cam or ls6 intake

**allpontiac** · 05-17-2010, 04:42 AM

I have a 99 30th ann. transam with the following mods:
tuned throttle body, whisper lid, computer tune, LT headers, 2800 stall converter, 373 gears , subframe and shock tower connectors, all the free mods etc. My question is I have the ls1 intake and am deciding whether to buy an ls6 intake or put the money towards the cam. I can't spend the money to do both. It seems like you only get 10 hp with the intake. Any thoughts out there?
Thanks,
Andylappin@comcast.net

**blackSS01** · 05-17-2010, 04:53 AM

Go intake, not only will you pick up power, you won't hurt MPG

Plus when you do the cam later on, the intake will help much more.

**0rion** · 05-17-2010, 04:54 AM

my opinion is that you're eventually going to want an LS6 intake because once you do a cam the gains are much better than just on a stock motor. That being said, it wouldn't hurt too much to do the cam first and add the intake later down the road.

**ggino85** · 05-17-2010, 05:35 AM

i would cam it and then get the LS6 intake later. The way i look at it is the cam is going is going to add more hp/trq than the intake, so its gonna be much more fun when its done, plus the cam is a lot more labor than the intake and i personally would just want to just get it over with. WAIT A MINUTE, arent we talking about two completely different price ranges? for a cam you need, springs, push rods, ?LS6 oil pump?, tune, i mean isnt it a lot more expensive than an intake swap? to swap intakes i think i read you just need to modify a few things, not buy supporting mods.....so i would say if you can afford the cam swap then definitely go for it

!

**blackSS01** · 05-17-2010, 05:37 AM

Don't do cam unless you do supporting mods and if your going that far.......do the heads. Intake FTW right now, save and do the cam the right way.

**shady milkman** · 05-17-2010, 07:37 AM

if you are planning a cam...you might as well do it right and get a fast intake. While you can run a ls6 with a cam and get stout numbers..with 95% of the cams out for N/a etc...you will see a much better result with a fast .....you also know that cam swaps are around 1k in general for parts etc ...far from the 300 bucks for just the cam.

**blackSS01** · 05-17-2010, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by shady milkman

if you are planning a cam...you might as well do it right and get a fast intake. While you can run a ls6 with a cam and get stout numbers..with 95% of the cams out for N/a etc...you will see a much better result with a fast .....you also know that cam swaps are around 1k in general for parts etc ...far from the 300 bucks for just the cam.

Funny how fast the money racks up when you do a cam.....ask me how I know

**Blue28** · 05-17-2010, 04:59 PM

IMO, get the intake.

**Rob Mellinger** · 05-17-2010, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by blackSS01

Funny how fast the money racks up when you do a cam.....ask me how I know

I know too, it went from 615 dollar cam kit to just over 1000.

**allpontiac** · 05-17-2010, 06:55 PM

Thanks for all the feedback, Obviously it is less expensive to do the intake versus the cam package etc. I have read some dyno stories etc in pontiac mag that shows a 10 hp increase over a ls1 intake versus the ls6 intake. I was figuring thats a lot of money for 10 hp so why not go cam with the money. With gears and stall converter I have already installed and the headers and no cats, cat back exhaust etc that I have now I figured I could get maybe 35 to 40 horse with the right cam. This is a street/fun car not a drag strip car. I take it now and then to test and tune night.

**0rion** · 05-17-2010, 07:04 PM

added poll and cast my vote

**KMdef9** · 05-17-2010, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by ggino85

i would cam it and then get the LS6 intake later. The way i look at it is the cam is going is going to add more hp/trq than the intake, so its gonna be much more fun when its done, plus the cam is a lot more labor than the intake and i personally would just want to just get it over with. WAIT A MINUTE, arent we talking about two completely different price ranges? for a cam you need, springs, push rods, ?LS6 oil pump?, tune, i mean isnt it a lot more expensive than an intake swap? to swap intakes i think i read you just need to modify a few things, not buy supporting mods.....so i would say if you can afford the cam swap then definitely go for it

!

