Pickin a cam

[TheFuzz]

Hyde, would it be worth it to drop a Z06 cam in my 6.0, or should I run something bigger? I eventually would like to run a blower, but that is a year or two down the road. I'm just looking for gains while maintaining a near-stock idle for DD.

 

[DallasD]

If you want to keep stock idle and get a few gains just upgrade the springs and allow the motor to work more efficient. BY letting the valve stay open longer you will make more power by freeing up hp and then just by your cam when you get the blower. Also do some e-fans and free up more hp that way. No sense in buying a cam now if it is not the best one for a blower that you are going to do anyway.

 

[TheFuzz]

If you want to keep stock idle and get a few gains just upgrade the springs and allow the motor to work more efficient. BY letting the valve stay open longer you will make more power by freeing up hp and then just by your cam when you get the blower. Also do some e-fans and free up more hp that way. No sense in buying a cam now if it is not the best one for a blower that you are going to do anyway.

I'm only asking about the Z06 cam in the 6.0 because of what Jenna posted...

Justin has a Z06 cam in his SSS I believe. I wouldn't want it in my 5.3L but it performs well with the blower on the 6.0L.

So if the Z06 cam will give decent gains by itself AND perform well with a blower, that might be the route I go with it. Not sure what I'll do yet.

 

[NoChrome]

Heres the specs on the z06 cams, but I would go with the other guys, wait to get the cam until you got the blower. Take care of the supporting stuff first... e-fans, exhaust, stall, p/p the tb ect.

zo6 385hp cam 204/211 valve lift 0.525/.0525 lsa 116
z06 405hp cam 214/218 valve lift 0.555/0.551 lsa 117.5

 

[TheFuzz]

Thanks for the cam specs, but you guys are missing the point of my question here. I've already got the 6.0, it's sitting in a crate getting ready to be built up. I am going to cam it and beef up the valvetrain while it's out of the truck. Don't worry about the e-fans and stall and all that, I'll be doing that when I drop the new motor in.

All I want to know is whether or not the Z06 cam will play nice with the 6.0 without a blower, and what kind of gains I'd see with it. We have already established that the Z06 cam runs well when combined with a blower, thanks to Jenna. I'm just wondering what kind of gains I'd see running one in a n/a 6.0 until I can get with Jenna on a Magnacharger.

 

[JennaBear]

I say go with the Z06, will be good N/A and even better when you decide to go F/I. No need to swap out down the road.

 

[blueflamed03]

Blue, I had a shop for many years. I have several close friends who own big shops in Houston/Pearland. I know work offshore as a consultant for BP in GoM. I have built many high powered LS1, LS2 and to many to list small block chev and ford race motors. I love the LS platform and they make big numbers very easily.

coolio

 

[NathanJax]

I'm only asking about the Z06 cam in the 6.0 because of what Jenna posted...

So if the Z06 cam will give decent gains by itself AND perform well with a blower, that might be the route I go with it. Not sure what I'll do yet.

We have already established that the Z06 cam runs well when combined with a blower, thanks to Jenna.

I say go with the Z06, will be good N/A and even better when you decide to go F/I. No need to swap out down the road.

I'm kinda new to the "what cam I need" game. But basically What your saying is if I have a 6.0, with basic mods (intake, exhaust, E-Fans, BB Tune), then I can get one of the Z06 stock cams to finish up the modding to my truck?

Which Z06 cam?
zo6 385hp cam 204/211 valve lift 0.525/.0525 lsa 116
z06 405hp cam 214/218 valve lift 0.555/0.551 lsa 117.5

I ask this because this is really all the performance mods I plan on doing. Unless there are other basic mods that can be done (besides LT headers)

 

[TheFuzz]

This is another good question. If it were me, I'd pick the one that makes the biggest numbers....but then again, I don't know shit about this lol. And on top of that, "bigger numbers" when put in a vette that runs higher RPMs might not mean bigger numbers when the same cam is used in a truck.

Jenna, any input on this?

 

[JennaBear]

It is a toss up, but it is more personal preference than anything. That being said, Justin's Z06 cam might be up for sale here soon

 

[TheFuzz]

It is a toss up, but it is more personal preference than anything. That being said, Justin's Z06 cam might be up for sale here soon

Dibs

As for the different cams, does one make more power down low than the other? I can look at specs all day, but if you have any first hand info on that, I'd love to hear it.

 

[NathanJax]

Dibs

Actually, you should take everyones advice and NOT do the z06 cam if your going to s/c...

