Ls6 Camshaft Swap

[RedHeartbeat]

gotta be careful not to buy a single bolt cam. Older trucks need a 3 bolt cam.

[duc1256]

I Am Still Here, I Work 12-13 Hour Days At The Mb Delearship And Dont Have Many Chances To Get On The Site. I Was Only Asking About The Ls6 Camshaft The Other Guy Butted In On My Thread(its Ok) Thanks For The Links To The Pushrods And Springs. Do I Need Different Retainers To Use The Different Springs? We Are Having A Baby On Friday So I May Have Some Time Until Next Time I Visit The Site, But I Am Not Gone.

[molitor]

If its a regrind stay the hell away from it. There have been many members on here that have needed new motors after installing one. Ask around about them.

I sold a regrind from the plano based guy. It was an 02' LS6 copy with 112 LSA, they guy that bought it installed it and has been running it for a while, he absolutely loves it. I guess the moral here is, you win some, you lose some. I know that regrind cams can fall apart on you sometimes due to stress cracks in the core. But its really hard to find these cracks and you'll probably be better off just buying a new cam or a used(low milage) performance cam.

[beertestr]

i just found a 6.0 camshaft off a 08 chevy truck, is this the same as a ls2 cam? and would this cam work with my 5.3l?

Like RedHeartBeat said,

you also need a 3-bolt cam unless you change your front cover and use a 2X timing chain. You'd have to move the cam sensor connector to the front to make it work.. So there is more to it than the cam..

Also, the 6.0 camshaft is a VVT, so it's not ground straight up, and IIRC, it's also an AFM cam, so the lobes with the deac. lifters have a slightly smaller base circle. You need to run the deac lifters on those lobes, or you'd get a noisy valvetrain.

As for the LS6 cam, the full story. Stock pushrods are fine unless you are running overly stiff springs. 918 springs are overly stiff for the lobe profile of even the LS6. OEM ramps are very conservative compared to aftermarket ramps.

People overlook the LS6 hot cam. That cam can run on the OEM yellow springs, is a 218/224 cam, and has a very decent power vs torque balance. There are other cams out there with similar durations, but it's tough to beat the reliability of the OEM-based grinds.

What heads do you have now?

[duc1256]

I got my ls6 cam in today, very very little wear(if any). So is beertestr correct in saying that I can reuse my stock 5.3l pushrods and valve springs? My truck does shift at 5.5k with the Nelson tune. If not, can someone suggest a little bit cheaper valve springs that were recommended earlier? I took 2 weeks off of work to help the wife out with the new baby and to get our 3 year old used to not being the baby anymore or less of a baby. I can have the camshaft in in that time if no new valve train parts are needed, low on paper. Thanks for any help.

[RedHeartbeat]

You need LS6 springs. They're under $60 from Scoggin Dickey Parts Center: GM Performance Parts, GM Crate Engines, GM Goodwrench Crate Motors and Performance Crate Engines

[beertestr]

I got my ls6 cam in today, very very little wear(if any). So is beertestr correct in saying that I can reuse my stock 5.3l pushrods and valve springs? My truck does shift at 5.5k with the Nelson tune. If not, can someone suggest a little bit cheaper valve springs that were recommended earlier? I took 2 weeks off of work to help the wife out with the new baby and to get our 3 year old used to not being the baby anymore or less of a baby. I can have the camshaft in in that time if no new valve train parts are needed, low on paper. Thanks for any help.

EDITTED..

I DIDN'T say that you can reuse your stock springs, I DID ask you what head you have. Depending on what head you had, more importantly what springs you had, I can recommend next steps.

The LS6 springs are the Yellow springs, 12586484. Spring kit from GMPP is 12499224. . Like I noted though, you need the lighter valves to effectively run that cam with those springs up past 6000-6100.. keep an ear out for valve float. The LS6 ran lightweight valves to manage the more aggressive ramps.

Based on your post, you should be fine with running the yellow springs with the heavier valves. Valve control issues are not likely below 6000 RPM. BUT, I gotta still wonder why you would go to this cam if you are shifting at 5500. On a 5.7L, this cam didn't even peak till 6000, peak torque moved up from 4000-4800. The stock shift points on a pickup are 5600 1-2 and 5200 for 2-3 and 3-4. Expect the smaller engine to peak a little higher (assuming your heads are up to the task). I still think that you are not making a great choice for cams, I would not waste the time.

For the power band you are running, I don't think you'd see much from many aftermarket cams. Keep it under 220 degrees @0.050, and go with more lift.



In the power band you are running, you'd see a modest improvement with an LQ9 cam.

[duc1256]

Alright, got a set of stock used ls6 yellow springs for free from a technician friend at chevy across the street(less than 1k) What about the pushrods? Reuse the original ones in the 5.3, is this safe or iffy?

[duc1256]

Another quick question. Would a stock ls6 intake be worth it while I doing the cam swap. I have a great chance to get one for $75 with 35k on it, bare. This would be added to better compliment the cam, possibly lower the rpm of peak hp?

[randomhero]

EDITTED..

I DIDN'T say that you can reuse your stock springs, I DID ask you what head you have. Depending on what head you had, more importantly what springs you had, I can recommend next steps.

The LS6 springs are the Yellow springs, 12586484. Spring kit from GMPP is 12499224. . Like I noted though, you need the lighter valves to effectively run that cam with those springs up past 6000-6100.. keep an ear out for valve float. The LS6 ran lightweight valves to manage the more aggressive ramps.

Based on your post, you should be fine with running the yellow springs with the heavier valves. Valve control issues are not likely below 6000 RPM. BUT, I gotta still wonder why you would go to this cam if you are shifting at 5500. On a 5.7L, this cam didn't even peak till 6000, peak torque moved up from 4000-4800. The stock shift points on a pickup are 5600 1-2 and 5200 for 2-3 and 3-4. Expect the smaller engine to peak a little higher (assuming your heads are up to the task). I still think that you are not making a great choice for cams, I would not waste the time.

For the power band you are running, I don't think you'd see much from many aftermarket cams. Keep it under 220 degrees @0.050, and go with more lift.
In the power band you are running, you'd see a modest improvement with an LQ9 cam.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I don't do this for a living, but my knowledge is a collection of literally thousands of people with different setups and their opinions on their setups. I have seen what works time and time again and what doesn't seem to work or what has yet to be proven to work.