2008 sierra 2wd looking for cam advice ... what to get ???

[riko]

hello like the title states, i recently bought a 2008 gmc sierra 2wd and im looking to get rid of the afm setup and upgrade camshaft to give it a little extra.
i wont drive the truck on a daily basis but still want to use it as a truck if i need to (tow my sxs and stuff like that).
i dont have enough funds to do the stall or upgrade my trans for now but a stall is not out of the picture in the future
question is what is the best cam i could get to get a little chop out of it and pull the most power out of it when it comes to a limited $$$ build
ive done some research and a stage 2 (212/218) cam is my best option for now ..upgrading the springs and getting ls7 lifters
truck came with a CAI and plan on getting some shorty headers for now
any suggestions would be appreciated when it comes to what to get and tune wise also
thanks a lot in advance and hope you guys can give me some good advice

[5FDP]

Yes, the 212/218 or very similar is size is your best option for keeping the stock stall and not making it super hard to tune.

[04silverado6.0]

Have you seen the BTR truck norris cam? It is supposed to work well with stock converter and the idle cuts up decent.

[RDF1]

212/218 for sure. Its a good all around cam and for towing and Daily driving.

[riko]

checked it out and it sound pretty good ! any experience tuning with one of those cams ??

[ehall8702]

Have you seen the BTR truck norris cam? It is supposed to work well with stock converter and the idle cuts up decent.

Was just gonna say the truck Norris cam would do what he wants, I went with a sloppy stage 2 bc it doesn't lose any low end, gains all over and got a lopey idle too, and won't break the bank.

[RDF1]

Ive tuned several of the Sloppy 2 cams in 5.3s and 6.0s and they were not all that spectacular. The 212/218 had a noticeable difference in more low end power.

[ehall8702]

Ive tuned several of the Sloppy 2 cams in 5.3s and 6.0s and they were not all that spectacular. The 212/218 had a noticeable difference in more low end power.

Graphs show them making power thru the whole curve, I was under the impression it'd be a good choice for a 6.0. hopefully it goes well in mine! May have to get a better cam when I upgrade the trans then. Unfortunately the truck Norris was out if my budget, the Elgin was half the price of the bte and tsp cams. Thanks for the info on performance tho, don't wanna give someone bad advice on something.

[blindsquirrel]

Dyno graphs are an excellent example of 'how to lie with statistics'.

screenshot.16-12-2021 10.56.30.png

OK, great, so it makes more above 3500, and no comparison data at all below that, the exact part of the two curves you need to know about for a street-driven truck cam (and if we're being honest here the gains are within the margin of error until 4800 or so). Fantastic. Maybe it's an honest omission, something like the dyno was having problems the day they tested the stock cam engine. Or maybe it completely murdered the BTR cam below 3500. No way to know which and without data I'm automatically suspicious. If the new cam were better below 3500, for sure they'd want to brag about that, wouldn't they? So why aren't they doing that?

Not to pick on BTR especially, they all do something like this somewhere in their data in order to make their product look like the bestest thing ever to brag to your internet friends about.

And don't get me started on the "21X-22X" cam "specs" thing, with no info at all about timing at .006 & .020, so that one might be able to know something about what type of lobe it is, how hard it will be on parts, and what kind of low-speed manners it will have. If you want to keep it a secret don't offer it for sale to the public.

[GHuggins]

The last truck norris cam I tuned was something like 5something lift. I've talked with Brian on the phone for a few hrs yrs ago discussing profiles and unless things have changed I would trust his cams for lifter longevity over anyone else's... Usually most cammed 5.3's I've tuned were ok afterwards at best - just a lot of sound and shake with no real-real "felt" power gains. The truck norris cam is the only one I can say that was really felt afterwords... Plus it uses stock valve seals - you get new ones in a kit, with a slight spring upgrade, so less stress on the lifters... You also get lifters, gaskets, bolts and so on if you want them.

Tuning - honestly for whatever reason, I would rather tune for a bigger cam - the truck norris is a little less forgiving with some tables...

[RDF1]

Dyno graphs are an excellent example of 'how to lie with statistics'.

screenshot.16-12-2021 10.56.30.png

OK, great, so it makes more above 3500, and no comparison data at all below that, the exact part of the two curves you need to know about for a street-driven truck cam (and if we're being honest here the gains are within the margin of error until 4800 or so). Fantastic. Maybe it's an honest omission, something like the dyno was having problems the day they tested the stock cam engine. Or maybe it completely murdered the BTR cam below 3500. No way to know which and without data I'm automatically suspicious. If the new cam were better below 3500, for sure they'd want to brag about that, wouldn't they? So why aren't they doing that?

Not to pick on BTR especially, they all do something like this somewhere in their data in order to make their product look like the bestest thing ever to brag to your internet friends about.

And don't get me started on the "21X-22X" cam "specs" thing, with no info at all about timing at .006 & .020, so that one might be able to know something about what type of lobe it is, how hard it will be on parts, and what kind of low-speed manners it will have. If you want to keep it a secret don't offer it for sale to the public.

I agree.. Sending a cam to the Cam Doctor to get it measured is pretty cheap.
I get alot of kids wanting the "biggest cam they can get and not have to buy a stall". They show up with a 22x/23x cam in a 5.3 and 35" tires with 3.23 gears with a 4L60 and want to know why its so slow if it even idles in gear.

[ehall8702]

Well mine has been going for last two days, dialing in tuning with sum help and feel it's getting close. Seat of your pants Dyno says this thing is FAST. I've driven stock 6.0 in very similar truck and it's a pooch compared to this one. May not be the baddest out there but very happy with the power,and it's manners aren't bad.

