CAMS- are they really worth the money

[jimbo1]

okay, rite my 19 16v is working like a charm right now. the gasflowed head goes nice. i can buy some piper fast road cams for 145quid, but before i spend my hard earned, i wanna know, is it really worth the money. can you actually feel the performance when compared to before. does the power kick in more now, and has the power vanishing act been solved now?

cheers ppl

jimbo

 

[wongy008]

jimbo

mine was the vanishing power
but after a rechip from nick hill mine is flying once again.my car was diagnosed to be running too lean.

now with extra fuel added through the chip my car is much quicker. power band is more useful begining from 3k rev.

think its still not how it was when i first got it but its hard imho to set up cams without rollers which nick hill aint got yet. when he does my car willy be going back for a proper set up to get the most from them

my car is easily a match for big powered cars like 328 bmws. big engined alfa. basically anything bmw sized with up to 200 bhp. they get a real shock when im keeping up or even passing them. i know a std valver casnt keep up with these

if you do do it. then make sure you pay extra to get the veerniers and rolling road set up

wongy

 

[Nick Read]

Definitely worth doing Jimbo - Ive said this before but once youve got the head and the cams with a chip to control the whole lot properly, it drives like a dream. Its how the F7P lump should have been out of the factory! OK were all used to having a pretty quick car that can outclass many supposedly hot hatches, but also lately there are beginning to be a lot of lightweight, short geared hatches that are troublesome to a 16v to say the least - eg 106 GTi, Saxo VTS etc.

With the cams the power band doesnt change but theres so much more there and it loves being kept high in the revs. Worth doing if youre taking the head off anyway mate.

 

[BenR]

yeah, cams are good, in moderation.
most people go too extreme with their choice and end up regretting it.

but setting up without rollers aint as hard as you would think. Basically, you just look at the lobe centre angle of the cam, most use 110 deg. dictating that full lift occurs at 110 deg rotation of the cam. so that must mean that at 55deg, both valves are at equal lift right. so time them in using the eual lift on overlap.

basically, set the engine to TDC, and move the cam till both inlet and exhaust measure the same amount of lift....secure and done.

but on a 16V motor, its a bit harder casue there independant an can be moved separatedly...where the 8V motor uses only one cam (barring lotus twin cam etc etc). for example, if the inlet is @ 0.200in lift and exhaust is 0.050in lift then you have a choice. reduce inlet of increase exhaust. its better to take the average and set both to 0.125in lift. Then you can test the car, and experiment with advancing the cams, increasing/decreasing lift on overlap etc etc.