Hello Everyone.

After 5 years of owning a bone stock 09 LS3, its time to start modding the engine. I would like to put as aggressive a cam in this thing without sacrificing much lower end torque so I have a Nice torquey street car.

The car has a 3:42 rear end gear with the Z51 option and closer ratio 1-4 gears in the 6 speed manual transmission.
It also has a Corsa Sport CAT back exhaust system.

I will be adding a set of 1 7/8" long tube headers with a Catless X or H pipe as well as a CAI.
HP Tuners will be used for Tuning.

From what I have read the stock pump and injectors will support close to 600 FWHP, so I believe its safe to use these again.

Now the stock intake and throttle body will support a decent amount of power as well. I know from what I have read the aftermarket intakes will support a touch more horsepower on the top end but on just a street setup its better to stick with the stock one?

What I am unsure of is, how aggressive of a camshaft can I put in this motor and still have a good amount of low end torque for a street car?

Currently in stock form I can Buzz up to 6500rpm. I don't have an issue buzzing it up to 6800-7000 RPM but would not be comfortable spinning it over 7.

I'm not sure how many ford guys we have here, but back in the day I had a fox body mustang with a 302 and a ford "X" cam with edelbrock performer heads. Spun that thing all day long to 6K with 4:30 gears and it was honestly the most fun and torquey street car I ever had.

I eventually put AFR 185 heads and a bigger cam on that car that i had to buzz up to 7k and while it ran a few tenths faster in the quarter mile it was not a fun street car as I had to rev it high to make power and lost a significant amount of low end torque.

It would have been a great track car with an auto and a 4500 stall but that wasn't what I wanted lol

So having said all that, I don't want to make the same mistake again.

I know that the LS3 heads are an amazing piece of hardware even in stock form.

So I'm really looking for recommendations on a Camshaft I should be putting into this LS3 and want to get as much horsepower as possible before it starts affecting low end torque.

I know I'm going to lose a bit of bottom end torque with a cam swap, however I still want this to be a fun torquey street car.

I'm open to other suggestions, if there is anything else I could or should be doing?

 

Tx Speed has a camshaft that might interest you. 25-TSP225236 NEW Texas Speed Stage 1 LS3 225/236 .629"/.615" Camshaft (texas-speed.com)

I have a custom grind that helps make really good low end power, has near perfect manners, and pulls hard to 7K rpm. My LS3 also has CNC ported and milled heads, thinner head gaskets, ported and rod modded intake manifold, and ported throttle body. Without the other additions, my cam (226/234 115+4) may not be a good match for you.

What you're looking for is a cam that closes the intake valve earlier on the compression stroke. That adds low end power compared to cams that close the intake valve later. Three ways to do that. Mild intake duration, narrow the LSA and/or add ground in advance. Too small on the intake duration limits power potential. Too narrow on the LSA and too much advance will hurt the top end. Kind of a balancing act so to speak.

 

Thank you for the prompt response. I did make a call to Comp Cams and Summit racing and they recommended 2 camshafts in particular.

The first one is # 146-458-11 which is 227/243 @ .050, 614/621 lift on a 113 LSA and power band of 1900-7000
The second one is # 146-460-11 which is 235/251 @ .050, 621/624 lift on a 113 LSA with a power band of 2200-7200

I did check out the Texas speed cam in the link you provided and it looks close to the first comp cams # 146-458-11 I was recommended

Both places recommended the 146-458-11 with the 1900-7000 rpm rpm range and said that cam would be the best for my car in minimizing the low end torque loss of a stock cam.

It was also suggested to only run a 1 3/4" long tube header with a catless H or X pipe as the LS motors do like a little bit of back pressure. He did not feel the 1 3/4" header would affect top end power unless i ran a larger cam.

They did say if I ran the second one # 146-460-11 it would be a tad lazy on bottom end as compared to the first one.

They also said I would be fine running the stock LS3 intake and 90mm throttle body.

So my question here is there are a lot of people on here with Corvette specific knowledge and the LS3, are these good recommendation's or is there anything better or different I could be doing?

How good is that stock intake for Flow up to 7000RPM? Will it be restrictive at higher RPM with this cam? If its like 10-15 HP worth of restriction I'm not to worried about it but I would prefer to run the factory intake on the car.

 

How much rwhp do you have to have?

 

So I have never really gone by RWHP, always went by Flywheel HP.

The car has 430-440 stock depending on who you talk too.

Based on some of the independent magazine tests on very similar cams in a stock style setup with Headers and CAI, 550-575 Flywheel HP seems pretty attainable.

