camshafts ... ANYONE???

[severous01]

is there any options for camshafts yet? it's been 2 years, and i'm shocked there are no upgrades yet.

there's really nothing more to do with the car...trifecta, exhaust, intake...not really even an intercooler option for us

i figure cams would be in the making shortly after exhaust or a tune. after intake and exhaust and a few braking/suspension mods on my z28 i changed the heads and cam. definitely a HUGE difference.

so if anyone has any ideas where or when things might be happening in the camshaft department let me know please.

and yes i've done a few searches

 

[$ub$onic]

Eric was talking to a few company's about cams. But Dont know what came of it

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

There is ALWAYS more you can do to your car, be an innovator and go do something that hasn't been done before!

 

[pwntbywombat]

There is ALWAYS more you can do to your car, be an innovator and go do something that hasn't been done before!

What he said ^

 

[Stratton_Chevrolet_Sonic]

There is ALWAYS more you can do to your car, be an innovator and go do something that hasn't been done before!

This would be my favorite thing to do!

 

[theenico]

Most of the majors like Comp, Crane, Lunati, etc. will do custom cams for a price.

Some of the lesser knowns that tend to do more small batches and specialized one off grinds are Elgin Cams and Webcam.

 

[firstorbit84]

You'd probably need a custom tune to take full advantage of the new cams tho, right?

 

[Eric Smit]

you have to get one custom grinded. nobody wants to do it because there isn't a huge market for it.


-Eric Smit

 

[Dave@ddmworks]

We ran into the same issue with the other Ecotec's that we develop for. The cams on the this engine have passages in them for the VVT mechanism, and cam blanks from GM are not available. We found the manufactuerer of the cams and talked to them and they were more then happy to sell us blanks, with GM's blessing. So we called, and called, and called around GM and kept getting sent in circles and never got anywhere.

Custom cams could be made, but they are not going to be a mod you are going to want to do first.

On the 1.4L you are not going to make too much more power with the stock turbo because of the size of the stock turbine, you can only get so much exhaust out through that opening.

On the 1.8L cars you are going to need to do some more things like full exhaust, including headers and head work before cams would be something that would be a practical upgrade.

Now what we did do on the other Ecotec's is have the base circle reground on the cams, which does give you a little more lift on the valves, but not really any more duration, which is what you will want for the 1.8L build, or a 1.4L with a larger turbo.

Hope that helps,
Dave

 

[theenico]

... Now what we did do on the other Ecotec's is have the base circle reground on the cams, which does give you a little more lift on the valves, but not really any more duration, which is what you will want for the 1.8L build, or a 1.4L with a larger turbo.

Hope that helps,
Dave

Grinding the base circle is what I used to have done on my cars that ran in classes requiring "stock" engines. They will make it through a check on a Cam Doctor if the operator enters in the stock specs. The ground cam ends up showing as worn or well under "stock" spec.

A lot of the Spec Miata front runners used to do this also. A smart tech inspector finally made a set of go/no go gauges for quick inspections.

 

[Maddmatts]

Get a set of existing cams, do some research on what kind of profile you want, send cams to your valvetrain company of choice for a regrind.

Done.

 

[sx sonic]

Thanks for dropping in dave! You awnsered some of my suspicions. The blanks you were talking about getting from GM, would they be VVT as well??

Also do you or eric know if the other manufacters doing custom cams would be able to make theirs VVT or is it just a standard cam. I'm guessing non VVT but thought i'd ask

-tyler

 

[Dave@ddmworks]

A lot of the Spec Miata front runners used to do this also. A smart tech inspector finally made a set of go/no go gauges for quick inspections.

People cheat in Spec Miata?

We were involved with Spec Miata back when it was started up and I was always amazed at all of the little things that were done that could pick up a little power here and there. My favorite was shifting the water pump a little bit to change cam timing, loved that one.

 

[theenico]

I drank many a beer with several of the early adopters in that class. I watched a well known car get torn down for protests at the ARRC race (nothing was found BTW) and it was very entertaining, since I knew what had been done to that car.

Gotta love REM finishing and ceramic coatings.

 

[severous01]

There is ALWAYS more you can do to your car, be an innovator and go do something that hasn't been done before!

i'm sorry, but this is my daily driver and i can't have the down time all you other guys have.

im sure i could do some grinding/polishing when i have the intake off for the intake mod, maybe some gasket matching and some minor polishing on the head. but other than that there will be no porting of the head. if cams were available i could get a spare head and have it machined/ported and springs/cams installed and just do a head job.

but as far as being 'innovative' and trying something new...i have no other transportation. so for now i'll have to rely on other's experiments to do.

also, i had no idea that the cams used passages within the shaft for vvt. i'm used to the cam timing gears having all the springs and oil passages within them. i had no idea it was that big a deal to change cams.

 

[Dragcamaro]

the thing most people dont realize as well is that a big cam in a turbo vehicle isnt always beneficial. More lift would be nice, but if you start getting into cams with low lobe separation angles and high duration, the overlap of intake and exhaust valve basically allows your air and fuel to just blow throught the motor partially.

Look at LS1s, most turbo setups use z06 or other hi-po factory cams that still arent overly mean

 

[theenico]

There's a difference between what you want for a supercharger vs. turbocharger. With SC you don't want excessive overlap for the reasons stated. With TC though, you can get away with more because the turbo itself is a restriction in the exhaust. It helps keep the intake charge from just blowing through.

 

[sx sonic]

Anyone got an awnser for my question in post #12?!?

 

[Eric Smit]

sorry. didn't even notice. the guys I'm talking to are quoting me for just a standard cam.


-Eric Smit

 

[sx sonic]

thanks Eric, you the man! I assumed that would be the case but my knowledge of what the aftermarket can do with a cam is limited

Dave said he was talking to GM about getting cam blanks, would those be the the whole unfinished O.E.M. cam including the cam phasing portion? That would be amazing