Mace V6 cams

[Cfb_rolley]

Hey, looking for people's before and after and general experiences with the Mace LFX cams on a V6.

Been considering these for a while, I absolutely love how they sound and if the claims are correct, more punch from 1500rpm and up would be real nice. However, I've seen so many mixed results. Some people say don't bother and just adjust the cam phasing in the tune to get the same result. Others say they gained 30kw with the cams. Some people say it's hard to tune them and you lose a lot down low, others say that's just tuner inexperience and the real power is gained with beefier valve springs to push the RPM limit up safely. And of course, every dyno gives different results, so one person's 250rwkw is another person's 210rwkw.... so, I'm unsure whether a set of cams would be worth the cost (how long is a piece of string when it comes to what's "worth it" lol), or actually do not much of anything other than gain a tiny bit more power over 6000rpm and just sound different.

My current setup is a VCM intake, Magnaflow 100 cel cats and x-force exhaust, tuned recently on a mainline dyno, 212kw @6400rpm,

Cheers in advance for the input!

 

[MrBags]

Would diff gears be an option for you?

 

[Cfb_rolley]

Would diff gears be an option for you?

yep, torsen diff centre and 3.45 gears gears was another thing I was considering. 3.45 seems like a good compromise on not revving it's tits off at highway speeds.

 

[_R_J_K_]

Some people say it's hard to tune them and you lose a lot down low, others say that's just tuner inexperience

The problem is largely that the entire ignition/injection/ECU system is Bosch which a lot of GM tuners haven't bothered to try and support, that and Euro tuners don't do Commodores. This means tuners who have made the effort and have experience are hard to find - there's not a lot of people doing these engines day in, day out. IMHO this is compounded by the fact that they're only kind of supported in HPTuners, the demand hasn't been there compared to the LS, and that the engine is seen as "only a 6". Tuning LS engines with a cut/paste/modify tune is a license to print money, so there is also little financial incentive to support the seemingly "complex" 6s over the pushrod 8s or turbo Barras which are much easier to make power with compared to an N/A 6.

As for power and torque down low, it will depend on which set of cams you get, generally the bigger they are the more torque you lose at the bottom of the rev range. You're better off looking at actual manufacturer cams and their associated specs as Mace don't make the cams, they just buy them and resell them under their own name.

You're in Brisbane, so if you decide to go ahead maybe try Goat Performance if they weren't who you were using originally (I haven't used them) as they seem to have a decent amount of experence with them. Look at torque gains throughout the rev range over the final number. IMHO still expensive for what it is though.

 

[Cfb_rolley]

I definitely get the impression that there are very few tuners that have a lot of experience with these particular ECUs. I have also been told that the read and write times from them are pretty insane compared to others which would be a further disincentive from wanting to touch them.

I did manage to speak to Rob from Brisbane Tuning and Turbo today and discussed a few things, and I think cams are probably down the list for my particular application at the moment. I did briefly ask about e85 as an alternative option since there's a servo not too far from both home and work that has it, but he wasn't sure if the e39a supports flex fuel or not, so I might get on to GOAT as well and ask them about it too.

 

[vr304]

Would think that mace would be able to offer a tuning service if not put you on to someone that can do a tune to suit, might be worth talking to them

 

[Cfb_rolley]

Would think that mace would be able to offer a tuning service if not put you on to someone that can do a tune to suit, might be worth talking to them

They did offer remote tuning at one point but not any more. Brisbane Turbo and Tuning was who they recommended close to me, and basically what was discussed was that they could definitely tune them, but not really the profile I'd be looking for. The regular Mace cam has a longer duration but less lift than the factory cams, I guess that's the compromise they settled with to not lose much torque in the low RPM range and keep nice driveability. I could consider going with a custom grind to have the duration AND lift, but then that could also be another can of worms.

 

[harrop.senator]

Finding someone who knows how to tune vct really well is the issue due to the constant change in phasing to find the best spot for them.

A lot of people have had issues with tuning them here and in the us.

If you can get another 30 kW who cares on the lift , but I'd say that's the compromise and why they can run stock springs.

Rev high do custom cams for $1300 it's another $450 on top of the standard 210's them and mace run.

3.45's aren't bad 62 will be top of first , 100 in second and then 160 in third. They're a hard box to get ratios right most would go to a 3.7 and delete first gear under wot.

3.45's will barely sit at 2k on the highway the 6l50e has a deep dual over drive.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Hey, looking for people's before and after and general experiences with the Mace LFX cams on a V6.

Been considering these for a while, I absolutely love how they sound and if the claims are correct, more punch from 1500rpm and up would be real nice. However, I've seen so many mixed results. Some people say don't bother and just adjust the cam phasing in the tune to get the same result. Others say they gained 30kw with the cams. Some people say it's hard to tune them and you lose a lot down low, others say that's just tuner inexperience and the real power is gained with beefier valve springs to push the RPM limit up safely. And of course, every dyno gives different results, so one person's 250rwkw is another person's 210rwkw.... so, I'm unsure whether a set of cams would be worth the cost (how long is a piece of string when it comes to what's "worth it" lol), or actually do not much of anything other than gain a tiny bit more power over 6000rpm and just sound different.

My current setup is a VCM intake, Magnaflow 100 cel cats and x-force exhaust, tuned recently on a mainline dyno, 212kw @6400rpm,

Cheers in advance for the input!

I have no idea about the answer but I love reading your posts. You have some cool stuff swimming around in your head.

 

[_R_J_K_]

They did offer remote tuning at one point but not any more.

I know RevHigh in Melbourne offer remote tuning for them too.