Cam Recommendations
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
Cam Recommendations
I'll be getting a cam early next year and am looking for people who have experience with different ones. Along with a cam the car will have American racing long tubes with x-pipe, haltech intake, 13% overdrive crank pulley, ported blower and snout along with katech 103mm tb. The cars a manual car and mostly a weekend warrior. I've heard the Brian Tooley Racing stage 2 matches up well with manual transmissions and provides a very lopey idle with just slight sacrifice in street manners which I think I can deal with. I'm definitely looking for a prominent lope and will be disappointed if it's not much different than stock if I'm spending the money to go in there. Anyone with experience with this one or others that they can recommend or advise against?
Last edited by bmarcinczyk14; Sep 22, 2021 at 09:02 PM.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 691
Likes: 196
From: Virginia
I had Vengeance Racing do my original build which is close to yours. I have the Stage 3 cam and most days I wish it were more. I am deployed with limited access but you can YouTube jeffrey beasley Z06 and find a video I posted after that build. That was with ARH, borla atak, cam, and supporting mods...hopes this helps
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 21,590
Likes: 1,615
From: GREER SC
Z06
I'll be getting a cam early next year and am looking for people who have experience with different ones. Along with a cam the car will have American racing long tubes with x-pipe, haltech intake, 13% overdrive crank pulley, ported blower and snout along with katech 103mm tb. The cars a manual car and mostly a weekend warrior. I've heard the Brian Tooley Racing stage 2 matches up well with manual transmissions and provides a very lopey idle with just slight sacrifice in street manners which I think I can deal with. I'm definitely looking for a prominent lope and will be disappointed if it's not much different than stock if I'm spending the money to go in there. Anyone with experience with this one or others that they can recommend or advise against?
Let me give you 1 caution. The first time I had a cam put in my 16 Z06 I was all about the sound. That's what was important to me at the time. Result, it sounded a little better, not a huge difference and I gave up a ton of power bc of it. It basically made the same power as stock with a tune and I had mine done with the mostly the same mods you are planning.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
Let me give you 1 caution. The first time I had a cam put in my 16 Z06 I was all about the sound. That's what was important to me at the time. Result, it sounded a little better, not a huge difference and I gave up a ton of power bc of it. It basically made the same power as stock with a tune and I had mine done with the mostly the same mods you are planning.
Last edited by bmarcinczyk14; Sep 23, 2021 at 11:33 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 1,859
Likes: 1,264
From: Houston
Umm I don't think that's the norm? Did you try getting it tuned at a different shop? I understand an aftermarket cam drops psi with all things being the same due to efficiency increasing, but even then you should still see a decent power increase. You're the first I've heard a cam actually reducing hp and I don't think we'd see so many people continue getting cams for these cars if that's what normally happens. Most high hp builds you see are cammed. My shop quoted me around a 50whp increase with the cam and even that's a little lower than normal because the car was already tuned.
Also do you already have all those other mods? A cam goes a long way when paired with a auxiliary low side with flex fuel.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
The shop really likes and recommended the BTR stage 2 on manual cars, they also have a custom grind cam that's a little more tame which they use for the auto cars. I have all the mods except ported blower/snout, 103mm TB, and of course cam. I'll be getting all that done at the same time. I'm actually just starting to research flex fuel, the shop I use normally doesn't recommend it but I'm sure they'll do it if I decide to go that route. Things that make me hesitant is dealing with mixing every fill-up and I've heard its not good on the fuel system when sitting in storage (I'm in Chicago).
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 21,590
Likes: 1,615
From: GREER SC
Z06
Umm I don't think that's the norm? Did you try getting it tuned at a different shop? I understand an aftermarket cam drops psi with all things being the same due to efficiency increasing, but even then you should still see a decent power increase. You're the first I've heard a cam actually reducing hp and I don't think we'd see so many people continue getting cams for these cars if that's what normally happens. Most high hp builds you see are cammed. My shop quoted me around a 50whp increase with the cam and even that's a little lower than normal because the car was already tuned.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
You make a good point. I probably should have included the shop that did it, it was the first one they did. As far as tuning, he was a great drivabilty tuner, but he stayed very conservative on max power. I got back in touch with them and gave them my results and they offered to retune it at their full price. I declined and lived with it for a year and then had it replaced and retuned by another shop. And even now they went out of business.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 143
Likes: 12
From: Beaumont, Southeast Texas
I just built an LT1 with an LT4 blower in an A8 car with the BTR stage 2 cam. I don’t feel that I can answer your questions about driving qualities because our cars are so different but I will tell you that the idle is definitely choppy. It’s actually more cam than I intended to get but I’m going to run with it for now.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2019
Posts: 1,859
Likes: 1,264
From: Houston
The shop really likes and recommended the BTR stage 2 on manual cars, they also have a custom grind cam that's a little more tame which they use for the auto cars. I have all the mods except ported blower/snout, 103mm TB, and of course cam. I'll be getting all that done at the same time. I'm actually just starting to research flex fuel, the shop I use normally doesn't recommend it but I'm sure they'll do it if I decide to go that route. Things that make me hesitant is dealing with mixing every fill-up and I've heard its not good on the fuel system when sitting in storage (I'm in Chicago).
Again on the cam, if that's what they recommend then definitely go for it. I just got my car cammed and will be picking it up soon. Good luck on your build.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
I just built an LT1 with an LT4 blower in an A8 car with the BTR stage 2 cam. I don’t feel that I can answer your questions about driving qualities because our cars are so different but I will tell you that the idle is definitely choppy. It’s actually more cam than I intended to get but I’m going to run with it for now.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 143
Likes: 12
From: Beaumont, Southeast Texas
Patrick
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
You see I'm the opposite, I'd be willing to spend the money just for that cam sound alone even if there wasn't any performance benefits lol. So we'd definitely be looking for different cam requirements.
Former Vendor
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,397
Likes: 267
From: Houston Texas
We build all our cams custom to each build. We don't do any shelf cams. Jayson specs each one. Give us a call, happy to help.
Billy
Billy
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 447
Likes: 16
From: Chicago
Former Vendor
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,397
Likes: 267
From: Houston Texas
We can have a custom profile ground to our specs in a week.... The question is.... Why wouldn't you want a cam profile tailored to your likings??? Back when it took a month to grind a custom profile, shelf cams worked great. We like to offer the highest level of service.
Billy
Billy
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 143
Likes: 12
From: Beaumont, Southeast Texas
We can have a custom profile ground to our specs in a week.... The question is.... Why wouldn't you want a cam profile tailored to your likings??? Back when it took a month to grind a custom profile, shelf cams worked great. We like to offer the highest level of service.
Billy
Billy
Former Vendor
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,397
Likes: 267
From: Houston Texas