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I am glad I swapped the marine cam into my 8.1L as well. It doesn't fall on its face at 4,000 rpm like a stock 8.1L. It did take a little tuning to rid it of an off-idle stumble but idled very well and had a strong torque curve. I should have everything I need to put the heads back on it and drop the 8.1L back in soon. Cylinder 8 was down to 80 psi because it had a valve that was starting to burn in cylinder 8 due to a faulty lifter that was holding the valve off the seat. I have a 454/502HO cam new in the GM cam tube that I have considered putting into the 8.1L while it is apart. I think that cam was $168 when I bought it. The 8.1L has weak exhaust ports and the smaller intake lobe and tighter LSA would boost off-idle torque some. I am also looking at sending off the intake manifold to have the baffle ported out and a 90mm inlet grafted to it to run a 90mm DBW throttle body. I am well aware that the injectors and coils will need to be repinned as well as the injector bank assignment changed. I think the smaller 454/502HO cam would have more torque cruising around in overdrive with the converter locked than the marine cam. WOT its really a wash as the 4L80E has a GM B82 small block converter in it.
Can you link the cam you have?
The stock cam, the GM cam, and the ET cam are almost identical. You won't notice any difference between the three, unless the stock cam had some serious wear. I have to ask, why spend money on cams that duplicate the stock cam you already have? I would either go noticeably bigger, or not bother and stick with the stocker.