And in that case, I got dibs

As for the different cams, does one make more power down low than the other? I can look at specs all day, but if you have any first hand info on that, I'd love to hear it.

Ditto.

How exactly is it personal preference if I don't know the difference? (besides 20hp)

Sorry, you might have to talk to me about this stuff like I'm 12... I've tried to figure out all these degrees and slopes and stuff, but it hurts my brain.

To Clarify, for my DD, if I have intake, exhaust, E-Fans, BB Tune and want to get a cam, would the best all around (performance,price) be a stock z06 cam? And if so, which one of those would I chose and why? Maybe if you could give a comparison on the 2 and the reasons why you would want to chose one or the other?

I'll PayPal you $5 for your time explaining this to me


PS I love TYF.com





.

 

[TheFuzz]

:scum:



You know, you should take everyones advice and NOT do the z06 cam if your going to s/c...

In that case, I got dibs

Heh, maybe I'll go with a blower, maybe I wont...I might do the cammed LQ4 and save the blower for the new Tahoe I plan on buying once the Yuke is paid off, in which case I'll be glad I scored that cam from Justin.

 

[NathanJax]

Heh, maybe I'll go with a blower, maybe I wont...I might do the cammed LQ4 and save the blower for the new Tahoe I plan on buying once the Yuke is paid off, in which case I'll be glad I scored that cam from Justin.

Fine.. 2nd DIBs... (Jenna, monies in PayPal)





Bumping to keep this at the top cause I'm really interested in her response

 

[NoChrome]

Translating cam is a little difficult, but Ill put it this way... If you have lots of valve overlap, you get good mid and high end power, with a nasty lope down low, a loss of vaccume, a terrible idle, and a really mean sounding lope. You get valve over lap based off of the LSA or lobe seperation angle. Thats from top of the intake to top of the exhaust in degrees. To find the overlap you have to taken in the duration of each lobe and the lsa... Now to negate the draw back of the overlap you can tune your idle higher, and get a torque converter that doesnt lock up untill you are nearing your power band.

Now if you have a big heavy slow truck... you want very little overlap, a draw back to that is you lose the high end power but you have a much more "streetable" ride. These cams are found in most stock applications for emission reasons and reliabliaty. The biggest perk (in my book) for little overlap is more dynamic compression ratio. We can all use math to find the static compression ratio, but when the motor is turning and the valves are open at the same time you loose some of that pressure and force air (and valuable fuel) right out the exhaust. Which is why you want little overlap on a super charged engine.

Thats the basics of what we need here. I could go on but this post is long enough.

 

[NathanJax]

Translating cam is a little difficult, but Ill put it this way...

Thats the basics of what we need here. I could go on but this post is long enough.

I'm reading that, and I somewhat understand that, but I still don't know how to figure out what those numbers mean and how to translate that into which cam to pick. I've read about it here and PT.net, but still don't grasp it.

I need it in layman's terms. Like...

"zo6 385hp cam 204/211 valve lift 0.525/.0525 lsa 116" means fast 0-60mph but slow 60-100mph

"z06 405hp cam 214/218 valve lift 0.555/0.551 lsa 117.5" means good all around streetable truck. Good steady climb all the way to 100mph

You know what I mean?

 

[NoChrome]

Ok, look at it like this, for the most part a really narrow lsa like 112* or 114* will be better for high engin RPM, a really wide lsa 116* 117* is good for low end power like idle up to around 3-4K rpm...

Now if you buy a converter that will flash to 3K rpm, you dont need the low end power because your stall lets you blow right by it. But with the stall and that cam you need a tranny cooler, a tune, and prolly exhaust work.

Figure out what rpm band you spend most of your time in, then weigh the pros and cons of each and go from there.

The Z06 cams would be fine for any truck on here, if I were going to pick one I would pick the 117.5 lsa cam. But I would not personally want a z06 cam I would go with this one 214/220 .600/.523 115 LSA

 

[JennaBear]

Basically, the lower HP cam, will make more power at the low end. The higher HP cam will obviously make higher HP however, at the mid-high end. There is not a huge difference between the two for all intents and purposes.

 

[NathanJax]

Basically, the lower HP cam, will make more power at the low end. The higher HP cam will obviously make higher HP however, at the mid-high end. There is not a huge difference between the two for all intents and purposes.

But you would need to get a stall converter as well? Or would that only "Help"?

 

[NoChrome]

For those cams you do not NEED a converter but they always help getting you outta the hole.