Ls6 Camshaft Swap

[beertestr]

Personally, I would have to disagree with you in a few aspects. There are plenty of people who have bigger cams than 220 duration that run great. If he wanted to stick with the stock converter then that would be a different story, but in that case I wouldn't run anything over a 206/212 or similar.

He said nothing about changing converters. He said nothing about raising the shift points. Going a heck of a lot bigger with a 5.5k shift point is only going to hurt bottom end torque more than increasing HP in the range he's talking.

What makes you say go with a higher lift? What makes you say go with a higher lift? If you look at any flow chart for a set of stock 5.3L heads they increasing flow around .450 lift. There is power to be made past that obviously, but very little. You're talking about maybe a 2-3 horse power gain from .550 lift to .600 lift if at all. The heads just don't flow well at that point and it's just a waste and it's added stress on your valvetrain.

Keeping duration in check while increasing lift typically does not hurt torque as much while increasing HP. I'll have to read back through the posts, there was another guy jumping on, but I thought I read a post about porting, hence my comments. Look at the bottom. If you THINK that going above 0.450" lift is not worth it, then why be in favor of a LS6 cam that 0.550/0.547?

5.3 LM7
190/191 int/exh @ 0.05" duration
0.466" / 0.457" int/exh lift
114 LSA
2002+ LS6 cam
204/218 int/exh @ 0.05" duration
0.551" / 0.547" int/exh lift
117 LSA
GMPP Hot Cam
218/227 int/exh @ 0.05" duration
0.525" / 0.525" int/exh lift
112 LSA

As far as the ls6 cam. Even if he's shifting above 6000 he will be fine with the stock length push rods. With that said, I might go with some hardened rods, but the stock LENGTH(7.4) has been proven to work just fine.

Why does everybody keep commenting about the pushrods? I never said anything about changing pushrods. I said that the stock springs won't handle the LS6 lift/ramp profile. I also said that the Yellow springs are marginal above 6000 rpm with the heavier, non Ti LS6 valves.

As far as the hot cam. I am not a big fan of it. The lobes aren't very aggressive and I have yet to see someone break into the 12s with a hot cam(there may be people out there who have done it, I just haven't seen it).

No the lobes are not incredibly aggressive, but it makes pretty decent power, with factory springs. It will run a LONG time without any spring, cam lobe wear issues. Yes, it's longer duration, but the LSA is pulled 5 degrees in from the LS6 cam. This should help conserve torque.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I don't do this for a living, but .

My opinion is based on talking with the guys that designed the LS6 cam and valvetrain. I have gone the gamut of looking at factory cam options, from LS6 to the Hot, to LS7 and LS3, so I asked a lot of the same questions the original poster asked, and relayed the answers I was given.