Im going to be putting a LQ9 in a 2003 Silverado sport truck. Lowered 3/4 on factory 16 inch wheels. Will put a locker in the rear and some slapper bars. Just looking to get close to 400 horses at the flywheel. Going to be putting the following cam in. Dont want much. Dont need chop. Looking to keep things below 6000 rpm's. Will do a tune as well. Thinking of leaving the exhaust manifolds and build a dual system. Torque converter will be a 4.2 TraiBlazer converter or Circle D. Here are links.

Anyone want to chime in and say don something else?

BTR CAMSHAFT - GEN 3/4 TRUCK - STAGE 2 - V2 - BTR31218110 (briantooleyracing.com)

GM 278mm HP 4L60 LS Torque Converter | Circle D Specialties

or

Torque Converter PMT GM55 | Buy Online - NAPA Auto Parts (napaonline.com)

 

I love my 212/218 112 LSA cam in my 6.0. I went low lift and have no regrets.

I don't think I'd do slapper bars, Caltacs are very popular and I'd probably go that route

I'd do 1 7/8" speed engineering headers to their 3" Y pipe, will bolt up to a stock exhaust. I think staying with stock manifolds will leave a lot on the table.

 

I would maybe step up a tad in cam. The summit stage 2 truck high lift cam I think is what I would have done if I could do it over. I have the 212/218 on a LQ4 with 862 heads, compression bump, I think that I would have enjoyed a larger cam a bit more but there is nothing wrong with my set up at all.

TLDR: 212/218 works

 

if you're looking for 400hp, headers are an easy way to actually take advantage of a cam swap & get closer to your goal.

 

I wouldn't do the slappers or Caltracs unless you have wheel hop. My truck didn't have hop at first but after a couple years since the build it started, I'm guessing the springs had weakened from spring wrap. I added the Caltracs and it stopped. The Caltracs can be noisy if adjusted loose for racing (popping sound hitting bumps) and stiffen the (ride) rear when adjusted tight for quiet street operation. Also have that same converter Circle-D and it works well.

6000 RPM... meh

 

Headers, esp with a cam are worth at least 40hp. I would 100% do them

 

headers for sure and a 216 cam... call cam motion

much ahpper much better on valvetrain cam
some of BTR cams are CM grinds

https://cammotion.com/camshafts/6-2-...212-220-117-5/
https://cammotion.com/ls-camshafts/t...212-220-112-4/

 

Ive done the same thing you're doing a couple times, definitely go with the circle d converter and a stage 3 or 4 cam. Also highly recommend headers. You're doing all the work anyways, might as well get the most out of your setup.
On my first lq9 truck I used a rear shock relocation kit that moved both shocks to the rear similar to what atomic fabrication sells, that helped alot so I opted to not run traction bars. Also went from 3.23 to 4.10 gears and it made a huge difference
My second lq9 truck is bagged so the suspension on that doesn't really apply here lol