STOCK LS CAM SHOOTOUT-FOR LOW $ BUILDERS! 

I cant believe we all get this information for free. thank you to everyone involved!

For a daily driver, of all these cams, I'd go with the LQ9 (2001-2004 LS1) cam--very little torque loss at low-rpm, but 21 peak HP gain while also spreading curve out to higher rpm.

Best engine channel by far, can we just take a moment to appreciate how much time he puts into each video for us

It was amazing meeting you at west tech. Thank you so much for doing the science behind all the junkyard builds?? Keep killing it!!

You must spend $500/month on engine degreaser :) Channel is awesome, educational and a great service to the community!

The L33 5.3ho cam you used was 193/193 duration at .050" and .479/.479 lift with 116 lsa

Thanks for making these videos! They answer so many questions that I've had about my cam that came in my engine!

Awesome video. Coming from the import world where a set of cams start around $800 I am really impressed with how many budget friendly options exist for the LS platform. I have learned the 5.3l is the sweet spot for a powerful budget ls build. I put my setup together after watching your videos and will do so again. Thanks for all the testing you have done.

Thank you for the excellent videos sir, I love em!!

I’m so happy that I found this channel information overload and I know we all love our LS

Richard, This is the content I have been looking for. BEST LS CHANNEL PERIOD! Thank you for all your time consuming work. It helps all of us.

I was rebuilding my LM7 for my Land Cruiser and this video helped me stay with a stock grind. I love your videos. Ty

How do you not have over 100k subscribers? Great solid info as always, thanks for your time

I read all this in your crane cams trio write up. Awesomeness at its finest!

I remember reading the article you wrote on this. Had to be almost 5 years ago. Glad to see the information still holds up!

Richard, .. YOU ARE A BEAST!! Thank you for doing all this testing, and educating me !!

Hey Richard just wanted to say that I appreciate your time and your dedication to helping us motor heads with information and tips on building our projects. I have been watching for about 6 months and covered most of the videos even the one's I'm not interested in just because it's cool to see the difference in manufacturers factory output numbers and what they offer with upgrades. I always loved hot rod magazine tech articles well low and behold your the man behind most of the test I was intrigued by. So I've been building ls stuff on a budget for a few years on and off we have a small mechanic shop in upstate ny and I've been a fan of the LQ9 6.0 for it's availability and price also the power you get with a basic cam and factory head swap. Before I had watched all your videos I was keeping track of things online and what cams had the hype. I put a Texas speed 228r in jeffs chevelle with a victor jr. Carb intake with the MLS ignition system. That was a incredible combination coming from the old small block combination we had in the chevelle before. I'll get to the point idk how much I can write on here.. I recently put the LQ9 cam in my winter truck a 02 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 with the lm7 steel block. Hey it's a free swap why not? I have a hypertech plug and play tuner and transmission upgrades I rebuild the GM truck transmissions. So I can spin the stock 5.3 6200 and take advantage of the cam better than most can just doing the swap my truck typically shifts at 52-5400 stock. I run it out just high enough not to pop the limiter in between gears. The truck definitely pulls harder up top! I am curious to see how it works with some more mods but the trucks mostly my secondary rig to keep salt off my gmc with a cammed lq9 but plans to boost the original 5.3 are in the works on the 06 gmc. I could tell you more about some of the things I have been trying but don't want to write more on the response part of this story. But anyone reading the lq9 cam does offer cheap noticeable results nothing crazy like a big cam swap but hey for free I'm not upset with my results thanks again for your time and dedication to helping out the performance community! Keep the test coming there awesome! I'll try to keep you posted on some of my findings too.

Love your channel! There is such a wealth of Knowledge! I’ve personally learned more than a handful of things!

Love your vids Richard. Lots of time and effort is put into your content. Much appreciated bud. 🙏🏻

Even tho I'm not a V8 guy nor do I see much, the stuff is informational, especially the boost stuff. Love it.

Now that I did not know and this is what I like learning about. Thank you Richard

Excellent video, it doesn’t get better than comparisons like this!

Wow amazing information for the community Richard. You have instantly gained a subscriber. Looking forward to learning more from you bud

I'm feeling your spiritual judo chops, Right in my heart...

Amazing content on your channel. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise.

Name: "Richard Holdener". Title: "National Treasure". Thanks for putting this together for the LS community. I am doing a rebuild on a customer's 5.3L LM7, and I wanted too see what other stock-style cams might work with factory valve springs and lifters, while picking up some power upstairs. This was a great help. Watched it 3-4 times and studied. Bookmarking for future friends and enthusiasts.

