Hi all, I'm looking into running a cam on my Z06 and wanted to see which one would be the best choice for what I'm going for. My main goal is to get that really choppy idle as many do, while somewhat maintaining street manners. Before choosing one, I wanted to ask a couple questions:

1) I see a lot of people running TSP or BTR cams. I've been looking at the EL C7 and BTR stage 2 cams but hard to tell how they really sound. Cam cards are somewhat similar but I'm not sure how much a few degrees duration/LSA affect idle/drivability.
2) I occasionally track the car so I want to make sure I don't cause undue wear on the valvetrain given the higher lift any aftermarket cam comes with. Aside from stiffer springs and hardened pushrods, are there any other supporting mods that I should look into? Figured I'd make sure I'm covered since I'm in there.
3) Will the EL C7 have any cam surge/bucking at low rpm? I know tuning plays a big role in this but how much of it is that versus it being just the nature of aggressive cams?
4) How much power can I realistically expect out of a cam? My tuner does A LOT of work with the LT platform so I'm not worried about the quality of the tune, just curious as to what I can expect to see.
5) Anyone have videos of their cars? Would love to see how they sound with their cams. Would help steer me in the right direction!

Not sure if this affects anything, but my car currently has a Corsa CAI, Katech ported TB, DSX lid, and Corsa catless X pipe...MAYBE a ported blower in the future. Makes 628hp to the wheels now so with a cam it might break 700hp? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

Based on your questions I think your best plan would be to take your car to a good shop and have them do the installation & tuning. The LT4 isn't like the LS1 where you can throw a new camshaft in & do some tuning.

 

That is my plan, I just wanted to make sure I make the right camshaft/support choice prior to taking it to my tuner. He’s going to do the work and I have no concerns for his tuning skill, but I just wanted to make the best choice for what my goals are: sound but still retaining *some* street manners.

 

btr stage 2 cam, btr platinum double springs,trunion kit for the rockers, link bar lifters from johnson, full vvt delete not just a lockout, measure each cylinder for pushrod length use .80 wall pushrods

 

Thanks for the info! I was planning on getting the trunion kit with the springs and pushrods, and I’ve read people recommend the dod delete as well. This info helps me out a lot for when I go to order the parts.

any reason besides personal preference you recommend BTR over TSP?

 

for me its due to the larger fuel lobe on the cam. 38% vs 32%. if im going thru all the trouble to install a cam im only wanting to do it once so im getting the biggest lobe I can. btr also makes their own cams vs outsourcing the cam to someone else to make

when it comes to lifters their a few choices but invariably they all lay in the same plastic tray which is the core issue . as the tray wears it can allow for the lifter to rotate inside the tray causing catastrophic damage. link bar lifters are the most expensive but eliminate the tray so this becomes a non issue again only want to do this 1 time
dod delte occurs when you re[place the lifters with non dod lifters plug the holes and tune the cylinder deactivation out in the tune. vvt delete keeps the cam from advancing/retarding the 4* the oem can currently has. since your changing the entire cam specs and las you dont want that occurring
using a vvt delete can still allow for 1-2* of movement on the cam. since I want to secure the cam ands not have any movement after setting the cam degree with a degree wheel and cam spec card a full lme vvt delete was a no brainer for me. single bolt cam ,c5r timing chain, ls3 style cam gear and billet cover and timing chain guide means nothing moves out of place once its all set. yet again this isnt cheap but oem guide spring has been known to break so the extra $$ = peace of mind.
I do my own work so I have nobody to blame but me if it fails so in my mind using the best time proven parts gives me an advantage so im paying more form parts but way less in labor. your results may vary!

 

Good to hear. You wrote "Figured I'd make sure I'm covered since I'm in there." which lead me to believe you'd be doing the work. I've bought parts from BTR & TSP. I like BTR but I don't think you can go wrong either way. I like 9sec's recommendation for link-bar lifters. Good luck with your build.

 

I gotcha, with the potential for a ported blower in the future I’d probably be better off with the higher fuel lobe, I’d just be worried about the potential for the pump to give out prematurely since it’s my understanding the more lobe you have the harder the HP fuel pump works.

I’ll talk with my tuner about the cam bolt, timing chain, etc…I plan to keep this car for a long long time so the little extra expense on the front end will make me glad I did it in the long run. I wish I could do my own work! I put the current mods on but I’ve never tore into a motor this deep. I’d want to practice on an old SBC before doing something this complicated!

 

Yeah, shoulda been a bit clearer! Definitely not gonna do the work myself, I wish I had the capability but I’ve never gone this deep into an engine before and the Z isn’t gonna be the first! Thanks for the input, hopefully it’ll make some good power by the spring.

