Giving the LS3 More Power With Comp Cams and FAST!
To avoid high rpm misfire like what was plaguing her car when she rode the low rev limit, We installed Comp Cams short-travel hydraulic roller lifters.

Comp Cams short-travel Hydraulic Roller Lifters are engineered specifically to perform at higher engine speeds. When engines are equipped with a hydraulic lifter, high RPM is often limited by the improper position of the lifter’s internal piston and the lifter inevitably “pumps up” as the pressurized cushion of oil inside the lifter bleeds out.

This results in the valves being open at the wrong time and therefore leads to lost compression and especially on a drift car, engine failure. The short travel lifters limit the internal movement to a minimum, which cuts down on these issues and allows higher engine RPMs. With the short travel lifter, Rathyna can have both high RPM operation and low maintenance where if she doesn’t check her lash, no problem.

We replaced the stock pushrods with stronger and lighter Comp Cams Magnum pushrods.

We used Magnum 5/16″ Pushrods which is a good compromise between sufficient strength, stiffness and light weight. Stock pushrods are typically mild steel with 3 piece construction with the ball ends pressed into the center tube. These tend to fail under hard use.

Magnum Pushrods are drawn over mandrel one-piece parts made out of 0.080″ wall super strong chrome-moly. The pushrods are heat-treated for extended durability and black-oxide finished for corrosion resistance. They also come with laser-etched part number and length for easy identification which is a lot handier than you might think.

While we were in there we replaced the timing chain and sprockets with Comp Cams High Energy timing chain set.

The Comp Cams part is a heavy-duty stock replacement part.  It is very complete and comes with a tensioner damper and an oil pump drive.

To ensure valve train stability at high rpm, we used Comp Cams Street Strip dual valve springs.

The Comp Cam springs are designed for high rpm use with higher lift than stock and lighter weight to avoid valve float but are still conservatively designed as far as spring wire stress for long life.

We also used Comp Cams super light titanium retainers, heavy duty valve keepers, valve seals and lower seats for the dual valve springs.

The lightweight retainers will help give us more rev margin to avoid valve float.

10 comments

  1. The LQ9 isn’t the iron block version of the LS3, they’re not even from the same LS Generation (LQ9 is Gen III and LS3 is Gen IV).

  2. Sure the LQ9 is a Gen III and the LS3 is a Gen IV but there are not many differences between the Gen III and Gen IV engines and most parts interchange. The major differences between engine generations here are some to accommodate DOD and VVT options that the LS3 does not use anyway. Where it affects you, in this case, is a single bolt vs 3 bolt cam for the sprocket. The LQ9 has a 4″ bore with the same stroke but its iron block can easily be bored to the LS3’s 4.065, all the internal parts interchange. The heads are the square port, LS3, L92 improved square port configuration and everything interchanges. A lot of Chevy tuners like the LQ9 for an inexpensive forced induction block as the iron block is stiffer under boost. Its cheaper than the LS7 based six head bolt solutions for better head sealing under pressure.

    1. The Comp Cams Trunion has a lot more bearing area than stock. As you can see in this picture the size difference in bearing area between stock and Comp Cams. You can also see that the stock trunions were beginning to gall on this engine with a stock cam and valvetrain. Installation does require some finesse and proper use of a press. A lot of people have good luck with this kit and perhaps some of the early failures were perhaps caused by improper heat treating and installation.

      I have seen many failures of stock rockers in high-level drifting which is more brutal than drag and road racing in some ways. Check out the pictures and the galling of the stock shafts.

      https://photos.smugmug.com/MotoIQ/Project-Cars/Project-Pink-350z/i-PKXPZXt/0/cf264521/L/DSC_0817-L.jpg

      Your info is good to know and thank you for bringing it to our attention and we will be keeping an eye on them but I don’t think we will have problems. We will report if we have issues.

    1. You are completely right, our block is bored out quite a bit to 4.065 and you can go as much as 4.090 as I recall which you can’t do with the aluminum blocks. Everything does interchange between the two motors though.

  3. Due to Rathyna’s penchant for not maintaining anything,

    Lol a woman not take care of her car?!!?!?! Unheard of!

    1. I unfortunately wasn’t really raised or taught to maintain vehicles. I have always been a driver, and the circles I associated with growing up never emphasized car maintenance. It was all about driving. Luckily I found MotoIQ and they’re teaching me a different way – it’s kind of a running joke with me at this point. I’ve gotten better…not quite good at it yet, but I at least understand the importance of vehicle maintenance and safety now 🙂

      TGI for MotoIQ <3

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