do cam gears make a big difference or not?
 

you guys have been answering my questions lately and i apreciate it...so0o...
heres another for u guys.....do cam gears make a noticable difference????? Do i have to change my timing belt too???? what exactly happens wen u change them from stock to aftermarket?????
thanx

well..... suposedly if you get an aftermarket cams it has higher lift which lets the valves stay open longer which makes more power..... and you dont need a new timing belt if you get one to the best of my knowledge..... cause otherwise that would suck..... but you might need to adjust the timing.... not sure... :0

Cam gears allow you to adjust your intake and exhaust cam timing independently......They are useless on a stock motor, but can be benifitial on a motor that has some head work done.....I wouldn't bother with them on stock cams...You also need to tune them on a dyno.

pointless on a mild motor. Worth time if you have a well built motor and a tuner who knows what they are doing

so is upgrading the cam good on a SOHC stock D16y8?

NO

so for his d16 changing his cams from stock to aftermarket.....it wouldn't help him and he wounldnt benifit AT ALL?????

not on a stock motor, as he stated.

Stock meaning no intake manifold, port work, valvesprings, or ecu tuning.

Cams don't do shit without the proper supporting mods

so if I were starting right now....to build a sohc monster.... where would i start....like wat performance parts would u buy first????

I have a JDM B16 I/H/E and msd. I'm going to change my timing belt soon so I could just change my cam gears since its right there and set the settings to 0 and 0?

what motor?

first performance part I would buy would be a B series.

An Adjustable Cam Gear, won't do anything noticeable on an D16Y8 unless you have a stage 2 cam from Zex, Crower, Crane... with a higher power band so you can adjust the cam to a more useable range. You need to get more air+fuel in and more exhaust out just so the cam works, and there's some people who change cams and use them with the wrong valve springs. So something with an VAFC2 or EMS, with a good catback exhaust, header, intake, intake manifold and high compression valves would see good use of a cam gear on an SOHC. If your car is stock...the cam gear weighs less than the stock one, but you wouldn't see a difference in power.

You'll need to dyno tune this to put some power to the ground.

on a DOHC engine you expect bigger gains as you can adjust intake and exhaust seperately, but you need more caution or you'll strike valves with pistons and other issues.

on my turbo b18c i saw a 7hp gain to the wheels with the camgears correctly adjusted. so you can expect to see alot less than that.

what is the point with a cam gear on a single cam motor. you can just adjust your distrubutor. sure you get more adjustment method out of an adjustable cam gear but have you ever tried turning your dizzy? to much and it feels slow...to much the opposite way and it knocks. so what is the point of going further then factory settings allow since the motor doesnt like either advanced or retard in great amounts.

you sir have ignition timing and mechanical timing mixed up. YOu think they are one and the same. They are not

you are right.....thanks for clearing that up....now put in your k20!!!! stop searching forums and do some work. just kidding

haha I'm working on it. Waiting for those damn tax returns. filed them this week:cool:

just for future searchers who read this thread.

mechanical timing, the type adjusted with cam gears, is the timing of the valves opening in relation to when the piston is at top dead center.

Ignition timing, the type adjusted with the distributor, is the timing of the spark in relation to when the piston is at top dead center.

SO when you set your ignition timing at 16 degrees, you are making the spark light when the crankshaft is 16 degrees from pushing the piston in the number one cylinder to top dead center.

Mechanical= valves

Ignition = sparks

Cam Gears make a big difference... a 2 degree adjustment which is 1 mark on the AEM cam gear, net me 15-17ft/lbs torque gains from 2-4,500rpm.

boosted correct?

yes...but what other mods do you have done? on a stock motor (even i/h/e) i doubt you could gain 15 hp.

i thought you said you didn't go dyno tuning yet.

n/a actually... but i'm speaking of ranges below the 4,000rpm... cam gears really effect torque more so than hp in my experience on the dyno when adjusted... however i never retarded the cam gear only advances.

Zex Stage 2 Cam, valve springs n retainers, Skunk2 IM, 4-2-1 DC Sports Header, Fireball Cat-back exhaust, and AEM CAI

Monday 1/30/06... my 1st dyno session.

so it is diffrent for you....you have mods done but on a bone stock
(even i/h/e) i doubt you would get that high of numbers from a cam gear...your cam really helped those numbers i think

on a stock cam, i think you could pull a lil bit more torque on the low end, but nowhere near the #'s I pulled.

on an SOHC, cam gears should be used with a upgraded camshaft. on DOHC cam gears would work with stock cams, but you won't gain much unless you're going with new cams.

I'm going to try visiting the shop to see if i can take pics of the various runs I did with different cam gear adjustments, just for referrence to this question.