Is there any rule of thumb of what style of cam to use? Kinda like, stock heads, manifolds, use the faster ramp lobes, high flow heads with headers use the slower lobes?

 

No, it works the other way. The cam comes last because you should match the cam to the head flow.

If you have a head that doesn't put out at lower lift but, flows well at higher lift, a quicker lobe may benefit you. Slower lobes tend to work better with good flowing heads. You don't need the cam to do all the work when the head flows liek a champ. It's a balancing act. Too much of either and you can push the powerband too high. The balancing act needs to match the intended RPM range exc. Big cam + Big heads = high powerband.

Take a 5.3L with AFR 225 heads on top of it but, with a truck intake manifold. That's plenty of port for what the truck intake will allow (6,000rpm). The cam in this situation can get really small if you were looking to optimize as much area under the curve as possible. For example, a 210/210-112 cam may optimize 2000-6000 pretty well. 220/220-112 may work well from 3000-6000 but, you have to remember that due to the intake manifold the top part of the curve is not really increasing because peak rpm can not increase.

... not too much mention you can get real sneaky if you have big heads and a small cam that isn't making any lope. Or you can work the other way which most do and use mediocre heads and a lopey cam to make all of the power. Could you imagine a truck like BlueCajuns out there running mid 12s and making no noise... Everyone would think he was on nitrous, which they already do.

Another good thing... Good heads, don't need as aggressive of a lobe. Slower lobes are less wear/tear on the valve train. Talk about reliability for a street setup.

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By the way, I'm not suggesting throwing on huge heads but instead I'm saying the right head, doesn't require a nasty cam to get the job done.

 

well ive just been trying to research the crap out of this to find out whats right for me and im having trouble with understanding all of the minor details that come with matching cams to heads and so on. Originally I thought that I wanted a 228/228 581/581 112 from futrual and I would get some ported aluminum heads because I figured they needed to flow at least 300 to be able to work well with that cam and I would also need a huge stall like 3500+. I was thinking it would be nice to get that big of a cam and make it work in a 5.3 but the more I think about it and research it the more im skeptical about how to actually make big power with it. After researching cams better I really like your grind but I am also wondering why you still have stock heads with that grind. My goal is a high 12 low 13 NA 5.3 daily driver but Im not quite sure which way is the best to get there. I really want to do 4.56s since I dont do any freeway driving really. But im not sure if I went big cam, big heads, big stall and big gears if instead it would just be too much and i would be a . Could you pass along some of your insight on which combo would be the best. Right now I want to try and stay with 4.56s in the picture and an at least 3200 stall or more. Which cam and heads would you recommend for me to make the most overall power with also a good peak gain.

btw: not making noise but making a lot of power is not exactly what im looking for...instead id like to make a lot of noise with the cam AND good under the curve power.

 

HEHE, you need to keep researching...

Here's a setup off the top of my head...

3000 stall
4.56 gears
28'' tire (M&H sells one)
WCCH Edelbrock 5.3 heads
LS6 intake
216/216-110 cam (X-E HL lobes)
Pacesetter LTs

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I do have worked heads by the way. Just installed them yesterday. Nothing really bad ***, I just had them milled and got the gasket to the right size to get my compression how I want it...

Also, you can really affect the way your truck runs by spending too much time on how you want it to sound as far as 'lope' goes. Match the parts and let lope be lope. Just like when people focus too much on peak HP. They sacrifice a lot of street-ability, exc.
If you want it loud, run some duals with no cats.

 

I think the best part about that set up that you just said is that I can get away with it for smog purposes in Cali with that small of a cam hahaha the only high price item on that list are the heads...do you think I could get away with just getting some local p&p and mill work done on my existing heads?

do you also think that with that set up 12s na is possible? and also what lift would you recommend on the cam?