Best Cam Options for ‘03 5.7 Hemi?

[Jrex]

Trying to find a good horsepower boosting Cam hopefully without replacing too much more of the internals if possible. Would like something with some chop if possible and I’m having trouble finding good info on the topic

 

[GIJoe2010]

On my old 08 Charger I had an Inertia cam and it was awesome. If you check out a lot of the LX platform (Charger/Challenger/300) forums there's a bunch of stuff out there. High Horse Performance, Modern Muscle and Arrington all come to mind as well.

 

[chrisp2493]

With your 03 you’ll be very limited on cams because of the weak tuning ability with the pcm. A comp 260 is about the biggest you can run and you’ll need custom tuning to deal with it. But it doesn’t have very much sound, it’s barely noticeable. I clean that cam for a few months. Your best option is doing some electrical work and changing to an 05 pcm. It’s not a lot of work if you can read a diagram and solder some wires, quite a few people have done this now and I have a lot of info to help you through it. But it’s almost a necessity to run a decent cam. Other thing is you need to upgrade the valve springs and pushrods. 6.1 Hemi exhaust springs and 6.1 Hemi pushrods work great, I’m using them with my stroker and a .556/.561 lift cam


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[chrisp2493]

Here’s my old setup with a Comp 260


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[Jrex]

With your 03 you’ll be very limited on cams because of the weak tuning ability with the pcm. A comp 260 is about the biggest you can run and you’ll need custom tuning to deal with it. But it doesn’t have very much sound, it’s barely noticeable. I clean that cam for a few months. Your best option is doing some electrical work and changing to an 05 pcm. It’s not a lot of work if you can read a diagram and solder some wires, quite a few people have done this now and I have a lot of info to help you through it. But it’s almost a necessity to run a decent cam. Other thing is you need to upgrade the valve springs and pushrods. 6.1 Hemi exhaust springs and 6.1 Hemi pushrods work great, I’m using them with my stroker and a .556/.561 lift cam


I Bleed Ram Trucks

Why specifically an ‘05 pcm?

 

[chrisp2493]

Why specifically an ‘05 pcm?

The 03 and early 04 pcm’s have 2 different modules. One is the PCM and the other is the Transmission Control Module (TCM). They have very limited tuning abilities, and the transmissions can’t be tuned. The 03 can’t have the idle rpm’s changed, which is crucial for running a cam, most need the idle bumped up 100-150 rpms to idle correctly. The 05 is the best all around year to use. In late 04 they combined the PCM and the TCM into the same computer, but still have some issues with transmission tuning. So what needs done is taking about 28 wires from the old TCM connector and wiring them into the PCM connector. It’s sounds intimidating but it’s not really. I have a very straightforward instruction thread typed up to help out. Also the 03 truck will have only 2 oxygen sensors, the 04+ trucks use 4, so two sensors do need to be added to the exhaust and wired in.


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[mwclarksr]

The 03 and early 04 pcm’s have 2 different modules. One is the PCM and the other is the Transmission Control Module (TCM). They have very limited tuning abilities, and the transmissions can’t be tuned. The 03 can’t have the idle rpm’s changed, which is crucial for running a cam, most need the idle bumped up 100-150 rpms to idle correctly. The 05 is the best all around year to use. In late 04 they combined the PCM and the TCM into the same computer, but still have some issues with transmission tuning. So what needs done is taking about 28 wires from the old TCM connector and wiring them into the PCM connector. It’s sounds intimidating but it’s not really. I have a very straightforward instruction thread typed up to help out. Also the 03 truck will have only 2 oxygen sensors, the 04+ trucks use 4, so two sensors do need to be added to the exhaust and wired in.


I Bleed Ram Trucks

Never mind I'm reading your thread about the subject now

 

[chrisp2493]

So wait, the PCM doesn't throw a code because the 2 other O2 sensors are not connected?

I’m not sure what you mean...


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[mwclarksr]

I’m not sure what you mean...


I Bleed Ram Trucks

Never mind, I'm on your other thread.

 

[Redtruck-VA]

Chris is spot on... if you want to modify/re-cam a 03 the first thing on your list should be to update to the 05 pcm.

 

[HemiLonestar]

Chris is spot on... if you want to modify/re-cam a 03 the first thing on your list should be to update to the 05 pcm.

Totally off topic, but hey Greg guess what I found in my garage lol?

 

[Redtruck-VA]

No idea, what did you find?

 

[HemiLonestar]

No idea, what did you find?

KRC 210 cam for a hemi