 

If you are just fooling around on the street I recommend the lowest lift, slowest ramp rate camshaft you can possibly find with a long enough duration to give that chop you desire. This type of cam will have the highest possible reliability when paired with the weakest spring feasible and still sound good and make great mid-range torque.

For example in my 5.3 I used PAC1218 and TFS30602001 which supports my preferred stock engine range of 500 to 1000rwhp dynojet and uses a mild spring that will last 100,000 miles, with a low lift camshaft and slow ramp rates for superior valve control at high RPM. It has a choppy idle and peak VE for mid-range torque (duration:displacement matched to mid-range torque).

A cam like this for a Z06 would possibly even have less lift than factory. If you are not racing this is ideal to take stress away from the Z06 valvetrain which arrives to you stock already stressed out to begin with by design, as it is a performance engine by design already. As a reliability and power enthusiast I can understand the desire for that extra % of hp but I would much rather have my engine comfortable and relaxed while driving around normally all over the place rather than always looking for a fight like a trailer jungle cat in a cage. There are other ways to increase power besides putting all of that burden on the valvetrain.

I am the type of person to put high mileage on my vehicles even if I need to loan them out and if you only plan to get like 30k miles over the next 20 years then it won't really matter I guess

 

See that’s the main reason I wanted to bring this to the forum: I want the choppiest idle possible while staying reliable without overstressing the motor. I figured the LT platform has been around for long enough that someone has accomplished this.

As the guys above stated, there’s supporting mods that will help alleviate these concerns which I’m 100% open to doing. I too am a one to put a lot of miles on my cars so I want something that will have some street manners. I just cruise 90% of the time but the other 10% is on track.

But in the end, I’m not chasing the highest hp numbers, the sound is my ultimate goal and from what TSP said, duration and LSA are the 2 things that contribute to that. I figured aftermarket cams always come with higher lift than stock except for like stock+ grinds. This info helps me out a lot, it opens the door for a few other cams since the 2 I was really looking at were the BTR stage 2 and the EL C7; the more aggressive cams they offer.

 

You have a basic bolt on combo I’d go for sure but btr stage one . It’s better suited for the street .

 

Thanks for the input. It looks like the difference between the stage 1 and 2 is slightly more duration and lift. The duration I'm not too worried about since that contributes to more sound but concerning the valve lift, would the 4 thousandths significantly increase the strain of the valvetrain? Forgive my lack of knowledge, but both the stage 1 and 2 cam's lift is more than stock, and if I have to check the springs every 20k or so miles, is there any increased risk in running a slightly higher lift cam? My guess is the ramp rate is higher but if the springs are the concern then I'm already going to be checking them anyways.

 

I would highly recommend contacting Lt1z on the ctsvowners.com forum. His company designs cam and valve train packages for LS and LT motors with amazing success. Basically you tell him your goals and he will spec out what you need and either sell you the parts or build you what you want. Also, I recommend reading posts by him and rubber duck if you're interested in the math, as to the how and why of what you are looking for. Very technical and informative forum and members there.

 

You don’t need a custom cam for your application . BTR has more R&D in their cams than most everyone . They developed them using a Spintron machine to insure valve train stability and longevity . All done in house with state of the art machinery . Before I built a custom engine I ran a mostly stock engine with drop in rods / pistons and BTR 2 cam running best of 5.32 @ 133 in the eighth so I know they work . I see the stage 2 cam making 1000-1050 to the wheels from most tuners . Anyway don’t overlook BTR STAGE 1 just to say you have a custom cam lol . Most tuners are very familiar with these cams and already have lots of tuning data for them .

 

I'll search for them this morning. I like getting into the how/why so I'll search for those posts as well. Better to know what I'm putting into my motor than just "This cam will give chop so that's what I want" lol, besides I enjoy learning more about how different engine components change the overall performance of motors, makes me more well-rounded.

 

That's a really good ET for what you were running! I've heard nothing but good from BTR which is why it's really between then and TSP. Good to know BTR cams are good to that high of power figures but for me, peak power isn't the main goal, I'm just trying to get an aggressive sound and in terms of power, along with my current mods and possibly getting my blower ported by Kong, I think 700whp isn't an unreasonable goal...I just don't want to worry about the transmission (M7) blowing up as I would expect a stock unit to at 1,000+ hp.

If springs are the only main wear item (I plan to do the rocker arm trunion upgrade to get rid of those needle bearings), I'm thinking on getting the BTR 2 or the El C7 cam since street manners are lower on my priority list just because I don't daily it, my only worry is potential bucking under a certain rpm.

I really appreciate the advice and info, I'm new to the whole cam world so I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. I'll still keep the BTR 1 cam in mind if the sound is similar, As you said it is more suited for the street and probably easier on the valvetrain.