Holy shit. Wouldn’t think in a million years those’s cams would do that. Mind blowing

The LS2/3 seems like the best compromise to me.

Amazing amount of work! Thank you!

This is such a cool channel. Nowhere else can you get info on what all these different cams do to an LS motor. He took all the research that some people spend hours looking up and put them into a 10-15 min video. I see 100,000+ subs in his near future

Wow great cam comparison , thanks Richard .

Man thank u so much for all that information such a kick ass video so much work involved and u gave it away for free thank u for that

Nothing better than Richard's fresh content and coffee!

all of your videos are awesome man keep it goin!!!

Great effin video. Wish I had or found this back in the day! A similar vid for the coyote family would be GREATLY appreciated

Good vid.. thanks for taking the time to test these cams

Love these cam comparisons. Would love to see some aftermarket “low lift” cams compared with more aggressive aftermarket cams in 5.3 or 6.0. I’ve done both versions of the Howard’s ASA cam, one with 110 LSA in a 02 LS1 and the 112 LSA version of the same cam in a 08 L76 in a G8. Both cars made about 400 hp to the wheels (only CAI, cam, headers, tune) and cams only grossed .525 lift, 226/236 lift at .050. Seems to me that a good designed low lift cam can make great power over stock cams but I have not seen any comparisons. Thanks! Love the channel!

Im diggin' that LS3 power curve!

Awsome video Rich as always.

I think the ls3 would be the best comprise for me. Especially in an auto where the converter blows right up into the gains

its nice to see that the $50 ls2 cam i deleted the DOD & VVT on my LC9 with wont be a disappointment.

This is an awesome test! Good job

As usual a great informative vid by Richard Holdener.

You are the man! GOAT LS and then some! Thx dude!

Great vid. Put LS2 cam and LR4 pistons in my LM7. Now I have some legit numbers to brag about. Thanks!

Good stuff Richard you sure do put a lot of work in that we don't even see. if I could just stomach these commercials whenever I'm up late at night if I want to watch infomercials I just watch RU-vid

Building a Desert Cruiser. It lives at lower rpm. Need Torque down there(799s). Thanks Richard for clearing things up...

Everyone who’s a real mechanic has that old craftsman screwdriver in there box that looks like it went there a war 40 years ago and has been used to install a LS cam. Lol. Thumbnail got me in the heart

Much appreciated for the hard work.

Thank you Richard! Love your channel. If you could come across the Scoggin Dickey “hot truck cam” to test. I just bought one for my LQ4 with 706 heads, long tube headers, TBSS intake with a 92mm throat. You have a lot of influence on this combo. It’s going in my 72 1 ton dually. Hoping the torque is there! Thanks again! You rock

Good stuff man, thanks for sharing !!

BADASS DATA in here Richard, THANKS!!

Thanks for the videos and great information on the combinations. I would like to see the ASA cam on the LM7. You can use this cam without a spring upgrade on a LS2, or LS3. Again thanks for the great information.

It's interesting that all the cams performed almost identically up to the mid 4000 rpm range, keep'em comming

I'm glad you compared the LS2, LS3 and LS6 together. I'm sure you know the LS2 cam is actually the 01 LS6 cam. The 02+up LS6 cam is more aggressive than the LS2 cam. Finally the LS3 cam is a hybrid between the LS2 and LS6 cams.

Thanks Richard, you have so much research data. You need to sneak into the school of automotive machinists some day and reveal some of their engine wizardry.

That LQ9 cam is the same as the 01-up LS1 cam. The earlier LS1's 97--00 used a cam that made less low end and about 10 more top end.

You the man, thanks for this video !!!

Great presentation. Thanks. I own a 2005 LS2 GTO M6, it pulls hard at all RPMs and is fun to drive. Even though the LS2 has a small cam it makes very good torque and HP. Good flowing heads can yield both low RPM torque and high RPM HP. :)

I have a LM7 with a LQ9 cam in a C10, it works well. I have also read that it’s the same specs as some LS1 cams.

Great explanation so much info. Ty 🍎

Would love to see a comparison of camshafts looking for low end torque to optimize as a truck motor.

Suprised only 155k views. This is legendary work

Great vid as always. I have a question or recommendation. Like everyone into performance I've done alot of reading on suggested cams for ls3, 5.3 etc. 3 big names are constantly brought up & debated about. Have you ever considered doing a test of some of the big name cam makers? Kind of a independent test for the masses? Not to bash anyone in particular or rub anyone the wrong way but just for anyone looking at max effort off the shelf cam to see the pros/cons of each one. The 3 I constantly see being argued about are Btr,GPI and texas speed.

