LQ9 cam in a 5.3 questions

[littlevictories]

got a little project creep going on.
im reading these motors like new valvesprings around the 150k mark
might as well upgrade the bumpy stick while im in there right?

if you have a mild cam in your truck's 5.3:

what did you do for a tune on the pcm?

what cam did you go with?

new timing set too?

woulda/shoulda/couldas you wish you'd known about?

Thanks again fellas.

[68GMCCustom]

what is your objective? A 345hp 6.0 cam isn't a real high upgrade? LS6 was 405hp from 5.7?
Are you looking to upgrade using all OEM parts with a slight performance upgrade?

[akdg87]

The Lq9 cam is a "1721" gm part number which is the same cam as some of the ls1's, works fine but if I were you I would swap in something that would offer more more hp/tq.

FWIW I swapped in the same cam to my 5.3 when I did my ls swap on my dd, it was a slight increase over stock.

[littlevictories]

so what i gather is you wish you had gone immediately to a larger cam?
recommend one for a 5.3/4l60e in a 4100lb truck with 4.11 gears?
daily driver/garbage hauler/car-camping rig.
i'd like to limit the valvetrain mods to keep cost down.

what did you do for a tune on the PCM?




i ask about the Lq9 cam as they are available used for small money.
looking for reliability and a nice healthy sound over all-out power.
just a fun lil cruiser.

[BR3W CITY]

Just pickup a used Hotcam or z06 cam for the small bump in power and sound. Its pretty much the cheapest thing you can buy, and they made a billion of them.

Do the timing set, upgrade the valve springs (But don't go all the way to doubles), and at least make sure your pushrods/seats etc are all in good shape and don't need at least a stock-replacement.

[littlevictories]

rad, thanks for the input
can you recommend specific parts, or should i stick with GM all the way?

[bpatrol]

If you want all around driveability and decent pickup in power
something in this range
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/lu...make/chevrolet

210 218 at 531 lift u can use ls6 springs and be good. not cheap but this is the single biggest engine performance upgrade u can do to your truck bar none.
I personaly don't like the hotcam and the z06 cam is alright.Aftermarket just makes better cams.
good luck either way and shoot me a pm if you have specific questions I can give you my cell
bpatrol

[akdg87]

Originally Posted by littlevictories

so what i gather is you wish you had gone immediately to a larger cam?
recommend one for a 5.3/4l60e in a 4100lb truck with 4.11 gears?
daily driver/garbage hauler/car-camping rig.
i'd like to limit the valvetrain mods to keep cost down.

what did you do for a tune on the PCM?



i ask about the Lq9 cam as they are available used for small money.
looking for reliability and a nice healthy sound over all-out power.
just a fun lil cruiser.

My truck is a DD, just swapping from a TBI to Gen 3 motor was an improvement in itself. I just wanted something that is reliable all together, we see temperatures from -60 below to 90 above here and the truck gets driven regardless what temp it is outside.

I did have my truck tuned due to my other "bolt on's" (headers, converter, cold air intake).

Sure i could have put a wild cam in and gotten better gains, but i'm very content with it now, still will beat a lot of the new gas pickups on the road, and the ls1 cam really screams from 55-100 in my truck.

[BR3W CITY]

Going with a cam much larger than most of the GM cams starts to create needs that it sounds like you don't want. Going larger means needing higher valve spring pressure, going real big means something like a dual spring. This adds cost, and the increased spring pressure can lead to greater valvetrain wear under certain conditions. It also means more maintenance and concern over oil changes (both frequency and quality). Things like extreme cold starts are not always the best when combined with extreme valvetrain pressure or high rpms (its part of the reason why you don't redline the car when you warm it up).

Also, depending on the cam profile things like hardened pushrods come into play, possibly rods that are a different size from stock. That means no off-the shelf parts store parts if you need something in a pinch (daily driver issue, tho not a major one, since you don't bend drivetrain parts much if your not pushing it and everything is properly spec'd).

4.11 gears means you'll be seeing higher rpm's more often, and the truck manifolds (intake and exhaust) will run out of gas at higher rpm's. A good cam will make power where you can use it, even if you don't dyno huge, you'll notice a "better" driving truck.

[littlevictories]

I hear what your saying there. In my early 20's I DD'd a solid lifter big block.
I didn't mind thrashing until midnight to make it to work on monday back then.
Not so much these days.

Just aiming for a little lope to the idle, nothing crazy.

i appreciate the insight. I'll cam it when I have more time under the learning curve for makin these motors run.

[Robznob11]

If your gonna swap the cam absolutely swap the push rods and springs with aftermarket! Stock springs and pr are barley adequate for a stock cam. I got a low mile scoggin dicky z+221 for 140$ a set of prc 1518 springs new off of eBay for 100$, and Brian tools pushrods, for 95$ and about 100 bucks on gaskets, locktight, new balance bolt, tool to install balancer, tool to install springs, and tool to hold valves up, you can borrow a tq wrench and balance removal tool from orielys or auto zone, balance tool on eBay 20$, tims valve spring tool on ls1tech for 35$ air hose to hold up valves at orielys for 8$. By the way the truck intake does as good or better than the ls6 intake till above 6000, and the ls6 is not a very significant gain past that. You are looking at a good days work lol. Oh and go get 2 5/16 steel rods grind one end to a point and cut them 6" longer than the block and bend the ends in a L shape the one for the pass side needs a flat spot a 1/4 wide ground down the whole length then when you pull the cam plate you can spin the cam a few times and slide the rods into the two oil gally holes to hold the liters up. The longest part for me was changing the springs its tedious!