I've read some both bad a good things about the "hot cam"... how many people are running this cam in a 5.3? I want something with a noticable lope but that can be daily driven, is the hot cam ok for that?

 

I have personally heard the "hot cam" and it does lope. I would not base my decision just on lope thought.

 

Oh, don't worry about that... a lope is just one thing that i really want with the cam...

 

There doesn't seem to be alot of love for the hotcam around here, but I've always been intrigued by it. I'd like to put together a hot rod some day with a GENIII engine and a hot cam. The price is right, you can use LS6 springs, there is a performance increase, it's a GM product, and it sounds mean as hell (that's why I'd like to build an old tri-five Chevy pickup or 55 Belair with a 6.0 and this cam through open cutouts )

 

They are in other words "a tuning nightmare." Lot of f-body guys express great hatred for that cam!!

 

Oh really? On the cam thread from what i've read it would be ok on a dd, which is what my truck is... and that is one reason i've considered the hot cam is b/c a lot of people say it has a nice tune to it.

 

I'd think that a good tuner can handle it...look at some of the huge crazy profiles that guys are running now and driving daily. The intake duration is "small" by most guy's standards around here, it has a ton of exhaust duration (so you could probably run it with stock manifolds if need be lol), and the only other concern is the tight lsa...don't see why that would be a problem, guys are tuning cams on 112's all the time, and now I'm starting to see guys going to 110 and 108 LSA's. I would think that the hardest part of tuning would be accounting for overlap and volumetric efficiency (don't get me wrong, I haven't tried tuning myself, but understand how the induction system of an internal combustion engine works), and compared to the cams that guys are running nowadays, I'd think this one would be a breeze. Look at what 01 Thunder's got in his 4.8, and the monster cam that Flyer was running last I checked.

I'm sure that the "lazy" lobe of the Hot Cam has something to do with why it's a little harder to tune, as the faster ramp rates of the newer cams seem to make tuning easier and take some of the guesswork out of it...not to mention guys have gotten used to tuning Comp XER lobes, etc...but I've also read a few guys on LS1Tech running around with Hot Cams and loving the fact that they've gained a cheap and easy 25-30 hp and never have a concern about yearly valve spring changes

 

i have one in a 6.0L and other than a higher idle(725) i don't have any driveability issues. pcmforless did the original tune and i've made some minor adjustments since. my truck was wrecked and i swapped the 6.0 in when i fixed it so i can't tell you if there was any loss of low-end, etc.

 

Oh cool, thanks! Uh, one more thing, should the ls6 or the hot cam add more power? I've heard of people adding 50 horses to the wheels w/ls6 and tuning... any idea on power gains w/hot cam?

 

I had one in my 4.8L, its not a bad cam for the price. It surely has a lope to it though.