Great video love the addition of vacuum and idle quality. Cuz that's always a question of mine. When you move the power band what is it costing u! I really enjoyed this video I've already shared the crap out of it. And please keep em coming

Thanks for the h2h LS9 vs LS7, I wondered how similar they were in real world application. A lot of people poop on the LS9 cam but it is dirty cheap new GM and works! FWIW I have used a LS2 cam in a LM7 for years in an old C10 and it is nasty good on the street loaded with junk ridin heavy or unloaded. Easiest swap is still the LS6 though, too bad the price jumped up on new ones. Keep the goodness coming!

Great work!

Thx for the comparisons on the factory cams.....next maybe a video comparison on Summit LS truck cams...

Im curious with these junkyard ls’s with cam swaps how much can be made on 87 octane compared to 93. Ive only seen 1 article on it and they didnt compare it to high test. Would be interesting to see because it could save a lot of $$$$

Looking at the results, if you are building a lightweight chassis (like an S-10), the LS3 cam is the best balanced of all the stock cams, for maintaining good torque while making power on the cheap

Rich great videos ! Question for ya, can you speak about or maybe even make a video discussing cam degreeing? Pros/cons (if any) why it's important or if it isn't? Why do I see some builders doing and some not; what's the deal? I did a search through your old videos as I'm a new subscriber but I didnt see anything, let me know !

Awesome and informative videos. I have a stock 2007 5.3L engine ( except headers and tune ) LY5. Looking to finally do the hardware DOD delete and a mild cam. What would you recommend for a daily driver?

I would do an LS2 in a pickup. Seems to be the best "compromise".

Richard, I think one thing that should be noted here is that most guys especially F body guys are going to have a torque converter upgrade. In these 4L60E cars 3600-4000 stall converters are very common even on bolt on engine cars. Converters just pick these cars up so well it's amazing, frankly. So having said that, the low speed trade off that most are going to experience from some of the bigger cams is going to be a moot point when the converter is flashing so high. Just my thoughts brotha.

Hey Richard, I really enjoy your video, very educational! I’m thinking about doing a top end rebuild on my LM7 5.3 and after seeing this video, I’m also thinking about swapping in a LQ9 cam. I already have long tube headers, true dual, cold air intake, electric fans(2003 Silverado that came with clutch fan from factory), 160 thermostat and a few other bolt ons. I’m also running a hypertech max energy programmer. Would I still be able to use the stock valve springs, pushrods and all with the LQ9 cam? I already plan on going with new oem pushrods and all while I’m in there anyways but wasn’t sure if I can still use LM7 components to work efficiently with the LQ9 cam

Heres one for you... I have an ls6 crate motor in my 99 Z28, with most bolt ons including a fast 102 & 1.8 rockers. the heads were milled .015 to 62cc for a slight bump in compression. the car went 10.8 @ 125 @ 3370lbs thru a 6 speed. it made 445rwhp on VP110 and 31* of timing, 13:1 AFR. i see a lot of heads/cam setups on LS1tech that struggle to produce the power my setup makes and im using stock parts. what i would like to see on your dyno is a 5.7 with the combo i have compared to some heads cam setups, it would be very interesting to see how the stock ls6 topend compares. I feel this is a good setup for anyone looking to make 450 at the wheels or less, its great on gas, has a stealthy idle, & is very torquey and snappy but will make power north of 6600rpm. yet i still have a hard time selling people on this setup.

good info ive been contemplating putting an LS9 cam in my 08 LS3 A6 Vette for a litte bit of extra pop but with the silent but deadly effect lol

I appreciate these videos brother! I wish I was following you back in 17! I put my four-door together and went with the LS nine cam and I mentioned it before on a previous video yours it is a absolute turd Down low!!

Might have to put the ls3 cam in my 4.8 seems like the best compromise all around

Great comparison test! Thank you so much! I still don't understand why the 122 LSA cams behave the way they do. With little overlap, I'd say that tuned exhaust header effects would be minimized however the header vs a non-tuned exhaust w/cats wasn't shown - so no way to know where the headers were doing their job. I would have thought the 122 would have killed top end and had little effect bottom end. However that is not true. So it's like a complete re-thinking of how this stuff works is where I'm at. NOTE: ADVANCE: I believe the LS9 may have 6* of Advance built in which would add bottom. QUESTION: Where all the cams installed AS-IS wherever the OE timing marks put them OR "straight up"? If some cams have advance built into them, then it's hard to relate results to specs. INTAKE CLOSING?: Another way to look at the LS9 is that the cam is a "big" cam w/"lots" of duration where they simply reduced the overlap, so the exhaust opening and intake closing are the same as a traditional cam w/114 LSA. Could the loss of bottom end be due simply to the intake closing? I wouldn't think the headers are doing much at 2500 rpm. FUEL ECONOMY?: The other question about these comparisons is what is the fuel economy at low throttle settings (cruising on the interstate?) I suspect the 122 might produce better fuel economy but we'll never know. CENTRIFUGAL SUPERCHARGERS?: I'm thinking the 122 might be a good idea IF the 122 itself was not the cause of low end loss. IF the INTAKE CLOSING, that could be managed to maintain some low end torque for the centrifugal. (Of course the boost ratio as the square of rpm ratio has no bottom end torque by definition.) A comparison with stock manifolds & cats (which ones of course) might reveal some interesting results as well as supercharged runs (what happens with a good NA cam w/SC?

