How doea a cam affect driveability and gas mileage?
 

I have a 08 Z06 and am looking to have a CAI, Comp Cam, Kooks headers and x-pipe installed. My uncle is warning against the cam saying it will make it drive horrible at low speeds and that it will kill my gas mileage. The shop that is installing the mods says it will not affect my regular driving.

What experiences have you had and what cautions (if any) would you recommend? I trust the shop (VA Speed) but have never driven a cammed car. I have heard the idles and love the sound but does it make them difficult to drive?

A good shop can tune out the low speed stumbling. You might want to mention the cam specs. Not really difficult to drive but there may be slight adjustments that the driver mod has to make.
Cams are alot of fun but some cams do not make great daily drivers. Listen to the speed shop and do your research. Know your goals with the car and the hazards that come with them.

If you have a good tuner, then driveability shouldnt suffer
Gas mileage definately will....i went from 24 average mpg to 14 average....but if youre modding your car, chances are you dont give a shirt about mpg...i know i dont :D

Alot of the driveability will depend heavily on the specs of the cam you choose. More aggressive higher duration, higher lift cams will sacrifice daily driveability but net more hp in most cases. I can say that mine did reduce gas mileage considerably around town but no loss at highway speeds.

Im running a 244/242 duration cam with over .600 lift. Its not bad for a weekend car and screams up top. If I did it over again and planned on staying NA I would go with something in the 228 to 232 range. I can get maybe 24 at best on the highway now. Before I was getting almost 30.

There's a huge spectrum of what a cam can be. If you don't know anything about cam specs, then you'll have to trust the speed shop doing the work. I got no loss in drivability or mpg, actually a slight improvement, but my cam is considered small for a 346 according to most opinions.

Also, the bigger the cubes the more cam you can get away with. I'd ask the C6Z forum, as there will be more people experienced with camming a 427 cube motor.

I agree, overlap(intake and exhaust duration added together divided by 2 then subtract the lsa) plays a big roll on how a cam behaves at low speeds, given the fact you have 427 and are dealing with a good shop, I'd stick with something in the 230s on a 114-116lsa this will keep it pretty tame(~0 degrees overlap) and will not affect gas mileage as bad by having less unburnt fuel...my 346 w/ a 224/220 116 still got 30mpg before I did the gears

I wouldn't get a cam if you're worried about those key things. Driveability has a lot to do with your tune and the size of the cam. And the specs of the cam will spell out your MPGs for you... Remember, when you give your car more air, it needs more fuel.

If you want to get some extra power out of the car without affecting MPG and driveability over low speeds/RPMs, you should look into a forced induction setup. Turbos are extremely efficient and you shouldn't lose any MPGs when you're not on the gas. In fact, some people GAIN MPGs with a turbo setup cruising on the freeway because the Turbos make your setup more efficient. Blowers generally don't harm your MPGs at all for low RPM use. With either FI setups, you will definitely be drinking more gas when you get into the boost, but that would happen with a cam as well anyway.

If you go with a FI setup, you can make more power anyway. Turbo setups usually are good for over 1000HP and blowers can get a C6 Z06 above 800 without a problem. (Just make sure your bottom end can handle that kind of power if you're going to setup your FI to do that).

And of course, GOOD tuning is required to make sure you don't blow up your car with any setup you pick, be it cam, turbo, or blower.

I have the Texas Speed 235/240, .649/.608, 111 LSA Tsunami Cam. My car was tuned by a professional tuner, a 26 year certified GM tech that can build a car from the bottom up blind folded. My car on a 250 mi. highway trip will average 28 mpg. On the street I get around 13 mpg. Then again...my right foot is filled with lead.

Drivablity is all up to the end user. I have customers that would not accept anything over a stock idle, and others that would daily drive a Top Fuel Funny car if they could get head lights and mufflers on it. :D

With that being said there are a number of different cams out there, we even have a line of more than 6 cams per model (plus custom grinds) that are built around the more popular setups.

Tuning is a HUGE factor in how the car is going to respond, even a smaller cam with a bad tune will feel like a nightmare so do some homework on your tuners before going that step.

Ask around to see what other guys have in their own cars, but be sure to ask them what they are willing to live with when doing it. Like I said, everyone has a different idea of what 'streetable' is.

For me, personally, I like a slightly smaller cam that doesn't shake me to death and while it may not be a dyno queen, if it's fun stop light to stop light, has a lot of mid range I know I will be much happier in the end than trying to be the neighbor that makes another 15 PEAK hp.

As far as fuel mileage goes...around town it typically drops some, maybe 1-3 mpg depending on how you drive it. Highway mileage should remain unchanged. We have put together 500 rwhp C5Z cars with very large cams and they can still maintain 27-29 mpg on the highway.

I'm always happy to answer any questions I can. :thumbs:

Anthony

Supercharge it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Screw the worry about drivability and 500+hp

You can do that as well...but even that has it's benefits and drawbacks as well.

That was my first option as well at a TT but I am trying to stay a little cheaper than that. I have a S/C Roush Mustang and kind of wanted to go a different route with this one. Not to mention the car is too quiet and the blower will not improve sound. I won't afford to do both exhaust and FI.

I'm not sure anyone is going to believe it....

But I put the TR224 in my 02 ls6 when I rebuilt it. That's the only modification I have. It is a very mild cam and my average gas mileage improved over stock. This has been my experience with RV type cams in the past in other engines.

On the dyno without long tubes the 224 was not worth much horsepower, it was worth probably 20rwtq across the rev range. But for the money I spent installing it myself....more power, better sound, and better mileage - I am happy.

I do not know if there is a similar cam for the ls7. I think most guys go bigger to really up the power.

:iagree: This has been the case with mine as well, but well worth it to me. If I lug mine down too low it bucks a little bit. The lope at idle is fair warning to the ricers and Mustangs to leave me alone :D I'm running a TSP 236/239, 595/603 on 112 LSA.