 

As long as you know what you're getting into, go for it. My first LS camshaft had the exact same amount of overlap that the 227/243 cam has. It sounded cool and I learned to shift around the rough spots. It got old really quick though. I didn't want to deal with it anymore and switched to a much milder camshaft that had the same peak power and much less overlap. WAY better manners. It didn't have quite the power down low though. I thought it was a much better fit in a Vette that spends the vast majority of its life on the streets.

 

Largest cam I would go with is this: Titan 2 LS3 Camshaft (222/230-113+3)

It will sound great, have great power, be easy on the valve train (reliable), and won't be a nightmare to drive.

 

Could you elaborate on the setup you had with the 227/243 camshaft?

I'm assuming LS3, 6.2?

Intake, exhaust, heads?

 

/So this camshaft is less than a TSP Stage 1 cam(225/236, 629/615) which is supposed to be a great street cam.
I have read post where guys even used the TSP stage 2 cam (229/244, 629/615) and found great streetability and low end torque equal to stock.

From what I read any drivability issues with a cam under 250 degrees @ .050 is able to be tuned for a smooth running street car

 

Yes, it was in an LS3 with stock heads and intake mani. It had LG Superpro 1.75" long tube headers. I didn't have the 227/243. The cam I had was a Tx Speed grind they named the Torquer V2. Specs were 232/234 112+2. It did have the exact same 9* of overlap that the TxSpeed stage II has. Manners and drivability would be similar. It took it out in favor of a Pat G specced cam that was 226/234 114+2. HP was about 465 rwhp on both. The Torquer II did make more torque and it came in earlier. I liked the power curve, but absolutely hated it driving on the streets. Way too much surge, buck, and shake for my tastes. With no cats, it stunk like hell. Crappy fuel eco too. That was after two tuners in Houston and one in San Antonio did their best.

 

Your findings and experience is quite interesting and right up my alley lol

I'm not worried about the smell of the exhaust but no matter how you slice it with the price of fuel, fuel economy is somewhat a factor.

Just how bad was your fuel economy compared to stock? I know if I drive mine really nice it can get very close to 30 MPG. or up here in Canada 7.5 to 8 liters per hundred kms, which is pretty decent for a sports car.

Was yours an auto or standard?

Did it just have the regular 3:42 rear end gears?

How did you find the bottom end torque in the lower rpm from say 1500-3000 rpm with the torquer 2 cam as compared to stock?

 

I owned that C6 15 years ago. More than a few cams in LS engines since then. Back then, I didn't know enough about cams to even be dangerous. Now, I'm quite capable of being dangerous...

That C6 went from stock to cam and bolt ons along with 4:10 gears at one time. It was a base model with M6 transmission. Before mods, like you, I could eek out 30mpg driving sanely. After mods with the T2 cam, it was mid 20's on the highway and low teens in town. Swapping to the 226/234 Pat G cam, mileage went up a couple on the highway and up at least 4 to 6 in town. Driving a high overlap cam in town is a joke. You have to pedal the clutch in a parking lot situation. Some guys don't mind that one bit. It's a deal killer for me.

In you're mad at it in first gear, even with a cam that's not a low end torque monster, you buzz through 1500 to 3000rpm in an instant. After 1st gear, you never see 3000rpm again through the run. With my current C6 (heads and mild cam), there was no traction in first gear after 2000 rpm on Michelin PS4's. No traction at the top of 2nd either. I have drag radials now and they stick pretty good. In 1st gear and from an idle rpm roll, stick the throttle, the front end comes up, and it screams to 7000 rpm in short order. No flat spots. And you can idle along in 6th gear at 38 to 40 mph smoothly. Even idle up and down mild grades smoothly in 6th gear.

 

You make it sound so badass lol. I bet you would buzz through the RPM with those 4:10 gears. The fuel milage doesn't sound as bad as I had expected, its not great but I can remember way back in the day of SB Chevys with a Badass aggressive lumpy cam that you would be lucky to get 10 MPG on the highway.

I was into the SB ford 5.0 pushrod motors for a few years as well and they were a bit better in the fuel economy department with an aggressive cam than the SB chev but still not great.

I guess most of this is all perspective and what your preferences are. I love and want the sound of a snotty Camshaft at idle and definatly welcome the added horsepower. I know what your saying about pedaling the clutch in parking lots and yeah its a pain but something we gotta live with with a big cam.

I guess where I am at is TSP has the stage 2 LS3 cam on sale right now for $250 which is a great deal. I may just try it and see what its like and worst case, if I don't like it, I can always drop in a smaller cam next year.

Were your tuners using HP Tuners?

 

As far as I know, yes.

And the absolute most "fun" I had with a nasty cam in a parking lot was at Bush Intercontinental in Houston. Spiral uphill driveway between floors in the covered parking garage. Slow car in front and a guy in a huge hurry behind. Had to come to a complete stop several times to let the car in front get ahead. Fun times....