No.

All depends on what products your getting. The FAST intakes run right around 1K. You can, even though no advised, just swap the cam and not replace internals.

I vote intake!

**tatertot91** · 05-17-2010, 08:51 PM

i voted LS6 intake although a fast would be nice

**ggino85** · 05-18-2010, 03:31 AM

I dont understand why you guys are choosing intake when he has the money for a cam??? he could add 10 hp, or he can add 30-40 hp? i would want the 30 or 40hp. he has a stall and gears already, a cam with that would be hella fun!

Its not like hes saying he's gonna do a cam and not springs, pushrods ect..... from what i read he has the money for a proper cam swap. Isnt that a better mod than an ls6 intake? i mean he does a cam now and skips the ls6 intake and buys a faster intake down the line when he wants more power. The FAST intake will add even more hp/trq to the cam that he would already have. Why get the ls6 intake, then cam it later , and then end up getting a FAST intake even later on to support (get more power) out of your cam?

sorry so long im just stunned that everyone is choosing a 10hp mod over a 30-40hp mod.

**0rion** · 05-18-2010, 04:15 AM

Originally Posted by ggino85

I dont understand why you guys are choosing intake when he has the money for a cam??? he could add 10 hp, or he can add 30-40 hp? i would want the 30 or 40hp. he has a stall and gears already, a cam with that would be hella fun!

Its not like hes saying he's gonna do a cam and not springs, pushrods ect..... from what i read he has the money for a proper cam swap. Isnt that a better mod than an ls6 intake? i mean he does a cam now and skips the ls6 intake and buys a faster intake down the line when he wants more power. The FAST intake will add even more hp/trq to the cam that he would already have. Why get the ls6 intake, then cam it later , and then end up getting a FAST intake even later on to support (get more power) out of your cam?

sorry so long im just stunned that everyone is choosing a 10hp mod over a 30-40hp mod.

dat's what I'm sayin'

**shady milkman** · 05-18-2010, 04:27 AM

Originally Posted by ggino85

I dont understand why you guys are choosing intake when he has the money for a cam??? he could add 10 hp, or he can add 30-40 hp? i would want the 30 or 40hp. he has a stall and gears already, a cam with that would be hella fun!

Its not like hes saying he's gonna do a cam and not springs, pushrods ect..... from what i read he has the money for a proper cam swap. Isnt that a better mod than an ls6 intake? i mean he does a cam now and skips the ls6 intake and buys a faster intake down the line when he wants more power. The FAST intake will add even more hp/trq to the cam that he would already have. Why get the ls6 intake, then cam it later , and then end up getting a FAST intake even later on to support (get more power) out of your cam?

sorry so long im just stunned that everyone is choosing a 10hp mod over a 30-40hp mod.

IF he has the money to do a proper cam swap it may be different...also depending on what specs he has ..he may need a tune, with that tune he may need new injectors ..........so he gets a tune for a cam with a ls1 intake........then when he gets a fast.he will need a extra tune.

so on top of the 1k for a cam swap ....he may need 200-400 for new injectors and 150-300 for a tune.........then after he spends 1kish for a fast ..he will need another 150-300 dollar tune

so it comes to 1150-1700 for a cam

or 300-400 for a ls6 intake manifold ....

and mind you he gets the ls6 right now...than when he gets is cam ..they can grind him a cam for the ls6 and his mods.....then he gets 1 tune until he gets bored with his ls6 and needs another tune for the fast.........this is all dependent on what specs he wants to run.

**ggino85** · 05-18-2010, 05:01 AM

Originally Posted by shady milkman

IF he has the money to do a proper cam swap it may be different...also depending on what specs he has ..he may need a tune, with that tune he may need new injectors ..........so he gets a tune for a cam with a ls1 intake........then when he gets a fast.he will need a extra tune.

so on top of the 1k for a cam swap ....he may need 200-400 for new injectors and 150-300 for a tune.........then after he spends 1kish for a fast ..he will need another 150-300 dollar tune

so it comes to 1150-1700 for a cam

or 300-400 for a ls6 intake manifold ....

and mind you he gets the ls6 right now...than when he gets is cam ..they can grind him a cam for the ls6 and his mods.....then he gets 1 tune until he gets bored with his ls6 and needs another tune for the fast.........this is all dependent on what specs he wants to run.

