Looking for a Cam

[Fatboyrico]

Hey TY family.

I'm looking for a cam (FOR FUN and long drives) for my 01 suburban with a 5.3 little over a 140xxxxmi. I have already have done some upgrades thanks to these forums. I have Done the electric fans,799 heads,CAI, long tube headers with high flow cats but now I'm really looking for a NICE CAM for fun.. been looking everywhere but just confused on what to use or what I should be looking for.

 

[JennaBear]

Your best bet, is to call the cam company you want to go with, and have them recommend a grind. I have seen far too often, poor advise given by folks on the forums, you will get a straight answer from the company itself.

 

[02DFWTahoe]

I went with a cam motion drop-in cam 210/215 based on their recommendation. The truck picked up 53hp and 82 ft/lbs peak after the tune.

 

[Rocket Man]

I keep thinking about a cam upgrade but I'm currently getting 10 mpg mostly city driving after my BB tune. Anybody know if my mileage will get even worse with a cam upgrade? Seems 10 is bad enough.

 

[drakon543]

It depends on the cam you get. Im not sure what is available for gm trucks as i havnt had a gm truck long enough yet to think about cams. I do know comp cams and mopar offer 318 and 360 dodge truck cams for everything from economy based to wild. Thier econo cam is was rated for a few extra numbers power wise, affordable, and drop in no tune required. So i imagine they have something similar for gm applications

 

[OHSIXX]

I keep thinking about a cam upgrade but I'm currently getting 10 mpg mostly city driving after my BB tune. Anybody know if my mileage will get even worse with a cam upgrade? Seems 10 is bad enough.

What tune are you running?

I had mine done in person and went with the 91/93 tune. I average 16ish in the city, 19ish on the highway and about 12ish towing my boat. Best ever was 21-that was a 4 hour highway trip using using non ethanol premium. Sorry for the derail-just curious why your mileage is so low

I also may be going the down the cam road.....my buddy wants to crack my motor open but I'm scurrred lol

 

[Rocket Man]

I went with the 87-89 octane tune. Mine's done through the Autocal and it definitely screams. I can't drive normal, always putting my foot into it. I'm wondering if I should try the 91+ tune they sent and see if the mileage goes up. Are you running premium gas?

 

[02DFWTahoe]

Depending on the cam, you may gain or lose mpg. If you have a heavy foot, a cam that provides nice grunt in the lower rpm range may increase your mpg as you don't need to have such a heavy foot to get up to speed. If you go for a big cam that needs a stall, your probably going to lose some mpg as the big duration cams make power higher in the rpm range. There is also a chance that your going to run out of injector with the combination of a cam and your existing mods. Did you replace the lifters when you swapped the heads? How old are they? You also need to be aware of your gear ratios. My Tahoe has 3.42s, and at 70mph I'm not even turning 2k rpms so a big cam might not be all that fun cruising on the highway, producing more downshifts and fuel expenditure.

 

[OHSIXX]

I went with the 87-89 octane tune. Mine's done through the Autocal and it definitely screams. I can't drive normal, always putting my foot into it. I'm wondering if I should try the 91+ tune they sent and see if the mileage goes up. Are you running premium gas?

Oh I see. I lay into mine here and there...but am usually nice to her lol. Yep i'm running premium-always have been since it was tuned. I do get better mileage when I find non ethanol premium-but that is usually up north only.

 

[Rocket Man]

Depending on the cam, you may gain or lose mpg. If you have a heavy foot, a cam that provides nice grunt in the lower rpm range may increase your mpg as you don't need to have such a heavy foot to get up to speed. If you go for a big cam that needs a stall, your probably going to lose some mpg as the big duration cams make power higher in the rpm range. There is also a chance that your going to run out of injector with the combination of a cam and your existing mods. Did you replace the lifters when you swapped the heads? How old are they? You also need to be aware of your gear ratios. My Tahoe has 3.42s, and at 70mph I'm not even turning 2k rpms so a big cam might not be all that fun cruising on the highway, producing more downshifts and fuel expenditure.

Sorry I'm not the OP, kind of hijacked his thread! My only mods so far are a CAI, high flow cats, Blow master 50 series, Vette servo and a BB tune. My rear axle ratio is 3:73.