I think the HO 5300 cam is the same as the later LMG cam without DoD lobes. I had to use one when I deleted the Wife's 08 Tahoe, perfect swap, no tuning.

great video I've got a 2010 lc9 was thinking the l9h cam would be a good upgrade ,so-long to the afm and keep the vvt--hoping you get into some gen iv vvt stuff

The 1st high hp engine I saw in person when I was 16 was a twin turbo cadillac 500 near syracuse ny. I would have put that in a 70 nova or t bucket myself. But we were in awe. The car was probably 800 to 1200 hp. So I began my cadillac engine building years. I also did olds 455, sbc 350,400. 427,454.

I would really like to see a cam comparison between a thumber style cam that has lots of overlap to something that has less like most “boost” style cams. In n/a and boost configuration. I been shopping for a cam and all the specs are close together besides lobe separation/overlap.

Great video! I like the LS9 cam for the engine I’m building. But will it work as well in a NA 4.8 Lr4 with 706 heads? I also have 799’s but would lose compression. What do you think?

We've been doing LS2 swap cams for Budget builds since 2005 this is nothing new it's just the fact that Richard exposed it. By the way Richard huge compliments on doing this back-to-back comparison you greatly help inform ton of people that didn't believe us

Excellent video. Do you have anything like toys but for the L83 (2014+ 5.3)? I've heard you can swap the camaro or corvette cams for gains workout having to do all the phaser mods and stuff you have to do with an aftermarket cam. Plus like you mentioned in this video factory cams are MUCH cheaper.

I have herd that the non DOD L33 cam is a good upgrade but I haven’t really look into it Good video thanks keep up the good work

Great idea for this video and I agree with your statement at the end of the video that your trading a bunch of your bottom for the top side, I hope theses guys watching realize if they put those cams in a pickup it gonna be a bitch to tow a boat or RV without that LM-7 Stick. My question for you is for the guys (me included) who use there truck as a tow mule? should we get a cam ground based around an LM-7 with a different timing specs? different intake centerline? different LSA? Max out the available lift that the cyl head and piston to valve has to offer? .... your thoughts please? Thanks Richard...

Thank you for doing this test. Can you please do the same test but advance and reduce time?

LS2 if you bump CR to regain cylinder pressure down low for towing and street. Otherwise stock or BTR stage 1

Quick question Richard, how would the L99 cam do if you ran it with a carburetor and non-DOD lifters? They are dirt cheap and normally come with the whole valvetrain.

Thank you!! Rocker arm shoot out x)

So awesome!

Just pulled a stock LS3 cam from my new crate motor. Picked up an LC9 to fool around with. Thinking I’m going to gap the rings, delete the DOD and VVT, put the ls3 cam in, and make an ultra low buck turbo deal out of it.

Of all the cams I was most curious about the ls6! D’oh

great info. LS3 cam and 1-5/8" headers will probably make 430 bhp with more torque than the LS7 cam. The Corvette cams are also meant for 11:1 compression vs 9.5:1 in the LM7. That's probably good for 450 bhp with stock idle and mpg is probably better than stock.

Richard can you guide me im going to turbo my 04 tahoe the setup i got in mind 7 to 14 psi 80lb injectors ,diff and maybe later an stronger transmission! but about engine i don't know if to leave stock or is better to do springs and retainer ,roller and cam what can you advise me? thank for your help!!

I’ve been looking for a good cam that gives more horse and torque in a 07 5.3 auto 1/2,ton truck what’s the best in your estimation and thank you for your service to the community absolutely killer it still has the factory everything the afm or whatever it’s called I’d like to get a lifter set and cam to do away with it as one of the lifters are starting to make a lot of noise at start up

This is good. As I've said before, my thing is HP, not so much TQ, I don't care as much for low TQ under 4000rpm as long as I have decent TQ and good HP above it and can rev like Ralph Kramdem - "To The Moon!"