Ladies and Gents,

I came here to ask opinions about some upgrades I plan on doing to my truck:
About the truck. It's a 2004 CCSB with 80k on the clock, It has, 3.73 gears truetrac, LT headers, 4l60e w/shift kit,servo, 212/218 cam for now and 706 heads.
Now what I'm going to do is put some 243/799 heads, 2800 or 3000 stall and A 224/224 or a 228/228 cam.
Truck will be a daily driver and tow a travel trailer sometimes...
Now what I wanting opinions on is which cam would you suggest? How much would you mill the heads? and which stall (RPM) would you run?

 

If it was me, I'd mill the heads and put a thinner head gasket in to keep the compression up and leave the 212/218 cam in it. I have a 218/224 in mine and you can feel the bottom end difference from a smaller cam. I have a 9.5" Vigilante that stalls right at 3000 and it really could use another 800rpm or so.

 

X2. You need as much compression as you can get. If you are set on a 3000 stall, then I'd keep the cam you have. If not you will need more than a 3k stall for the other choice of cams, IMO.

 

X3 lol the cam you have is perfect for lowend tq and midrange power = great dd and tower. Plus the crew cab is heavier compared to a single cab, you will need more tq and gear to get its big *** moving. The cams you listed for future swap would be better for a toy/weekend drive, especially in the small 5.3L bore.

 

A lot of people on the form and a few machine shops I have talked to dont recommend milling more than .03 off the ls heads. For the money you are going to dump in the heads and cam I would just look for a LQ4 or LQ9 $800-$2000 and stick the 212/218 in it. That would give you more tq and top end power over the 5.3L

 

keep the 212/218 and go for a 3k stall then head work..mill the 706s .040 and upgrade to the larger 2.0 intake valve

I did a set like this for under $350 with a performance valve job n other work.
sold them before i could run them but the truck they are on runs good

 

grey matter was the $350 on the heads for machine labor and valves, or just labor?

 

Everything but valves
Robbed some valves from a old set of ls1 heads

 

did mine .035 off for 100 bucks at a local autovalue 7 years ago. only issue i could see is intake fitment. mine was tight but i think .042 is the most you can do and not give yourself a headache with intake.

my tr 220 on 112lsa with milled heads does awesome i wouldnt go bigger so imo stay with your cam- if my truck was heavier id downsize in cam.

 

As mentioned... Mill them heads and stick with that cam.