About to pull the trigger on a cam swap

[anthony martinez]

Cam selection is hard especially when you read everyone's ideas. Not to say that any of them are wrong. I say if you talked to Tx Speed and this is what they recommend, after a discussion of your goals, go for it. I won't say what cam I run but isn't little by anyone's accord on this thread. I do have an auto w/a 3600 converter and experience no bucking at all. It is my daily driver and will make w/weekly 2hr trips one way then back. My fuel consumption isn't economical b/c I don't mind winding it up a bit. Good luck with what you decide.

[Russell James]

Just another opinion... I see no reason to run .640 lift with stock heads. Stock ports only flow so much. Once you've exceeded the valve lift you can take advantage of, all you are doing is adding noise and wear.

If using stock heads and stock rockers I'd stay under .625 lift. High lift without a roller tip is not great geometry. People will tell you 640 will work on a stock rocker... ok then why do so many fail? Those that run combos on spintron machines keep the pieces matched for longevity and stability.

I don't see lifters on your list. No way would I install used lifters on a new cam. Again, just an opinion... and years of seeing people spin LS lifters and wipe out lobes. New on new is an insurance policy. I like Johnson long travel drop in with new buckets for mild street. Also gives you a chance to do a nice multi-angle valve job, and a one pass cut to perfect the head deck and up the compression slightly.

That stage3 three is high lift, tons of overlap. Great racing cam.

That stage 1 TSP on their new lobes... great street performance cam. Drive it anywhere, will have a nice sound and very noticeable SOP pull increase. And best of all in a heavy heavy street car on 20s with probably 3.42 gears...great low end tq.

Race cams work great with race gears, lighter weight, non-20s....

A tank on 20s with highway gears... keep that low end tq in mind.

[anthony martinez]

You are correct! I have 3.91 gearing (tires are a must if you want to play), ported heads, and plenty of supporting upgrades. I am not sure what his goal or discussion was with tsp.

[zz430camaro]

A good cam for your application would probably be the TSP stage 2 229/244 on a 113 lsa. This cam is a copy of the BTR and Tick Performance cam that has been used in thousands of Camaros with great success.

Brian Tooley stole it from Tick and Texas Speed stole it from BTR. LOL

Tons of dyno data and Youtube clips on these cams, works well.

http://www.tickperformance.com/tick-...3-l99-engines/

https://www.briantooleyracing.com/ls...-bolt-cam.html

https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5761-n...-camshaft.aspx

[Tortugas12]

Originally Posted by Russell James

Just another opinion... I see no reason to run .640 lift with stock heads. Stock ports only flow so much. Once you've exceeded the valve lift you can take advantage of, all you are doing is adding noise and wear.

If using stock heads and stock rockers I'd stay under .625 lift. High lift without a roller tip is not great geometry. People will tell you 640 will work on a stock rocker... ok then why do so many fail? Those that run combos on spintron machines keep the pieces matched for longevity and stability.

I don't see lifters on your list. No way would I install used lifters on a new cam. Again, just an opinion... and years of seeing people spin LS lifters and wipe out lobes. New on new is an insurance policy. I like Johnson long travel drop in with new buckets for mild street. Also gives you a chance to do a nice multi-angle valve job, and a one pass cut to perfect the head deck and up the compression slightly.

That stage3 three is high lift, tons of overlap. Great racing cam.

That stage 1 TSP on their new lobes... great street performance cam. Drive it anywhere, will have a nice sound and very noticeable SOP pull increase. And best of all in a heavy heavy street car on 20s with probably 3.42 gears...great low end tq.

Race cams work great with race gears, lighter weight, non-20s....

A tank on 20s with highway gears... keep that low end tq in mind.

What do you think of the stage 2 cam? It 229/244 with .629/.615 and a 112 LSA which comes out to 14.5 degrees of overlap. I know less overlap means better street manners but I'm not sure how much 2 degrees will effect it.

According to TSPs website it only gives up 4hp over the stage 3 with a lot less lift but still has a 20hp advantage over the Stage 1. You are right on low end torque and that was one of the concerns that I brought up when we looked at this one which may be the reason for the 111 LSA. The stage 2 appears to keep it's low end torque according to the Dyno graph on their website

I know this is a stupid concern but I love the sound of cammed v8s and the stage 1 just really doesn't have it from videos I've seen.

