Have a 2005 Tahoe Z71, almost 300k on the body, about 150k on a rebuilt and well serviced 4L60 and on it's 2nd motor. Original 5.3 was pulled around 220k and threw in a low mileage 4.8 to just get by. Time has come where this 4.8 is a dog. Have a 100k LQ4 that I am putting in. Trying to decide on a cam.

Really interested in the BTR NSR series truck cams. Don't know if I should go with a Stage 1 or Stage 2.

I am not trying to race, do not want to loose any power down low. Any power gained up until 4500-5k is a welcomed addition. I am not trying to pull past 5500R every shift. It is a daily driver and tows ATVs, snowmobiles, sub-compact tractor, etc. Running stock converter, stock exhaust manifolds, stock truck intake and injectors. Not looking to pull heads, using the OE springs would be ideal, but I do have a set of LS6 behives on the shelf and that would be fine also. Also not looking to run 91 or 93, plain old 87.

Basically anything would be an improvement over the LQ4 cam and in a general sense over the little 4.8. Probably my best explanation of where I'd like to see more power is around 2k where I'm trying to make a good grade and the 4.8 struggles until it'll pick up some Rs and get up to 3k. Would love some punch down low.

Figured while this new LQ4 is on a stand getting re-gasketed, good time for a cam.

Thoughts? Thank you.

 

Summit 8718R1 (NSR cam) will work with stock springs and is budget friendly. Your DCR should end up around 7.8 so it can be tuned to run on 87. A little less overlap than the BTR Stage 1 NSR, so part throttle will be a little more responsive on the low end. Definitely pull hard from 2k up under heavy acceleration, work with stock convertor, manifolds, etc.

 

I used a Isky 212/218 .561/.570 114+3 in a stock LQ4 for my z71 tahoe with 4.10s and 295/70/17s.
I towed with it a good bit and ran it on 87 octane. I had no complaints with it. Put over 180k miles on it like that.
Took a few trys to get the idle almost perfect in the tune so there was almost no cam lope at idle.
It would pull to 6500rpms pretty good, I used the truck to hunt out of and it stayed in the mud majority of the time so the low end power was nice but i wasnt scared to hold it on the 6800 limiter in the nasty stuff. Towed a 24' car hauler with a side by side and 4wheeler fairly often. If it was that heavy i would run 3rd gear with converter locked to keep from smoking 4th gear with it shifting back and forth.

I used a cam motion 206/210 .553/.553 115+5 in a Gen 4 5.3 with CNCd 243 heads in my wifes 08 z71 tahoe with 3.73s and 265/68/18s. It feels a good bit more peppy off idle but its probably 800# lighter than my tahoe and the idle is very smooth. It gets 23.5mpg on longer trips and averages 19mpg on her daily commute.

Majority of the 5.3 and 6.0s i do get the smaller cams and the only complaint is these kids want that race car idle and dont care about power even tho they have 35 and 37" tires with 3.42s and 4L60s so they are terrible for cruising in 4th gear at low rpms.

 

Basically you mean these guys

 

Exactly!

 

Thank you all for the info and thanks Formula for the cam recommendation. Looked into it and liked what I saw. Ordered it Wednesday afternoon and summit had it on my doorstep Yesterday.

Thanks, this should be a cool little unit when all said and done. If I get some time this weekend I should throw up some pics of the rest of the "restoration' on the truck that I went through this summer.

 

Cool, let us know how the project goes.