Hard to start after Cam Upgrade

[Darren]

Hey Guys,
A week ago today I got the cam done along with pushrods, underdrive pulley and tune in my LS3 Clubsport, powers great, sounds great but that's where the fun stops imho.

It runs hell rich on startup, that I was expecting so no biggie there however I have 3 concerns at this stage and wondering whether these would be considered as 'normal' before getting back in touch with the place that did it:

1. If I start the car and head down to the local BP probably 2km away to grab a coffee I jump back in the car and it struggles to start, flick the key, the revs are low as hell almost to stalling point then it roars to life after say 3 seconds, not what I'm used to being flick the key and it starts perfectly without sputtering. This can easily be reproduced by starting the car up for a few seconds and shutting it down and repeating not that I like doing this. I stalled the car thanks to the next issue yesterday and it took me 5 - 6 attempts to get the car going again, I had to resort to using throttle for the very first time ever to start the car.
2. On take off there's seems to be what I can only describe as a flat spot with very light throttle applications, a quick blip of the throttle to bring the rev's up to match the clutch coming out it almost seems to miss.
3. This probably falls under number 2 as well but here we go. The car now hates low speed (20kph or less) for instance work car park where we are required to do 10kph, when using very light throttle (around say 1500 - 1700rpm) the car surges almost as if I'm putting my foot on and off the clutch, a bit like bunny hopping when we first learnt to drive a manual It gets into that rhythmic pattern, other than riding the clutch I'm not sure how else to overcome this.

The cam specs I am not sure but it was around 228 (wouldn't divulge any further details), power delivery 1700 - 7000rpm from what I've been told but my belief the tune isn't right.

I think I put all the details up but any questions by all means shoot away.

Any helped appreciated.

Cheers
Darren

[GRPABT1]

Ok firstly I think you need a new mechanic/tuner because obviously they aren't very good if they can't sort things like hot start up etc, and I would laugh in the face of any shop who refused to divulge the specs of a cam I was paying them to fit.

the issues you are having though
1: Get a new tune
2: Get a new tune
3: This is the nature of big cam's, they advertise a working rev range for a reason. Below the cam's "happy" zone it will "cam roll" so to speak and buck around like a bitch. On the road, pick a lower gear, in car parks it can take some practice.

That said, I don't think a cam in the 228 (not alot to go off) range should be that hard to live with in an LS3. These things have massive tuneability and I have personally been in LS3 powered vehicles with larger cams than yours that the first two issue's are non existant and the 3rd is not that bad.

[Darren]

lol geez I wrote some awesome shakespeare in that first post, great typos corrected now.

Thanks for that, it certainly confirms my suspicions re 1 & 2 as something certainly isn't right, I'll get back in touch with them and see what they say.

The really odd thing is they seem to be well known in Adelaide especially for their exhausts.

[ASAUTE]

I don't blame tuners for not sharing cam specs especially if they designed it. Take it back to him, I'm sure he'll sort it.

[GRPABT1]

Cam specs are not the be all and end all of a motor. And this setup is not the pinnacle of racing development, there is no reason to keep the specs secret. And lastly if you buy something then you own it, you have a legal right to know what you are being sold.

If the tuner/shop is worth their reputation then by all means take it back to them, explain the problems and get them to touch up the tune. Not all tuning issues can be ironed out on a dyno and sometimes a street driven tune is needed. Good shops warrant their tunes for a period of time so don't put it off, my tuner warranted mine for a month.

[Darren]

Just got back and seems to be no hassles at all, very helpful and sympathetic infact.

The guy I needed to speak to wasn't there which was understandable given we can't work every weekend but the person I spoke to mentioned certainly tune related so backs up my thoughts and others, mind is at ease now.

Will keep this updated.

[ASAUTE]

Maybe. But if you came up with something that no one else was using and it worked really well

[scott w]

what is the name of the shop your dealing with , if you dont mind me asking

[Munz]

sounds like Kay Pea eM to me

[scott w]

yeah i was in there thursday week ago having a go at them about there exhaust on my VE SS and there after sales service and they said they were fitting a cam to a silver commodore , i wondered if it was the same vehicle

[Darren]

As we all know from previous threads we aren't here to publicly shame companies unless someone elses cares to foot the lawyer bills associated with it.

Spending a little over $4k you would expect it to be spot on but everyone has their bad days and could be a whole lot worse.

Off to delete a couple of posts.

[dijm8]

so its true then..goodluck...but as you expect with anything you spend that kinda money you expect results..guess the tuner was having a bad day

[WogBoyz]

Hey mate

Ive got the oztrack HPS cam which from what ive read is pretty large and Steve from oztrack has remotely tuned it, mine starts easy everytime but i do notice the rich smell tho lol

Mine does the same as urs with going slow speeds jerking ect, cant really avoid that with a decent cam, hows your fuel eco been btw?

On take off too if i dont give it enough revs its splutters and backfires a bit til the revs raise over 500rpm or so but the 3.7 gears on the way should fix that

Hope ya get it sorted soon man

[scott w]

hi wogboy , i have the vcm 7 in my ve ss and got 10.2 average on the way back from adelaide after i had it tuned at willall , i was sitting on the speed limit the 450ks back to mount gambier and only had one spirited overtake as the amount of cops on the road was crazy .
i was told by vcm to fit the 3.7 gears as you mentioned as it would make the car much nicer to drive , i think with a cam of any real size your going to have to ride the clutch a little get her moving

[WogBoyz]

hi wogboy , i have the vcm 7 in my ve ss and got 10.2 average on the way back from adelaide after i had it tuned at willall , i was sitting on the speed limit the 450ks back to mount gambier and only had one spirited overtake as the amount of cops on the road was crazy .
i was told by vcm to fit the 3.7 gears as you mentioned as it would make the car much nicer to drive , i think with a cam of any real size your going to have to ride the clutch a little get her moving

Yeah im at around 18L/100 for around town, yeah im hoping the gears make it better just to get off the line

[Lumps of cheese]

Hey mate

Ive got the oztrack HPS cam which from what ive read is pretty large and Steve from oztrack has remotely tuned it, mine starts easy everytime but i do notice the rich smell tho lol

Mine does the same as urs with going slow speeds jerking ect, cant really avoid that with a decent cam, hows your fuel eco been btw?

On take off too if i dont give it enough revs its splutters and backfires a bit til the revs raise over 500rpm or so but the 3.7 gears on the way should fix that

Hope ya get it sorted soon man

My brother is having trouble with his wagon. So much so that he's sent it down to another tuner in melbourne to have a look at it. Not blaming anyone as it could be something else entirely but i'll be interested to see how it comes back.

[WogBoyz]

My brother is having trouble with his wagon. So much so that he's sent it down to another tuner in melbourne to have a look at it. Not blaming anyone as it could be something else entirely but i'll be interested to see how it comes back.

Oh true first problem ive heard with oztrack, i was having starting problems a while back and it turned out my main earth wire on the left of the engine bay was lose are arking pretty bad, burnt the block, that got fixed when i put the cam in, could be something he could look at