I'm replacing lifters due to a collapsed lifter, and am doing the cam "while I'm in there" in my 2011 Sierra CC AWD.

My goal is to retain vvt, increase off idle power and low speed/cruising and towing torque, and maintain fuel economy. I have a procharger running 10psi so I'm not worried about mid and top end. I will not be changing the converter.

I ordered a vvt1 cam from gpi Dec 13th last year, and was told today it will be another 3 weeks out. I was told the same thing 3 weeks ago. Im back to cam shopping because we're tired of sharing a truck or having to pull the plow off our other so we can both drive while my DD truck is down.

I was looking at Comp Cam XFI 189-400-13 since summit could have it here next week. I looked at some tsp cams as well- a 5.3 stage 1 212/218 and stage 2 216/220. Seems that's it for vvt cams available. Any other suggestions?

 

I have the TSP high lift 212/218 VVT cam in a 12 Sierra Denali. Not much of a difference idle-3K but can feel the extra power above that. Pretty much what I wanted as I tow ~7500# fairly often and thru the Appalachian mountains a few times a year. Since you want to utilize VVT, don't let the TSP advertisement of providing a VVT table sway you as it is very basic. If you are, or have a good VVT tuner, I suppose there could be gains to be made but the TSP tables and slight changes I have tried to incorporate have made a negligible difference in torque production thru the RPM range.

With the procharger, you could likely get away with a little larger cam for more mid/top gains without having to change converters as boost will crutch the slight low end loss as long as it doesn't have to be idled up to high to be stable. CamMotion doesn't seem to advertise any Gen4 VVT cams but I am pretty sure they make them. There is a Gen4 VVT cam core option. May need to give them a call to discuss. If I were to do it over, I would go back to CamMotion as I had good results from them in the past. Like you, I was in a rush for the cam in the Denali as I had a lifter failure with a hurricane in the GoM heading our way. A buddy was a dealer for TSP and got my stuff here quick so I could get the truck going before the storm hit. I don't have any experience with them but I though BTR had a truck VVT cam too.

 

Appreciate it. I checked out Cam Motion since my brother in law is a dealer for them, but they didn't have anything that would be ready to go, and the 1 step bigger (189-401-13) comp cam I was looking at is a few weeks out at summit and other purveyors. I did some digging on BTR website but couldn't find anything that retained VVT and wasn't for a Camaro.

I appreciate your insight on idle to 3k- that's my biggest concern. I'd rather gain a little than overshoot and loose some. I drive the truck like a grandpa around town- rarely shifting above 2-2500, and most of it's time is spent around 2k on the interstate.

I'd have a lot more time and patience if it wasn't for work and kids schedules getting in the way of everything!

 

I ended up cancelling the order yesterday (website still shows it as in stock) and ordering from Summit later last night. Impressed the cam should be here Friday and the phaser limiter tomorrow.

Ended up going with the 189-400-13 210/224 since it will work with the springs I bought, not be as hard on the valve train, and less chance of giving up any off idle torque.

 

i hope you had better luck with that cam than i did, on the dyno tune it sucked for power, under 400RWHP
with a lot of after market good bolt ons.

 

My goal with the cam isn't max power, it is to retain the low end, off idle grunt and stockish fuel economy. It was an off the shelf alternative to waiting, which ironically, I guess I could have waited since it wasn't installed into the shortblock until last weekend. Que sera, sera.

 

Have you been able to run it yet?

 

Not yet. My brother in law had to repair and run a truck back to his business partner over an hour away today, which was the only day this week I could work on it. Hoping next week we can get after it either Saturday or Sunday and get it done. He thinks we have 6-8 hours to go between getting the motor in, converter, accessories/fluids, Procharger bracket and header install. The last 2 won't take too long....I had the bracket off more times than I care to admit trying to find the correct belt size and replacing idler pulleys. Headers should go fast since my manifolds are off and I only have to remove the cats/Y.

 

Finally got to run the truck. I am very happy with the cam, It feels like it's in boost even before getting into boost, so I'd say I'm happy and glad I didn't go bigger.. Keep in mind this truck was parked back in February/March as the last time I drove it with diesel sounding lifters, but it seems to have just as much if not much more torque with this cam than the stock one, which is what I was after. I was concerned going to LT/ORY Speed Engineering headers into MBRP 3.5" system I'd lose bottom end like I did in my 5.3, but it was not the case with this combo. I also paired the cam with a CTS-V converter- little more stall than stock.

I'll have a better idea on fuel economy after I'm done tuning PE, but with the NA VVE and MAF dialed in +/- 2%, I'm still getting 15mpg with some spirited on ramps and stoplights getting into boost. Boost is still 10-25% lean, so I'm walking up on WOT and max psi.

Before, NA, I was getting 18-19 mpg with a half dead cylinder.