help me pick a 5.3 cam

I'm building a 5.3 for a s10, all the work is done besides the cooling system and engine mods. I have a built 4l60e and 2500 stall, stock internals with 9000 on the clock. I have a set of stage 1 prc 243 heads, and a set of 1.8 ratio roller rockers. I was originally going to put a z06 cam in it but it wont be completly a daily but will be driven 3-5 days a week still. I will be adding a ls6 intake and long tube headers when they come out in a few more months. and I will be adding spray sometime around christmas. I'm looking to have a streetable engine that can go 12s motor and 11 with spray. keep in mind I'm looking for those numbers with a shortbed st cab s10.

a buddy of mine has a 99 camaro ss that puts down 355 to the rear wheels, I want to kill him with this truck if possible.

the cams that I have in mind so far are the comp 216-220 with 525 531 lift, with my 1.8s the lift is .556 .561

also have been hearing alot of good things about tr220's for the 5.3s so i'm looking into them. and have seen up to tr224's in these with good numbers.

if anyone has 5.3 with heads and or more let me know what you have and what power and or times it makes. I'm still learning cam theory and what not I know that the comp i listed and the tr220 are proven 5.3 cams, but I will have more done to my motor then most i've seen with those cams.

thanks
Greg

Greg, with your lightweight truck and 2200 stall, a TR220 would be a good choice. A TR224 would put the power band pretty high up there, so the use of a higher stall may be required. Your truck would run great with a TR224 cam because it is lighter weight than our fullsize trucks. You don't wanna do all of the work putting them cam in and then wishing you went bigger. I would go with the TR224. :thumb:

224/230 .581/.588 112 lsa and a 3600 yank, then look at the headlights in the rear view.

thanks, i really don't want much bigger of a stall then the 2500 I already have though, will the tr224 work with that?

Yeah, the TR224 will be good. The thing you have working for you is the low mass of the S-10. The stall is a little small, but it should be fine.

any other opinions or experiance with these cams?

I realised I forgot to mention something else important with cam choice is I will be running 3.42-3.55 gears, and 245/60 r16 tires.

TR224 FTW!!!

Go with 3.73 gears and a Detriot TrueTrac.

i love my 216/224 551/551 115lsa imo...

TR220 if you keep those high gears and smaller stall... Even with you having less weight than a fullsize... The powerband of the TR224 is alil higher. Just my .02

LPE GT2-3 and SMOKE every cam mentioned all day everyday......

GT2-3 207 / 220 .571" / .578" 1.7 ratio 118.5

and it love the hose.....one of these took an otherwise bone stock motor in a TBSS to a 11.59.....with a 125 shot

i've just started looking at those high lift low duration cams. but I have been looking more into the cheater type cam. the one I'm looking at is a 114/230 .600/.588 on a 114. its supposed to give great low end with still having a ton of mid and high rpm power. something like that should work really well with my heads too for high rpms considering I have smallish bore and high flowing heads.

that sounds more reasonable......the intake lift may be an issue with degreeing the cam.......

when you get an adjustable cam gear set to degree the cam it pays HUGE dividends with TQ......verify and REVERIFY the piston to valve clearance when degreed 4 degrees and drive on if it has no issues.......

that duration is almost the exact numbers i had on a 6.0 LS2 in my H/C combo and it made beautiful power.....degreed 4 degrees you will make STUPID TQ with it....

a 114 LSA degreed makes for a nice CHOPPY idle as well which is nice if you want people to hear it that is......

another thing with the REVERSE split that cam will keep the cylinder pressures HIGH (DYNAMIC COMPRESSION) and that is what makes TQ, the go fast stuff.....not the exact cam i would spec but a GOOD choice nonetheless

that is a real cam...

Thunder Racing - Camshafts

scroll down to the cheatR cams, should be the first one listed, I would have one made with a lower duration, plus it could be ground by tsp for less the the off the shelf price from tr, and I could tweak whatever else I wanted to it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lsx10

that is a real cam...

Thunder Racing - Camshafts

scroll down to the cheatR cams, should be the first one listed, I would have one made with a lower duration, plus it could be ground by tsp for less the the off the shelf price from tr, and I could tweak whatever else I wanted to it.

99-TR-CHEATR-CAM Thunder Racing Custom Camshaft
"CheaTR" - 214/230 .601/.575 117 LSA. Off Idle-6800 RPM Power Band. Broad power range. Works well with stock exhaust manifolds and catalytic converters. Stock like idle. Minor tuning required on automatic transmission cars. Responds very well to nitrous. Due to the fast ramp rate of this camshaft, the use of 1.8 rockers is not recommended. Double valve springs and titanium retainers required for this cam.

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i would do 214/220 .590/.580 114 LSA 110 ICL with a COMP ISK or equivilent lobe and degree the cam 4 degrees........the dynamic compression on that cam would be HUGE, very little to no overlap and the reverse split backs up the exhaust on the low RPM range and maintains a high dynamic compression and adds gobs of TQ and the 114 will have a HP/TQ range that will be NASTY between 3000 to 5500 but off idle to 6500 will be awesome and the 4 degrees of cam advance will add about 10+ ft, lbs. of TQ.......with a set of STAGE II 243's (that's CNCed with stock size valves) on a 5.3 will make for a GNARLY setup and it will work GREAT with a 3400 VIG converter and 4.10 gears with a 305/50 20 for a street tire or a 30" slick/drag rad.......

for a 5.3 it will be a heart breaker......