Mild Cam Options Etc
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2023
Posts: 25
Likes: 11
Mild Cam Options Etc
Have an 06 Z06 with 10k original miles, spirited around town driving, no tracking ,bone stock, I am the original owner. Have decided due to the valve drop uncertainty issue to replace the heads and was wanting some opinions on that. Forgive me I am not terribly mechanical and generally don't make mods to my cars -- but figured I would consider doing a cam given the work involved with replacing the heads etc. I don't like the idea of an obnoxiously loud car - at the moment I have Corsa cat-backs on it and it sounds perfect to me. My fear in doing the cam is that the car will be choppy etc and have that cam shake etc -- I don't want that. Any suggestions on a mild cam that will give me noticeably better performance and also feel/sound similar to stock? Would also prefer to keep the existing look of the engine bay with the red plastic covers etc. Is it better to send out the old heads or go aftermarket? Also, is tuning the car something I should do as well along with this? Not looking to get too carried away.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 6,999
Likes: 1,685
From: Southeast TX
I wouldn't go any smaller than this one: LS7 Stage 2 Camshaft (228/240-118+4) - Cam Motion
It has negative 2 degrees of overlap. It will have a noticeable idle but shouldn't do any shaking, surging, or rockin' and rollin'. That's providing you have a tuner lined up that's worth his salt. I'm assuming you're on stock manifolds and cats. If you have long tubes, 3" midpipes, and no cats, it's going to get a little loud with the Corsa Sports. I had that exact setup on my heads/cam LS3 and finally got tired of it and replaced the Sports with ZR1 mufflers. Much more civilized tooling around town and still wake the dead loud at WOT.
I'd get your stock heads "done" by one of the better known head shops. Yes, you'll leave a little power on the table compared to CNC ported aftermarket heads, but you'll also leave a little cabbage in your bank acct. Maybe upgrade your intake manifold too if budget allows.
It has negative 2 degrees of overlap. It will have a noticeable idle but shouldn't do any shaking, surging, or rockin' and rollin'. That's providing you have a tuner lined up that's worth his salt. I'm assuming you're on stock manifolds and cats. If you have long tubes, 3" midpipes, and no cats, it's going to get a little loud with the Corsa Sports. I had that exact setup on my heads/cam LS3 and finally got tired of it and replaced the Sports with ZR1 mufflers. Much more civilized tooling around town and still wake the dead loud at WOT.
I'd get your stock heads "done" by one of the better known head shops. Yes, you'll leave a little power on the table compared to CNC ported aftermarket heads, but you'll also leave a little cabbage in your bank acct. Maybe upgrade your intake manifold too if budget allows.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2023
Posts: 25
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Thanks, yes I am on stock manifolds and cats. So I guess you feel it’s better to have my existing heads redone vs going aftermarket. What is HP difference there generally? If I just kept the stock cam and just did the heads am I loosing a lot of power with that?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 6,999
Likes: 1,685
From: Southeast TX
I'd add a blower before spending 5 or 6K on cylinder heads. I've seen me do it....several times. If you're good with spending that much on heads, get in touch with Tony Mamo. He's pretty much the gold standard when it comes to high end combinations. He can probably get you 600 at the wheels with good manners. After all, speed's just money. How fast do you want to go?
If you don't want to upgrade your camshaft, you would probably be better off to just fix the valve situation and call it good. You wouldn't pick up any power, but the bank account won't hate you either. You would pick up a little power if you CNC ported your heads and kept the stock cam.
If it were mine, I'd CNC port the stock heads, add the cam I mentioned, add long tubes with 3" catted midpipes, and add an MSD intake manifold. That's a 100+ hp bump over stock. Manners should be fine with any kind of a decent tune.
If you don't want to upgrade your camshaft, you would probably be better off to just fix the valve situation and call it good. You wouldn't pick up any power, but the bank account won't hate you either. You would pick up a little power if you CNC ported your heads and kept the stock cam.
If it were mine, I'd CNC port the stock heads, add the cam I mentioned, add long tubes with 3" catted midpipes, and add an MSD intake manifold. That's a 100+ hp bump over stock. Manners should be fine with any kind of a decent tune.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 888
Likes: 753
From: SW Desert
The C6 Z is such a well performing, balanced car I'd be inclined to just do the heads and enjoy the car. Headers, cat delete and a tune would be a nice addition but it sounds like you're pretty happy with the performance as is. No cam change needed, it ain't broke so no need to fix plus it would add a bit more to the bill for a minimal gain in your situation. Katech would probably be my choice for the head repair. I do believe Texas Speed & Performance along with American Heritage Performance (AHP) also offer packages to consider.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2023
Posts: 25
Likes: 11
Ya I’m thinking I’m just gonna do the heads and do a better intake. Really don’t like cars with obnoxious exhaust and the cam shake etc. if I were to go to a shop and have them put new ported heads on I assume I would be getting someone else’s old heads and they would retain mine. That said, my car has never been tracked or abused….its mint low mileage….should I be concerned with the swapped redone heads potentially from a car that was abused prior or is that overthinking this? Also, if I delete the cats does that present problems with emissions inspections and make the car stink?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 888
Likes: 753
From: SW Desert
One other extremely important item for the early LS7s is a good Blackstone oil report. If there's titanium in the oil you'll have an entirely different challenge ahead. Maybe you're already good in that department.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: May 2023
Posts: 25
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No I have not done an oil analysis and don’t have any reason to think there is an issue. Car runs like new and has been meticulously serviced since new. I don’t think I am gonna remove the cats, too many issues with that until the car is old enough to be a classic etc.
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From: Erlanger, Kentucky
Have an 06 Z06 with 10k original miles, spirited around town driving, no tracking ,bone stock, I am the original owner. Have decided due to the valve drop uncertainty issue to replace the heads and was wanting some opinions on that. Forgive me I am not terribly mechanical and generally don't make mods to my cars -- but figured I would consider doing a cam given the work involved with replacing the heads etc. I don't like the idea of an obnoxiously loud car - at the moment I have Corsa cat-backs on it and it sounds perfect to me. My fear in doing the cam is that the car will be choppy etc and have that cam shake etc -- I don't want that. Any suggestions on a mild cam that will give me noticeably better performance and also feel/sound similar to stock? Would also prefer to keep the existing look of the engine bay with the red plastic covers etc. Is it better to send out the old heads or go aftermarket? Also, is tuning the car something I should do as well along with this? Not looking to get too carried away.
If is was me, I would go with AHP. They have a package that is their fixed LS7 head. You then send in your old ones after you receive the new ones so you have minimal down time. I would give them a call and talk to them. If just staying stock, you don't need many options they could provide.
But if it was me, I would do the AHP heads and likely get their porting job to improve performance. I would also do the 1516 PSI springs as well as the Ferrera stainless intake and exhaust valves with the heads.
I would also likely go with a Cam Motion Stage 1 LS7 cam. It will give a nice boost to performance and work very nicely with the porting of the heads. And won't be crazy.
I would also (while I am in there) replace the stock LS7 lifters with some Johnson 2110R lifters and new OEM lifter trays. Will need a set of hardened pushrods as well.
And then you would need a tune to go along with the new cam.
I would keep the stock intake but install a Haltech behive shroud. The stock intake is excellent but needs a shroud so it doesn't suck in hot engine bay air.