[LS2Ttype]

The 212/218 is a TQ cam, perfect for a truck, there is a low lift version and a higher lift version, .525 vs .550 ,
there is also a slightly bigger 214/220 and 216/220 cams that i believe will work well also, All cams mentioned are Comp Cams

Yes to LS7 lifters and i would do a set of yellow LS2 valve springs,

[blindsquirrel]

And a 202/206 would be an Even More TQ cam. More duration at .050 always shifts the power band higher in the RPM range. Less duration always shifts power lower in the RPM range. If you want more torque than stock adding duration is the wrong way to go. A more modern lobe design (more aggressive ramp rates) can claw back some of what's lost by adding duration but there's a limit to how much you can do there without starting to be hard on the rest of the valvetrain parts.

The problem with the LS family as a truck engine is that the damned awesome cylinder heads are just too big for the displacement. Make the intake ports 25% smaller with the same displacement, or displacement 25% bigger with the same head castings, and you'd have a truly excellent truck motor with a torque peak that happens at a reasonable, usable RPM, and not way up at 4300-4600 like they are now. No matter what cam profile you use the torque peak is gonna happen at the same spot as long as the CID and cylinder heads don't change significantly.

[blindsquirrel]

Minor correction/clarification: If you want more torque than stock below the torque peak adding duration is the wrong way to go.

[RDF1]

Minor correction/clarification: If you want more torque than stock below the torque peak adding duration is the wrong way to go.

Its hard to get some folks to understand that also.
ive got kids wanting to put 23x/23x cams in 5.3 and expecting to make 150+ hp all through the rpms. Even had one tell me it made more power at idle.. Im not even sure how that works...

[LS2Ttype]

If it were me i wouldn't put anything Less than the 212/218 cam, I been in a friends truck with this cam i didn't notice any bottom end loss, if anything it picked up!!
Good Luck

[danmw2003]

RPM is power. Duration dictates where your powerband is along with LSA. Larger duration moves your powerband up higher in the rpm range, so you tend to lose off idle torque, idle quality and drivability. If your valve events come into its powerband, higher in the rpm range, you'll make more power and torque, vs a smaller duration and lower rpm. A narrower LSA makes more torque than a wider LSA with a trade off that idle quality and engine vacuum will suffer, and have more of an on off switch where it pulls hard or doesn't. Wider LSA broadens the power across the whole RPM range with a trade off of better idle and vacuum, less peak torque because its spread out over the entire rpm powerband. IMO for LS platform street cars/trucks I like to stay under 224 on the intake duration. Personally, I prefer narrow LSA's as well, but some people dont due to the choppy or lopey idle. Big ass cams say 230ish duration on the intake, have a powerband WAY up in the rpm range say like 4000-7500rpm. So driving something like that around on the street where it makes almost NO power off idle and at cruising speeds makes no sense. Yeah it makes 580Hp at 7200 rpm, cool story. Thats great if your drag racing and launching at 4000+ rpm, but not when your driving around on the street, taking off from a stop light. People need to learn what "power under the curve" means.

[blindsquirrel]

If it were me i wouldn't put anything Less than the 212/218 cam, I been in a friends truck with this cam i didn't notice any bottom end loss, if anything it picked up!!
Good Luck

That's exactly my point, and the part you aren't getting.

The modern, more aggressive ramp rates could be used for one of two things: boosting torque below the peak, or boosting HP above the peak (you could think of it as the left side of the dyno curve vs. the right side of the dyno curve). It seems like ALL of the cam companies are being guided by their marketing departments to make cams that take the gains from better lobe designs and 'spending' all those gains to boost the right-hand side of the curve, while keeping the left-hand side essentially unchanged. And then sticking the 'truck cam' label on it, sending out samples for reviews, and the intarwebs goes wild with everybody pointing to the huge gains up top and saying 'this is the bestest truck cam EVAR!!!!!!!111one'.

A real truck cam would take all those gains from lobe profile advancements and do the opposite of the above - 'spend' those gains to boost the left-hand side of the curve where, you know, you actually operate a truck engine in actual use, and more or less leave the right-hand side of the curve as it was before. Nobody does it this way because it isn't sexy and doesn't generate clicks, because most consumers are stupid.

[LS2Ttype]

That's exactly my point, and the part you aren't getting.

The modern, more aggressive ramp rates could be used for one of two things: boosting torque below the peak, or boosting HP above the peak (you could think of it as the left side of the dyno curve vs. the right side of the dyno curve). It seems like ALL of the cam companies are being guided by their marketing departments to make cams that take the gains from better lobe designs and 'spending' all those gains to boost the right-hand side of the curve, while keeping the left-hand side essentially unchanged. And then sticking the 'truck cam' label on it, sending out samples for reviews, and the intarwebs goes wild with everybody pointing to the huge gains up top and saying 'this is the bestest truck cam EVAR!!!!!!!111one'.

A real truck cam would take all those gains from lobe profile advancements and do the opposite of the above - 'spend' those gains to boost the left-hand side of the curve where, you know, you actually operate a truck engine in actual use, and more or less leave the right-hand side of the curve as it was before. Nobody does it this way because it isn't sexy and doesn't generate clicks, because most consumers are stupid.

I guess i like Sexy

I run small Cams on all my LS builds, 216/230 blower cam (346 LS1) , and a 220/234 Blower cam (LS2)
sure i can go 23X-24X and let her shake rattle and roll, But i like small well mattered street cams
IMOP that off the shelf 212/218 is a really nice Street Truck cam, maybe it moves the RMP band up a bit but cant be by much,
My friends 5.3 is a Torque monster, but he also has 799 heads (LS2), Truck is a daily and runs drives nice, He has a slight tune in her also