Hi, i have a stock 5.3 (for now) that im going to put in my 2000 zr2. Im looking into buying full roller rockers (1.8 ratio), valve train upgrade kit, new lifters, and timing chain while retaining the stock camshaft. Now here is the question: will i gain any noticible power gains with this route? I plan on advancing the cam and getting a 93 octane tune for it, but i want to maintain city drivability and i know that doesnt work too well with an aftermarket cam because of having to increase the stahl speed. A friend of mine told me not to look into the zo6 cam because its really only good if your going with forced induction. (He has a 2006 1500 with a turbo 5.3 making about 719 horse with factory bottom end) Im also looking into headers but cannot find any for under 800 bucks. I dont wanna build a super street rod i just want to get some noticable power gains, mainly because these parts arent very cheap lol. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Go with a cam. I'm saying this having 1.8's myself. There are quite a few cams you can run without a stall. The ls6 cam is a great performer. Like your buddy said, lots of people use it with fi. So with, or without fi it's a great dd cam.

For the money spent. The gains from a 1.8 rocker upgrade are ****, to be blunt. You still need to upgrade the springs and such as well. The stock springs barely handle the stock cam.

I'd suggest searching around and seeing what others have done. There's tons of budget minded setups making good power around these boards.

 

there are tons of DD builds that you can search look at:
pacesetters LPP or OBX for headers
look up 212/218 cams or even the 206/212 like what i got.
dont worry about the rockers, lifters or timing chains. (on most build they dont need to be changed out...)
plus u need to pull the heads to change the lifters.
with any cam you find it is a must for pushrods and matching springs...
lil food for thought..

edit: you dont need a stall for either of those cams..

 

Do a cam that has a higher lsa, aimed more towards stock, a 21x-218 duration, you can retain some drivablity from it. IMO all that stuff you want to do the the valve train is not needed, will be more exp then a cam kit,cam.. Get a cam, hardened push rods, springs and keep the rest of the stock stuff, maybe lifters if there is a ton of miles on the old ones.. You will pick up alot more with the cam the rockers, that will cost me then half of the complete cam swap

 

Allright thanks for the information. The main reason I want to change all the other stuff out is because the motor has 118000 miles and was going to do head gaskets anyways for piece of mind. now would I have to buy one of them zo6 cams from ebay? Or does someone on here have one they would like to part with.

 

Alright, as of now i am really interested in the Ls1 hot cam kit that GM performance offers. Specs on that are intake duration-219, exhaust duration-228, .525/.525 lift. It also comes with a set of ls6 valve springs. Im prolly going to buy all that other stuff because of the miles on the truck. So far this is the cam that i really wanna buy but was just wondering what you guys thought.

 

There are so many better cams out there than the GM Hot Cam, it is old technology, and can be tough to tune. Actually, the hotter more agressive lobes of the newer aftermarket cams make tuning and driveability much easier. Search the classifieds here for either a Comp 206/212 or 212/218, or a Crane/Vince 210/218 and you'll have yourself a nice daily driver that can survive with the factory torque converter.

 

Great results with thunder racings cheatr series cams. Work with stock stall, and stock exhaust manifolds. You won't be a dyno queen but it will pull great!