Looking for an LS3 cam suggestion - mild, slight idle lope, great driveability...

[Russell James]

For an LS3 Camaro, what are some mild cam suggestions with the following interests in mind:

- will have LT's, CAI, tuning.

- Noticeable SOP performance increase, pull hard from the bottom to the top. Maybe an additional 25 - 35 or so hp from the cam on top of the LT headers bump in hp. So maybe a RWHP in the 425 range.

- Slight idle lope. An idle lope you can notice, and know there is a cam in there, but not an aggressive thumping and erratic idle.

- Not aggressive lobes. I want near stock reliability, not real fast aggressive lobe ramps. No piston clearance concerns.

- Quiet valve train, no sewing machine noises from aggressive ramps.

I saw the posts about the - cam only/ no tune required cam... maybe something a hair more than that. A hair more idle lope, and I'm going to get it tuned so that is not a problem.

Thanks for any ideas.

[jrpxxii]

I have a cam that will do exactly this. I am currently having an engine build done and the cam coming out is exactly what you want. I would sell it to you at a great price if interested. It has under 1000 miles on it. Comp Cams 220/228.581"/.588" 114LSA+3

[Chris@Livernois]

We have a few cams that will fit your needs. I notice you are in MI as well. If you would like to come by the shop, I can show you around. One cam that I think may interest you is our stage 1C and we have this in our LS3 G8 GXP that I could demonstrate for you. We do a ton of Camaros, so depending on if/when you come by, they may be some in the shop I can start for you with different camshafts as well.

Regards,

Rick LeBlanc
Livernois Motorsports

[Russell James]

Originally Posted by Rick@Livernois

We have a few cams that will fit your needs. I notice you are in MI as well. If you would like to come by the shop, I can show you around. One cam that I think may interest you is our stage 1C and we have this in our LS3 G8 GXP that I could demonstrate for you. We do a ton of Camaros, so depending on if/when you come by, they may be some in the shop I can start for you with different camshafts as well.

Regards,

Rick LeBlanc
Livernois Motorsports

Hey thanks. I'm not too far away just about 45 min north of you. I want to do the work in the spring. As soon as it warms up a bit, and I get a day off from work, I'll definately stop in there.

What is your thoughts on tuning for a mild cam like that? I'm putting on ARH 1 7/8s LT headers and and CAI now in my garage. If I get a tuning device now and put a tune in there for the headers, should I make sure to get something that can then be used to dyno tune in a cam later?

I'd like to have something that I can save the OE calibration to, get a tune for the headers and CAI, and then at some point be able to have a dyno tune done like at Livernois there for when the cam goes in. But then maybe if I need to do other work or return the car to stock to sell in a few years, I'd like to have the device to do that.

If I got something like HP tuners, could you then do a dyno tune using that, or is there another tuning device you would suggest? Or would something even simpler like a hand held also work? Thanks.

[g-townmach]

Ive been talking to Anthony @ LG Motorsports about a cam for me to achieve the same goals and he referred the G6X1. Go look at the vid for their G6XB cam as it is very similar to the X1 or may even be the same. Smaller than their G6X3 but still looks like it makes good power according to the dyno #'s I've seen.

I couldnt get any #'s out of him but he did say that it was around .230 duration with a little split and below .600 lift.

Also, Texas-Speed has a smaller cam that looks pretty promising (.225/.230 duration, .614/.612 lift)

No matter what cam you choose, I would definitely go with a 114 LSA if I were you. Will have less surging, smoother driving and better idle than a 112.

[Andy@Livernois]

Originally Posted by Russell James

Hey thanks. I'm not too far away just about 45 min north of you. I want to do the work in the spring. As soon as it warms up a bit, and I get a day off from work, I'll definately stop in there.

What is your thoughts on tuning for a mild cam like that? I'm putting on ARH 1 7/8s LT headers and and CAI now in my garage. If I get a tuning device now and put a tune in there for the headers, should I make sure to get something that can then be used to dyno tune in a cam later?

I'd like to have something that I can save the OE calibration to, get a tune for the headers and CAI, and then at some point be able to have a dyno tune done like at Livernois there for when the cam goes in. But then maybe if I need to do other work or return the car to stock to sell in a few years, I'd like to have the device to do that.

If I got something like HP tuners, could you then do a dyno tune using that, or is there another tuning device you would suggest? Or would something even simpler like a hand held also work? Thanks.

Unfortunately there is not a handheld programmer that would be able to properly tune for all of the future modifications, and we do not use HP tuners. However, you could purchase our X-treme cal interface in which you would save a backup copy of your stock tune, and you would be able to get copies of the tunes we provide for your car.

As for the cam, I would recommend our 2c cam. 224/236 .612/.612 117LSA we just finished up another customers LS3 car with this cam and it could be lugged down at around 600 rpm with no bucking. Now it is a cam intended for FI but he still picked up over 80 rwhp over stock (including headers, intake, exhaust and intake/head work) without the headwork I would still have imagined around 60-65 rwhp which is phenomenal for a mild cam like that.

[g-townmach]

I bet that is a great sleeper cam! Did it even chop at all on the 117 LSA?

Wider the better for all you dudes going for more stealth. Plus, just makes driving so much smoother in my opinion.

[Andy@Livernois]

it did have a lope to it, we have a 1c cam as well that is 219/230 .600/.600 117.5 for more of a pure stealth cam. Here is a video of the 2c cam in the Camaro we just did.

[wbt]

Damn impressive Andy! I like the 2C cam and atm that is my top choice when I approach that time.

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...son/index.html

-Ivan

[wbt]

Originally Posted by Bad Karma

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...son/index.html

-Ivan

Thankls for the link. Again looks like Livernois has their cam strategy down very well.

[Ivan @ Southwest Speed]

Originally Posted by wbt

Thankls for the link. Again looks like Livernois has their cam strategy down very well.

Yeah, it really depends on how you plan on driving the car.

For me I don't know if I could go the Livernois after really drilling down on all the specs. If my car was going to see high RPMs (read:track time) I'd be all over that cam myself.

But I'm wanting to go with something a little more Daily Driver friendly and still not sacrifice a modest power gain.

I mean, if you're going to go through the trouble, pick the right bumpstick right?

Both of the cams (Katech and Livernois) I narrowed it down to were pretty close when it came to LSA (113.1/114 respectively) but when looking for a DD application, the Katech comes up a winner for me.

I'd like to see the Livernois on a reletively stock LS3 however.

That Lunati looks like a monster as well.....huge power gain.

I wouldn't discount that one for your application.

-Ivan

[wbt]

I read into the numbers and the Lunati does make nice top end power but is not as balanced as the Livernois cam.

The Katech cam looks great also. Little more power under the curve. I could not find it on their site.

[g-townmach]

I would still contact LG and TSP and let them tell you about their smaller cams. Also, may want to look into Mast's stage 1. Any small cam will drive close to stock with a good tune and on a wider LSA.