Considering a cam, down the road....
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2018
Posts: 377
Likes: 68
From: Tennessee
Considering a cam, down the road....
Nothing is more beautiful to my ears than having that nasty sound at idle from a custom cam. From what I have read, been told about and seen, they offer significant power gains as well. When it’s time, I’ll talk to whichever cam company is at the head of the pack for a custom grind that meets my needs but for now I am interested in long term cam ownership. If/when I do it, I’ll have the heads “massaged/loved/ported/valve job/rebuilt” and get all of the supporting parts to go along with it. My question for y’all is this: How is the long term maintenance and reliability affected by upgrading the cam? The last car I had with a cam was a Fox Mustang back in the mid-90’s. It required valve adjustments every so often and of course tuning in those days consisted of timing and fuel pressure adjustments. Just looking for some feedback from some of y’all who have had a cammed C6 LS3 long term.
Last edited by Boostedsvt; Apr 20, 2019 at 07:16 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,827
Likes: 301
From: Tucson Arizona
St. Jude Donor '08
In brief, the great idle sound comes from overlap. The more overlap, the worst the low end and harder the tuning becomes. High overlap can come with high lift, which requires changing out valve springs every 20 K miles. Some compromise is needed to avoid these issues. Or you can do what I did and get one with 20* of overlap and super high lift. It sounded like a pro stocker, but needed a great deal of tuning effort. It ran best when it idled at 1050 rpms. I sold it before the springs needed changing. There are better options mentioned on this forum should you choose.
Last edited by jim2092; Apr 20, 2019 at 08:33 AM.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2018
Posts: 377
Likes: 68
From: Tennessee
In brief, the great idle sound comes from overlap. The more overlap, the worst the low end and harder the tuning becomes. High overlap can come with high lift, which requires changing out valve springs every 20 K miles. Some compromise is needed to avoid these issues. Or you can do what I did and get one with 20* of overlap and super high lift. It sounded like a pro stocker, but needed a great deal of tuning effort. It ran best when it idled at 1050 rpms. I sold it before the springs needed changing. There are better options mentioned on this forum should you choose.
Pro
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 577
Likes: 34
J was curious on the same have asked a lot of questions my self on here and my plan is to either contact Brian Tooley or Texas speed and talk to them for my cam options Far as upkeep I am going to sub this and keep my eyes on this. This will be the deciding factor if I do a cam or not
Nothing is more beautiful to my ears than having that nasty sound at idle from a custom cam. From what I have read, been told about and seen, they offer significant power gains as well. When it’s time, I’ll talk to whichever cam company is at the head of the pack for a custom grind that meets my needs but for now I am interested in long term cam ownership. If/when I do it, I’ll have the heads “massaged/loved/ported/valve job/rebuilt” and get all of the supporting parts to go along with it. My question for y’all is this: How is the long term maintenance and reliability affected by upgrading the cam? The last car I had with a cam was a Fox Mustang back in the mid-90’s. It required valve adjustments every so often and of course tuning in those days consisted of timing and fuel pressure adjustments. Just looking for some feedback from some of y’all who have had a cammed C6 LS3 long term.
3rd Gear
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 3
Likes: 1
From: Oklahoma City Area
I was just about to ask this same question. I’m in the market for a HCI setup but I take a lot of road trips with a group. I’m looking for similar answers as far a going mild cam with extreme spring, lifter and rods.
