this thread is over a year old, but I'm bringing it back from the dead because this subject is NEVER dead!! Totally agree about tuning. I'd like to give a shout out to several people here, and no, I dont work for any of them or do I own any of these places.
1: Cams. Give Allan Futral a call. He's an expert, and uses Cam Motion Cam lobes. His cams rock. I had a Darton sleeve 427 with AFR 225 Heads (this was in 2005). The Futral Cam I ran was .598 lift I, .603 lift Ex., with 232/236 duration@.050 on a 112 LSA. Drove my Corvette to California and back, and got an actual 25mpg average INCLUDING around town. 1/4 mile trap speeds were over 125mph......
2: Tune: See or call Rich Gala at Motor City Speed. Rich is THE go-to-guy for tuning. Motor City speed is also owned by Billy Briggs. Between the two of them, there's not too much they cant accomplish. Both were former Wheel To Wheel go-to-guys.... Good luck...........

 

Agree on Cam Motion. Also, the wild names on some of these cams do little to tell you anything, other than allowing some sort of comparison. Which is what the specs do much better job of. A "VooDoo" or "Black Mamba" or whatever other marketing trick sales people come up with are of little value. A Hippie friend of mine years ago was telling me about how awful his "smoke" was. He told me the guy he bought it from told him it was "Madagascar Hashweed", but it was no good!! Enough said.....

 

Stalker
224/246 115 LSA .667/.667 lift

Great daily driver, Minor lower rpm surge, Aggressive cam lope, Great HP and torque increase through out the RPM curve. This cam is track proven to put many larger LS7 cams to shame at track with trap speeds of 136+.


https://www.raginracin.com/main/cams/