Benefits you've noticed from Cam gears

by **celigts** » Fri May 04, 2012 11:35 am

I know there are lots of cam gears out there from solid to adjustable and what I'm wondering is what you guys have felt has a difference.

Will weight make a large difference, will adjustability matter with stock cams and ecu,?

by **WarTowels** » Fri May 04, 2012 1:23 pm

I can't speak from experience, but I really doubt you can "notice" cam gears. When going aftermarket their purpose is to allow adjustment. Also, in my case, and probably most cases cam gears come along with other mods and aren't a single upgrade so determining improvement based on feel would be really difficult. I wouldn't go in to a cam purchase looking to feel any difference what so ever. What you need them for is during the tuning process, you'll feel the improvements of a better running engine but not the gears themselves.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

-Towels

by **tubasteve** » Sat May 05, 2012 5:38 am

On 185 and older, doesn't the exhaust can being retarded 3° help turbo spool and more gain, i believe the 205 can has 2° retard stock.

Might be 7° helps, it's been so long. Honestly info I'd take with a grain of salt cause i won't adjust mine unless on a dyno.

-jr

by **klue** » Sat May 05, 2012 2:13 pm

you can go up to 6deg on the exhaust for gen 2, helps it breathe a bit better up top. but not a huge gain. I would only do it if your already in there changing a timing belt or something. Better up grade is the gen 3 cam, which has more duration, more lift, and is timed 4 degree over the gen 2

by **celigts** » Sat May 05, 2012 2:17 pm

klue wrote:you can go up to 6deg on the exhaust for gen 2, helps it breathe a bit better up top. but not a huge gain. I would only do it if your already in there changing a timing belt or something. Better up grade is the gen 3 cam, which has more duration, more lift, and is timed 4 degree over the gen 2

See this is where I don't understand.. Timings.

So if you say the gen3 cams are different by about 6' then what does it change. When the the plugs fire?

by **tubasteve** » Sat May 05, 2012 2:56 pm

The end of the exhaust stroke is held in a little longer for the degree of duration. It has nothing to do with spark as much (intake cam drives distributor). During this time had more push out into the exhaust for better turbo response. But with the gen 3 cams on gen 2 engine makes a world of difference.

Retard = late

Klue, i believe the gen 3 were less than that,i thought it was half of what you need, 3°? But i could be way wrong.

-jr

by **celigts** » Sat May 05, 2012 4:18 pm

So both cams actually have different strokes? Might sound stupid but I had no idea lol

Since cams are expensive would putting an adjustable cam gear do the same as switching cams ?

Is it easy to find the st205 exhaust side cam?

by **OutToWinPAHC** » Sat May 05, 2012 4:22 pm

I dont like to use the adjustable gears mainly because I have seen the adjustment screws work loose. Some see great benefits with using them, especially when using longer duration cams with very custom set ups where that one degree means the world. However I do have Tomei cam gears on my Nissan Skyline which came with the car and I am going to see how they do.

by **klue** » Sun May 06, 2012 1:45 am

If you guys re read what I said, I was trying to say that you can go up to a max of 6deg on a gen2 cam with adj gears before you start to diminish the returns.

the gen 3 ex cam is retarted 4 deg more than the gen 2 so the power is near optimal. not to mention the added lift and duration. Its a wonderful cam, should have came in the gen2 to begin wiht

by **tubasteve** » Sun May 06, 2012 1:57 am

I was trying to half ass explain how it helps.

by **darthripley** » Mon May 07, 2012 12:45 am

if you only put on the cam gears & adjust the exhaust to be slightly retarded & the intake slightly advanced you'll pick up maybe 10hp at the flywheel.
unless you are putting in camshafts with more duration & higher lift then it's essentially a waste of time to put on just the gears considering what a pain they are to get to in the engine bay.

camshafts & gears aren't a "plop in" type of a mod. to get the most out of them you must spend time on a dyno fine tuning them in. along with them timing comes into play as well which is a huge discussion i don't want to even start up.

save your money & put it where you will feel it with dp, mp, exhaust & turbo upgrades.

by **Hotrodhendrix** » Tue May 08, 2012 4:07 pm

Mine are set at stock so about the only benefit is they are purple and match the timing belt.. :twisted:

by **gearhead313** » Wed May 09, 2012 3:46 pm

I mostly have experience with cam gears on hondas, so here's my 2c. Stock cams are usually dialed in from the factory, very little gains can be seen from JUST cam gears.

Aftermarket cams on the otherhand can be dialed in to make sure you get the most out of your setup. Usually cams are centerlined and degreed, but some (most) 4cyl are difficult to do and the fixtures sometimes need custom made... big pain, so an hour or so of cam tuning on the dyno can allow you to find the sweet spot.

Here's a good example from Evan's on one of my fav motors, an H22A:

http://www.evans-tuning.com/dynos/wp-co ... bhatch.jpg

by **Mafix** » Wed May 09, 2012 6:56 pm

h22's almost need cam gears. we woke up my one friends n/a h22 with a set. night and day difference.

mine just look purdy. other than that...not a damn thing. yet.

by **gearhead313** » Thu May 17, 2012 10:15 pm

weight savings? ...i nver weighed any