# Cam help



## REDLS1 (Jan 25, 2013)

Hey guys I have an 04 gto that has lt headers catless mid and slp lm1 so far and want to put 85mm intake mani 85mm throttle body and cold air intake for next mods.i was wondering what woupd be the best cam for my application with those cams would I need new valve springs let me know thanks


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## Supersam (Apr 21, 2013)

Well man are you looking for a cam for racing or are you putting it into your daily driver. The more power oriented cam you get the more you sacrifice in drivability. Also are you planning on putting heads on it? I would tell you if you are going to cam it you might as well replace your lifters, push rods, rocker arms, springs, retainers. Basically your whole valvetrain. I just priced a cam kit for my 04 at just under 1900 but its a street cam. 

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## REDLS1 (Jan 25, 2013)

Its my DD so I want something mild


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## Supersam (Apr 21, 2013)

I have the info for my kit at my house but I'm at work right now so I'll look it up for you when i get home. It's a mild to aggressive cam but very street oriented and it is designed to work with the stock cathedral heads that are on the ls1. If i remember correctly it's for 2200-7200rpm with great mid range power.

I have also heard good things about the Trex cams not sure if i spelled that right. More specifically the Trex224. I know of a guy who put one onto his Ls2 and loves it.

If there are any trustworthy local performance shops in your area i would recommend going down to the shop and talking with them. They will be able to set you up with what you need. 

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## Supersam (Apr 21, 2013)

Expected hp gain with a tune which will be needed if you are going to cam it is in the ballpark of 100hp. That's just purely ball park estimate though. 

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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

You aren't going to get 100 RWHP with just a cam. ~60-70 would be great. To get the most use from a cam you should have at the least long tube headers. If you're opening up the intake track you'll benefit from a bigger MAF. A LS2 MAF is 85mm. 

As far as the cam you didn't say if you were auto or manual. If an auto you really should get a higher stall torque converter.I wouldn't go too small of a cam because for the cost of doing it you'll regret it later. With any reasonable cam 90% of the drive-ability is in the tune. Unfortunately a lot of tuners don't do a thorough job and just say "that's how a cammed car drives". For a DD you want a cam that has a strong low-mid part of the torque curve. Something around high .5xx to low .6xx lift, duration around 230 and 112 lsa is very drive-able and will make great power. A full kit is around $900. The higher costs usually quoted are because of install and tuning. You can save a lot installing it yourself. I installed mine and because I don't trust most tuners to do it right I tuned mine myself too.


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## REDLS1 (Jan 25, 2013)

Yeah its a 6spd. Ive heard alot about the tuning aspect of it ....what tuning program did you use svede ?


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

I used HP Tuners and Innovate LC-1 wideband O2 controller. With the wideband getting fueling right is relatively easy. There is a small learning curve involved but the concept is fairly easy to grasp and there are tutorials and a forum to get going with it. It took some playing with timing at low RPM events after the cam to get the drive-ability good. I have 3.91 gears which help but I can lug in 6th gear at 1,200 RPM without bucking or surge. Mid 20s gas mileage highway too and I'm the mid-400 RWHP. Learning tuning has made the move from my first mod of headers to TBs, manifold, intakes, cam, heads, injectors, etc easy as I could adjust the tuning as I went along.


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## REDLS1 (Jan 25, 2013)

Hey thanks svede ill have to look into that


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