Im pretty sure he stats that he has the money for a cam swap, maybe im wrong. i just dont see spending 400$ for maybe 10 horsepower.

All of us could come up with different types of scenarios all day, yours sounds like a good one but i was under the impression you should get a tune after adding the ls6 intake to get the most out of it?

Example of scenario:

couldnt he just get a cam, thats ground for his car and whatever intake he wanted to go with in the future, then tune it, have 30 more hp/?trq now (opposed to 10hp with ls6), then later on add the intake, get whatever horses from it, most likely more than 10 and be done. See we can do this all day, round and round, but the fact is (IMO) he can spend 400$ or watever on an ls6 intake and not really notice much or (since he has the money) he can cam it and really enjoy his car, IMHO

**shady milkman** · 05-18-2010, 05:15 AM

Originally Posted by ggino85

Im pretty sure he stats that he has the money for a cam swap, maybe im wrong. i just dont see spending 400$ for maybe 10 horsepower.

All of us could come up with different types of scenarios all day, yours sounds like a good one but i was under the impression you should get a tune after adding the ls6 intake to get the most out of it?

Example of scenario:

couldnt he just get a cam, thats ground for his car and whatever intake he wanted to go with in the future, then tune it, have 30 more hp/?trq now (opposed to 10hp with ls6), then later on add the intake, get whatever horses from it, most likely more than 10 and be done. See we can do this all day, round and round, but the fact is (IMO) he can spend 400$ or watever on an ls6 intake and not really notice much or (since he has the money) he can cam it and really enjoy his car, IMHO

you dont need a tune to run a ls6 intake......
any intake manifold is a supporting mod ...it will net you gains right off the bat but it will help aka support the other big mods h/c to get more power out of it ...so if you get 10-20 more out of your cam with a ls6...then really that 300-400 is for 20-30rwhp ..........people get caught up in this stupid horsepower number game and spend good money to run their mods at half ass.

on top of that how could you suggest they tune for more air while not having more air........so then he has this cam that is running like shit because he tuned for future mods. It is almost as bad as if i wanted to get a tune for a cam that i haven't bought yet

on the cam thing ..he may have the money for a complete cam swap...but a lot of the time people will think 300-500 is all i need.

so we have to wait for work from the op.

**ggino85** · 05-18-2010, 05:29 AM

Originally Posted by shady milkman

you dont need a tune to run a ls6 intake......

on top of that how could you suggest they tune for more air while not having more air........so then he has this cam that is running like shit because he tuned for future mods. It is almost as bad as if i wanted to get a tune for a cam that i haven't bought yet

i wouldnt say it was as bad as getting a tune for a cam you dont have yet

but i see your point.

if you dont need a tune for an ls6 intake than why did you say he would need to get it tuned twice if he got a cam and then the intake later in the future. so he could just cam it, tune and add the intake later? wright? you've confused me

**shady milkman** · 05-18-2010, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by ggino85

if you dont need a tune for an ls6 intake than why did you say he would need to get it tuned twice if he got a cam and then the intake later in the future. so he could just cam it, tune and add the intake later? wright? you've confused me

im sorry i may not have posted it clearly

i have a tendency to do that.

the ls6 by itself ..does not NEED a tune. what i was saying in the post is that if he gets a cam right now with the ls1 intake.....he will most likely get a tune for the cam and his set up .......so he gets his 30-40rwhp and is happy......until he feels the need to get a fast intake ....once he gets that he will need/should get another tune.......so instead of 1 tune he will need 2 tunes ..or possibly more if he decides to go from the ls1 to the ls6 to the fast all while having his cam already installed........i hope i clarified that a little