2006 LS2 - Mid Steet CAM Options?
 

Hello,

I am thinking about making a little more power for my 2006 LS2. I am looking into good options for a cam that will add more power, but still keep my driveability, as I do drive it everyday.

Does anyone have a good suggestions?

• LS2
• Borla headers and exhaust
• no other mods

Thanks for any assistance.

Auto.

I would start with basic bolt-ons before you dive deep into a cam. There is a lot of HP to be made yet. Check out some of the fastest cars on the bolt-on list with an LS2. You should be able to get a good idea where to start.

Thanks man, but this thread is not for bolt-ons, I already have most of what I want done to the car regarding bolts-ons now.

I am truly just interested in cam information here in this thread :).

I understand man. I just like to see people work towards getting what they have working well before they add more parts. We are all guilty of wanting more HP. If it were me, I see three options, depending on your budget.

1.) GMPP LS3 heads (around 1200 - 1400 with valves and springs iirc) and a mild LS3 cam from Cam Motion. No converter needed. These heads will open up a few different runner choices with FAST (mid length or long runner options), or you can go to an MSD in the future.

2.) Cam Motion has a few nice mild cams for the LS2. Check their site and read through their descriptions. This would be a cam only budget style build. I believe most of these will work with a mild beehive spring. I would personally use a PSI 1511ML. Titanium hardware to save some weight. Little more money, but fantastic springs. An MSD intake with large TB and MAF setup will compliment this.

3.) Call Cam Motion, discuss your needs with their techs, or fill out their form online. They can make you a custom grind and advise you on lifters / springs / hardware and intake tract.

Replace 'Cam Motion' with your cam guy of choice (Tooley, Texas-Speed, GPI, etc). They would just be my go-to because a few friends have used them with GREAT success.

Those will certainly help. There is a lot left to optimize the LS2 as is. Intake, UD pulley, ram air, gears, etc. The bolt on list shows a lot of the worthwhile mods for these cars. But, the OP wants to do a cam. Nothing wrong with that.

Headers let air out. A mild cam won't help much if you can't get air in through that intake and heads. Dumb move without supporting mods, plus any cam change should include an aftermarket HB and timing chain. With your current mods, you have about a 13 second car. Adding a cam only might get you into the high 12's at best.
Smart move is LS3 heads and intake plus a Vararam and a dyno tune. Lots more power for about the same money and zero loss of drivability. Your 2.56 gear either needs to be a 3.42 or you need a minimum 3200 stall converter to get the car moving quicker and get you into the 11's.
You can talk about a cam after you get the rest of the stuff done.

There is no MSD intake for the LS3, but there is one for the cathedral port heads - I just installed one on mine. Nothing wrong with the CP heads as Tony Mamo has proven many times.

I agree though that he needs to do gears and a converter first though.

While I agree with others, especially that the LS2 intake manifold is restrictive and a swap to aftermarket would add almost as much as a mild cam with a lot less work, if you want a cam for stock converter car with good manners and is easy to tune, keep the overlap to no between 0 and -4. 224/230 115 with 2 or 3 degrees of advance would meet that requirement. For a little more grunt off the line at the expense of the top end, 220/228 113 +2 would do ok.

Where did this idea come from that a cam can have "negative overlap"? If it's negative, then there's no overlap in the first place. On top of this, ALL cams have overlap, some just have less than others - but it's in the range of 50 degrees and up.

http://www.iskycams.com/cam-degreeing.html

Overlap is calculated by taking average of intake and exhaust duration at .050 lift and subtracting LSA X2. In the case of the 224/230 115lsa cam, it calculates out to -3 degrees of overlap. 224+230/2=227. 227- (115x2)= -3.

Since when? That means you're not measuring the actual lobe shapes which is the only way to know what the overlap is.

I've never seen anyone express overlap on an LS engine any other way.

It doesn't matter what kind of engine it is, really. You have to know the opening and closing events of both lobes to calculate the overlap. There's no other way to know. Google "how to calculate camshaft overlap" and yoully find plenty of links all explaining it.

A cam with negative overlap would barely run, if it ran at all.

Thanks, good info. I have my garage looking into what the best choice is for me as well. I thought I would check here too.

Thanks for jumping in here, drag racing is not what I have the car for, it is for mountain carving (it is where 80% of the 188,000km is from). I just got back from a brilliant 8hr mountain run yesterday, it was amazing ripping through the tight corners. Nevertheless, I have only been down the strip once in this car, broke into the high 12's after my 1st pass, but, once again, not looking to run 11's.