Street cam recommendations

[scottm078]

Looking for a cam recommendation. I have a 2013 ss 1LE with a 6 speed, LTH and intake. I’d like a fun cam for a daily driver /street only. I’d like a smoothish idle. Don’t really care about peak numbers.

I’m looking at 2 different ones at the moment.

Sum-8715r1 as recommended by Brian nutter from summit
222/234 115+3 .600/.575

Or a custom from btr
217/243 114 .636/.629

The summit is cheaper and I can get away without doing lifters. Plus dyno Steve from dspperfomace can tune it remotely because I bought the sct tuner package

If I go the btr route I’ll get jannettey to tune it but that’s about $400

Goals for the car are to drive and have fun. Possible boost in distant future.

[morepowerjoe]

I would recommend a GPI SS1 with a email tune from them as well. It's an all around performance cam that would be a great daily driver with a decent amount of power. And since it's their cam they know how to tune it properly.

[CamaroDreams76]

Street manners are tuning related...... unless you go with some huge donkey dong cam. I have a custom grind cam that's pretty aggressive but the driveability is like stock. When I had the factory clutch my car made 513whp and drove like it was stock.

GPI would probably be the way to go. Buy the package from them and have them remote tune it.

[scottm078]

Thank you for the suggestion. I put in the order to request them to suggest a custom cam for me almost a month ago. Since im not in a rush it’s no big deal that they haven’t done it yet. I put it in around the holidays so I expected it to take longer than usual. I have heard good things about them as well.

[ariZona28]

I would go with the factory gm cam/valve springs that are in the 525 hp crate engine. Great power from moderate lift that will be easy on the valve train. Get above .600 lift and you may end up changing valve springs more often than you want to on a street driven vehicle. I have the 495 hp LS3 crate in my C5 Z06 and its cam is also a grate choice for a hobby car. I'd probably upgrade to Caddy lifters (I know, more work and $$$) for reliability. I prefer a good dyno tune with a reputable tuner to build a rapport for future mods. My Vette did 468 hp with 456 ft lbs of torque at the wheels. The LS3 doesn't need much to get into the excitement zone!

[IKILLEDSUPERMAN_ZL1]

Summit cam.

[morepowerjoe]

Originally Posted by ariZona28

I would go with the factory gm cam/valve springs that are in the 525 hp crate engine. Great power from moderate lift that will be easy on the valve train. Get above .600 lift and you may end up changing valve springs more often than you want to on a street driven vehicle. I have the 495 hp LS3 crate in my C5 Z06 and its cam is also a grate choice for a hobby car. I'd probably upgrade to Caddy lifters (I know, more work and $$$) for reliability. I prefer a good dyno tune with a reputable tuner to build a rapport for future mods. My Vette did 468 hp with 456 ft lbs of torque at the wheels. The LS3 doesn't need much to get into the excitement zone!

That's a good option.

[ss camaro-monte]

Smoothish idle?
Are emissions a concern?
Do you care about lope?

I only ask because when some say smooth they don't want heavy lope but others just want a daily drivable cam. You can run some pretty big cams and still be daily drivable.

Out of the two you listed I would go summit.

I run a custom GPI 216 228 118 with high lift and it still lopes a tiny bit but has a very smooth idle and could be driven across the country let alone daily driver and still makes amazing power. Most have to ask if it is cammed but most hot rod guys can definitely tell it has something not stock if they have ever been around a 5th gen.

I would say 216-224 intake and 224-236 exhaust duration would be good with 114-118 lope seperation depending on what you want. Also, you don't have to but 114 or more lobe seperation is common on a boost cam.

I was in a similar want as you. I asked GPI for the same criteria as you with possible boost in future but I specifically said no lope or shake. You can hear the lope in my exhaust a little but the motor doesn't lope very much at all. Smooth no shake.lol

But out of those 2 the summit is the one I would pick but I would personally want more lift but I am sure that cam which I think might be what they call the ghost cam at summit will be good. Make no mistake though that summit cam will lope some.

[scottm078]

Originally Posted by ss camaro-monte

Smoothish idle?
Are emissions a concern?
Do you care about lope?

I only ask because when some say smooth they don't want heavy lope but others just want a daily drivable cam. You can run some pretty big cams and still be daily drivable.

Out of the two you listed I would go summit.

I run a custom GPI 216 228 118 with high lift and it still lopes a tiny bit but has a very smooth idle and could be driven across the country let alone daily driver and still makes amazing power. Most have to ask if it is cammed but most hot rod guys can definitely tell it has something not stock if they have ever been around a 5th gen.

I would say 216-224 intake and 224-236 exhaust duration would be good with 114-118 lope seperation depending on what you want. Also, you don't have to but 114 or more lobe seperation is common on a boost cam.

I was in a similar want as you. I asked GPI for the same criteria as you with possible boost in future but I specifically said no lope or shake. You can hear the lope in my exhaust a little but the motor doesn't lope very much at all. Smooth no shake.lol

But out of those 2 the summit is the one I would pick but I would personally want more lift but I am sure that cam which I think might be what they call the ghost cam at summit will be good. Make no mistake though that summit cam will lope some.

Thank you for the suggestion. I’m ok with a little chop just don’t want anything crazy. For emissions it’s only the plug in kind. As long as the car says it’s good it will pass.

I will most likely go with the summit cam. Brian Nutter seems to know what he’s talking about. I know btr and gpi are awesome as well but my budget is saying summit..lol

[acammer]

Originally Posted by scottm078

Thank you for the suggestion. I put in the order to request them to suggest a custom cam for me almost a month ago. Since im not in a rush it’s no big deal that they haven’t done it yet. I put it in around the holidays so I expected it to take longer than usual. I have heard good things about them as well.

It shouldn't take more than a week. If you would, shoot me your order number (email below) and I'll dig into this and get back with you directly. We should have a few good "off the shelf" options that fit the needs you're describing pretty well, but if you ordered custom specs, we owe those to you, and within a reasonable time.

Email andrew@gwatneyperformance.com