[EATSV8S]

I have recently installed a set of race cams and adjustable cam gears in my car and am looking for some tips on beginning adjustments. I know that a Dyno is the best place to tinker with settings, but I don't have easy access to one right now. Just wondering if anyone has some guidlines for beginning to tune these things.

 

[k91]

I believe a dyno is the only way to fine tune cam gears. You have to adjust them for a specific rpm range to see any increase in power. They also have to be fine tuned for whatever other mods you have or you could end up loosing power when you add something new.

 

[Van]

Your pic is at less than 4k now, your good.

Speaking of adjustable cam gears... Got a question:

Is there any hp to be squeezed out of the stock cams with them? Anybody done these on the stock cams here? What did you get out of them?

 

[ecoli]

I would like to find out what kinds of gains could be made with aftermarket cam gears. They seem to be fairly rare on DSMs and usually only on the cars running low 11s or faster, since we can usually get by without them. Every other slightly modded Honda seems to have them, who knows if they have them tuned at all though. They are common enough that they know where to set them at without a dyno I guess.

 

[DiamondsR4EVR]

Adjusting cam gears

I would like to find out what kinds of gains could be made with aftermarket cam gears. They seem to be fairly rare on DSMs and usually only on the cars running low 11s or faster, since we can usually get by without them. Every other slightly modded Honda seems to have them, who knows if they have them tuned at all though. They are common enough that they know where to set them at without a dyno I guess.

The 2nd gens can have quite a few extra ponies squeezed out of them I hear b/c of the restrictive head. I emailed a representative from Unorthodox Racing and he said to advance the intake 1º and retard the exhaust 3º and then from there retard the exhaust in increments of 1º until the maximum horespower is achieved. I have emailed several 2G owners who have adj. cam gears and the majority are running 1º intake advance and 3º exh retard. One guy was running 2º intake advance and 2º exh retard. The idea behind advancing your intake cam and retarding your exhuast cam is based on an increase in the overlap period which is when both intake and exhuast valves are partially open. In a stock motor this period is very short. When you increase the overlap period you are letting fresh intake air push stale exhuast gases out through the exh valves and out of the combustion chamber keeping the A/F mixture alittle more dense. SCC magazine had a very good explanation of aftermarket cams and cam gears 4 or 5 months ago. I bought a set of Skunk2 gears but I probably won't install them until my timing belt has to be changed. I think that if you are AWD or if you can't make it to the dyno you should just go with 1º advance 3º retard...b/c any overlap is better than stock...to an extent.

Jesse
99 GSX

 

[Dyre]

Interesting side note (but way OT)... The new rotory engine in the RX-8 works almost oposite of this, as its designed to totally eleminate the intake/exhaust overlap. I guess with the rotory design this greatly increases the efficency while also drastically cutting down on emmisions (which means the RX-8 will come from the factory with only 1 cat!!).

/ends my totally OT post with stuff you probably didnt want to know

 

[ecoli]

The problem is that I don't have stock cams and probably have some overlap, so I don't know if my settings would be the same as someone with stock cams.

 

[Jehu]

How secure are the adjustable cam gears? Is it set and forget or do they "slip" out of positions? I've heard of somebody totally stripping the cam gear adjustment face...is that just due to under-tightening?

 

[DiamondsR4EVR]

How secure are the adjustable cam gears? Is it set and forget or do they "slip" out of positions? I've heard of somebody totally stripping the cam gear adjustment face...is that just due to under-tightening?

Most of the are pretty secure. If you're worried about that, get a five or six bolt gear. The Skunk2's I've got are six bolt and are very resistant to slipping.

 

[Phoenix]

Ya, I've got the Skunk2 gears as well, and they're as light as the stock pulleys. The AEM gear only have three bolts and they're nearly twice the weight as stock.

Since I'm nuts about reducing rotating weight...I didn't want to add to it.

 

[miamigsx]

It's my understanding that having as little overlap as possible is the way to go with turbo cars so how would you set that up with adjustable cam gears and also what settings increase top end and wich ones increase low end

 

[KILURV8]

what about with web cams

Ok, I have a set of AEM Tru Time Adjustable Cam gears that I plan on using with my web cams (street grind). I know the web cams are eithed which causes the lumpy idle. Now since the duration is different and so is the alignment of the intake/exhaust lobes, would it still be safe to go with a 1degree 3degree setup? I do not have a welded center diff yet so I can not dyno and am looking for a generic setting to help me out for now. Any imput would help.

 

[KILURV8]

"bump" Anyone have any idea on cam gear settings with web cams? I know someone out there must have them.

 

[97silvereclipesss]

so do you guys think a set of cam gears will helpmy bad idle cause by web cams?bc i have web cams and like verybody else my idle is real bad.i thought all dsm with cams were like this until i drove my friends dsm with hks.any info on fixing my bad idle would help.thanks

 

[QuasiMondo]

how big are your cams? It's my understanding that huge cams will have shitty idle because the valves are open for so long under low rpm's.

 

[wys100]

"bump" Anyone have any idea on cam gear settings with web cams? I know someone out there must have them.

Hopefully this will make you more confuse...

http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=116557

 

[Santos9899]

I just installed a pair of Skunk2 adjustable cam gears on stock cams. I noticed the alignment marks on the skunk2 are one tooth different for the stock ones. Is this normal? does anyone know of any instructions for these cam gears. I compensated for the diffrence but now my car idles badly. sounds like a v8 motor. it is just the idle, while driving it is fine and can't notice the difference. does any one have any instructions on how to install these cam gears? thanks

 

[97gstbabe]

I'd keep them at 0 and 0 til your on a dyno

 

[RippinGSX]

This is one of the oldest threads I have seen brought back to life. Are you reading page 500 or something??

 

[Bohrn]

well, I noticed small gains with just the exhaust gear changed to 4deg advanced. It gave me more pull, and less boost drop off at higher rpm. As well, it gave me more vac at idle and smoother nicer idle, and better emissions testing. The power gains were small but noticable. And the drivability gains were nice too. This is on stock cams.

When I put in bigger cams(bigger than 264s, regrinds), I noticed the same basic characteristics, but more pronounced.

I played with the intake gear and didn't really get any gains, and infact some losses, so I put it back to "0".