The lifters are a good catch. I've been debating and was told that I probably should be fine with the ones I had and it may not be worth it unless I was already pulling the heads.

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[Tortugas12]

Originally Posted by zz430camaro

A good cam for your application would probably be the TSP stage 2 229/244 on a 113 lsa. This cam is a copy of the BTR and Tick Performance cam that has been used in thousands of Camaros with great success.

Brian Tooley stole it from Tick and Texas Speed stole it from BTR. LOL

Tons of dyno data and Youtube clips on these cams, works well.

http://www.tickperformance.com/tick-...3-l99-engines/

https://www.briantooleyracing.com/ls...-bolt-cam.html

https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5761-n...-camshaft.aspx

You posted this as I was typing out this exact question

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[zz430camaro]

Originally Posted by Tortugas12

You posted this as I was typing out this exact question

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This is a proven cam and all you need really, Bo White ran it for a while and had good success with it. Sounds good too!

[Tortugas12]

Originally Posted by zz430camaro

This is a proven cam and all you need really, Bo White ran it for a while and had good success with it. Sounds good too!

What is your opinion on the other stuff in the kit? I was a bit confused on what springs/retainers to get, if it's worth upgrading the timing set or go with stock, and pushrod length. I went with 7.400" based on tsp recommendation but after all of this I really think I need to talk with other people about it.

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[zz430camaro]

Originally Posted by Tortugas12

What is your opinion on the other stuff in the kit? I was a bit confused on what springs/retainers to get, if it's worth upgrading the timing set or go with stock, and pushrod length. I went with 7.400" based on tsp recommendation but after all of this I really think I need to talk with other people about it.

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Here is what I did:

I ordered my TSP cam but with the 8620 cam core because its strong and you don't have to worry about cam failure.

I used BTR springs because they have a great reputation and priced right. Brett at LandSpeed Head (did the cnc porting) used the steel retainers, he said they are more durable than Titanium, he only uses the Titanium for over 7000 rpm. Either one is fine really.
https://www.briantooleyracing.com/66...pring-kit.html

I used stock replacement lifters (still working well)but if I had to do it again I would use the Johnson drop in because they are held to tighter tolerances and have less of a chance for valve train noise. Remember you have to remove the heads to change them.

Katech C5R chain with LS2 damper.

Try the 7.4 rods but check them during installation to see if you have enough preload. I actually tried two different lengths on mine to try and quiet the valve train down by playing with preload. I ended up with the 7.4, i switched to Royal Purple 20w50 HPS oil and 90% of the sewing machine went away, difference was amazing.

I used the Melling oil pump 10295, the high volume one is not needed. The 10295 has 10% higher max pressure but you can change the spring if you want too.

I used the BTR trunnion kit but have not checked them to see if they are holding up, so far no noises or issues but one day I will pop one off to see if all is good.

Get the ARP crank bolt, its way easier to install, no weird GM torque shit. Same goes for head bolts if you decide to change lifters.

The TSP stage 2 with in 112 or 113 LSA will work, a couple degrees difference in overlap at that point is not going to make or break ya. Personally I would run the BTR specs 229/244 113+4

[go_go_gadget88]

I have this cam on the 111LSA and have been very happy so far. Makes great power and pulls hard.

Admittedly, it is pretty choppy (which I wanted) and there is some bucking at certain RPMs. It's not undrivable by any means. Actually better than I expected. I keep thinking maybe I should have went with stage 4. But I was more comfortable with the extra PTV clearance on the stage 3, since there is always a chance of mechanical overrev with an m6.

That said, I don't really drive this car that often, so I would be willing to put up with more than someone who wants to drive it daily. Mostly I just take it out a bit on nice days for a cruise, or to shows and stuff.

If you don't plan to do gears at some point, I would bump down to a stage 2. You lose a lot in the low end with this cam, and in a heavy vert that is just going to be even worse for a street car. Peak HP is useless if it's a turd up until that point. Just my 2 cents

[anthony martinez]

I had a G6X3 and that was a decent stick with 3.45 grears...I since tben upgraded....but this is comimg from a guy that had a weekend driven car with .760 solid roller sbc...