I want a cam for a 2000 5.3 I pull a boat during the summer and am willing to add heads if necassary. I dont want to lose my low end. I have headers 3.73s and cold air now. Which cam is for me, the truck is an extended cab.
thanks

 

I have the Comp Cams 54-412-11 (see specs in my signature) and it is a great cam for the 4.8/5.3/5.7/6.0 Vortecs. I may someday install a Lunati 408 stroker rotating assembly, and I plan to retain the cam I like it so well. I've talked to the tech folks at Lunati and they say the specs on this cam would work well on the stroker.

Anyway, to view my comments, and those of others who have installed this cam, look at this thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108758

Now, I also use this truck to tow my travel trailer which weighs 8,600 pounds when fully loaded and the cam is excellent. To see some pictures of my truck and trailer, look here: http://community.webshots.com/user/sbryant2100

One thing I want to add is about your heads. A good Stage I (street porting job) would improve the volumetric efficiency (and therefore the power (horsepower and torque) of your engine. This porting should basically clean up the intake and exhaust bowl areas and smooth the combustion chamber and that's all. Don't let any body enlarge the intake or exhaust port. That will improve top end horsepower and kill low to midrange torque. Enlarging the intake ports slows the velocity of the air charge entering the cylinder which is bad. Enlarging the exhaust port will dump the combustion pressure out of the cylinder too quickly before the energy from combustion has had a good chance to shove the piston down on the power stroke. This kills your torque.

 

I have the Comp 218/220 .525/.532 114 lsa and the ZO6 springs in my 4.8. I haven't really hitched up to anything of significant weight but this thing runs great. The cam really works well in the truck and has an awesome sound at idle. I think it will really tow great great.

 

Crane has a bunch of new cams for LS-1 trucks, plus with their new tuner you can set the truck up for hauling without having to touch the heads.

Look at part Nos. 1449505 (.502" lift Int./Exh.) or maybe the bigger 1449565 (.551" lift Int./Exh.)

Combine either of these with their good dual springs and their programmer, and you shouldn't have a problem towing your boat. We used a crane cam in my buddy's 2001 GMC 5.3L, and with their programmer he doesn't even notice the trailer he tows.

The cool thing about their programmer is it has the full computer profile for the cam in it, so all you have to do is push a couple of buttons and the whole computer will be set up for the cam.

The only thing we had to do to my buddy's GMC was open up the idle air hole in the throttle body slightly (.020"-.030") to get the pulses down on the idle control.

 

I also talked with Crane. The problem I have with their tuner......I have a cutom tune now. The way I understand it. it will overwrite my tune. But it does sound like a novel concept. I guess it is geared towards stock trucks with just a cam.

 

I was on the phone with the Crane tech people about some rockers for LS-1, and asked them about what you mentioned. The way their programmer works, it stores the programming the in computer before it modifes anything. This programming is considered "stock". So, if you have a custom tue and plug the Crane programmer in, it will store your custom tune as the "stock" or base-line programming for the computer, so you won't loose that custom tune if you use the Crane programmer.

 

Well, now that is cool. Maybe I jsut mis-understood the guy. Any idea how much the tuner costs for the cam? What if the tune is locked?

 

Jeg's has the Crane tuner for $397. As far as I understand it, no matter what the tune is Crane's programmer will "unlock" it gain access to the ECM and installing the needed tuning. The cool thing is too, the tuner comes with preset cam programs for three different truck LS-1 cams, so if you dcide on a bigger cam you can still use the same tuner. Also, Crane's tuner will read ECM troublecodes, so you can look the codes up and find out what's really going on and not have to totally depend on a dealership. It will also clear the codes too.