if you decide, i have a 40K mile "HO" cam and springs off the same vehicle...$40 for everything.

 

You know of anywhere that has the lobe profile listed anywhere? I know between the regular 5.3 and the "HO" version all they did was a cam and piston swap. Made something like 327Hp and 330 ft/lbs

 

Nope, could never find any real hard date expect for the higher lift

 

You're right, the lift is .482, little more than the original cam, but the durations are the same -- and I was wrong, the l33 was good for 15 more ponies, same torque.

 

Gentlemen... I may have found a winner. I'm going to have to spend a little more money than money than originally planned because I'll have to have new springs for sure.

54-455-11 215/223 .604/.610 112LSA

54-456-11 219/227 .607/.614 112LSA

These are the 2 smallest CompCams LSr series, Only thing that I'm worried about is how much I'll lose in fuel economy... any final thoughts on these before I make a decision?

 

you are gonna want to run a converter with either one of those cams, and you are gonna need more than ls6 springs with them.

IMO, i would look into a circle d 278mm converter. i believe there is one or two for sale in the classifieds right now. hell, they are only $375 shipped brand new...

I would do a 216/220 or 212/218 if you are dead set on no converter.

FWIW i have a tr224-112 with the circle d 278mm and get around 13.5mpg city if i keep my foot out of it

 

Ive got a stock 98 C5 cam in my 5.3. I can hear the difference in the exhaust note at idle quite a bit but cant really feel any difference. My intention was more duration for a blower and it helped compared to the stock LM7 cam

It didnt cost me anything since the gaskets are all reusable and I saved the coolant when it was drained. If you're actually going to drop the dollar on a cam, Id go LS6 for a budget cam or something bigger

 

I think what I'm going to do is a 3 part mod.

Start with the cam ... gonna probably go with the 215/223. Secondly get an LS6 intake with a large TB. Third, look into a 2600 to 3200 converter.