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LS98 - To Cam or not to Cam? that is the question.

kiwiskidkid

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2007 Calais V (auto) with 160K on the clock. OTR, Xforce headers, 3inch exhaust and 3.45LSD. Ready to go for tune and having been thinking of getting a cam, mostly for the sound, but do not want to sacrifice low end - not a daily driver but need to enjoy it and like to skid the wheels on takeoff. Would like to hear from those of you who have owned or do own a cammed L98 or LS2, in particular given the cost vs performance and driver experience would you do it again?

Thanks.
KSK
 

kiwiskidkid

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In Auckland. I had heard the L98 was a bit of a prick with cam given port size and being auto Im guessing you can only go so lumpy before you get issues with brake vacuum and pushing forward at lights or coming to stop on down shift. Mate has a big cam in his LS2 Auto and has similar issues and now going to swap to a manual for drivability. Im keen to hear others experiences to help educate me on the real life pros and cons.
 

VESSVBLACK

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I would steer clear of Eastern Automotive, once had a maffles tune, and it was terrible, fuel trims were out of whack, was pinging, had to get it unlocked and retuned by a shop , in New Plymouth, who do great work. Anyway back to your cam , the cam will only be as good as the tune. If you go eastern auto they will just chuck a generic cam in with a tune, and your car will run like s@@t, trust me, I know loads of cars retuned because of there crap, don't get caught by there adverts and sweet sales talk on the phone.

Cam, find a shop who will tune what ever you want, if they cant, then they properly use a generic off the shelf job. I can recommend a shop but its in New Plymouth, worth the drive as the guy there will do it properly. Cam in auto, few options, have a look at the VCM Facebook page they just released a 216/226 580 600 110 las, perfect manners, sounds like a big cam, looks like its mainy for a auto. Don't go too big, otherwise will chew fuel, loose bottom end unless your prepared to ford out on histalls ext
 

Not_An_Abba_Fan

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You have to ask? Cam....always cam.
 

kiwicon

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Pro-Street Performance – Performance Car Workshop It's only a newly done website so not many videos etc on there..

Pro street in Pukekohe.. only herd great things coming out of there..

Just had a article in NZV8 mag too, good read.. have a look on their FB Page as they do post video's like this..

[video]https://www.facebook.com/prostreetperformance89b/videos/1844901095746150/[/video]
 

vr304

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Go see Wayne at pro tune in Manakau mate, hands down top bloke and is a guru with LS engines if you use pro street performance they send it off to pro tune for the tuning side of things anyway
 

VrWagz1

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I got my L98 cammed, but as for how much it contributed its hard to say. 1 thing is it moves. I can tell you the best reasont to cam it.

- The rollers on the lifters have a tendancy to **** themselves and chew the cam out.
- The Cam bearings are a split peice of **** oil bearing. Good time to replace them with a single piece after market unit.
- Mix all that and you have the reason my engine was rebuilt

I went a CamTech. Pretty sure I this cam CT2871 49915A/49922B-112, but i customised it onto 114 degree lobe centers.
CAMTECH CAMS - Holden/Chev Gen lll LS1, LS2, LS6, L98Camshafts & Components

In short the factory Cam/Cam bearings/Lifters have a history of failing. Mine failed at around 118000km. Others got no where near that aswell. I took the oportunity.....if u can call it that, to have a small amount of head work done, some nice new aftermarket internals. Got some tri Y headers an hi-flow cats and had that flanged to the factory exhaust after that. Mainly to keep it quiet, every exhaust shop i rang up all said they had no exhaust that will match the quietness of the factory setup.
Quick tune and like i said I cant tell you what the cam did on its own as it was all done in one hit. Also thats about as big as i would go with the Auto 6sp. When the car is cold it does sometimes stall on a quick stop, if im in manual mode and force the ecu to auto down shift to 1st when i get to the lights. Any bigger and it would probably do it more often even when warm.
 
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