Turbo Question

[hondacivicjosh]

are cam gear's something good to upgrade when adding a turbo? thanks

 

[posol]

cam gears are designed to "Dial in" the cam.

if you are running stock cams, don't bother. they are set properly from the factory
if you are running an aftermarket cam, then you will probably need a set to dial in where they should be

 

[knowledge]

Yes and no B! If he is turboing a N/A engine then he will more than likely need to retard his timing some. Plus it is good for him to get the adj. cam gear when installing a turbo so it can be better dialed in while getting tuned on a DYNO of course. Me personally I would recommend getting the cam gear. Plus I know you won't stop upgrading yet so eventually you will want one anyways.

 

[posol]

WOAH! you're back!!!!!!!!!!!

anyhoo--

there's two types of timing... cam timing and ignition timing.
with boost, generally .75 degree retarded iginition timing per 1 psi of boost is a good "standard"
not cam timing.

 

[knowledge]

I know there is 2 types of timing. But from what I understand it's better to also retard your cam timing also when boosting a N/A engine. Well I will see here in about a month(hopefully) when I go get my shit dyno'd and tuned!

 

[posol]

bah,
ignition is all you need to fuck with.

 

[knowledge]

Maybe but I still am gonna put that gear on mine and see what they do with it when I dyno/tune it. I will keep you informed of the results. I do understand what you mean with the ignition timing though.

 

[hondacivicjosh]

one more question to follow up my orginal question. how would i set the cam? thanks. sorry for the question i just wanna learn. thanks agian.

 

[posol]

install it at 0

go to a dyno, and fuck with it for power.

 

[knowledge]

 

[JDMSpecAccordSir-T]

I dont mean to interject (hopefully ill sound intelligent ) but can't you use cam gears to dial out some of the overlap (which is the time when both the intake and exhaust valves are open) in a usually overlapy DOHC VTEC engine.

If you dial out some of the overlap you will retain more boosted air along with fuel in the cylinder rather than having it flowing straight through the head and losing the power that much more air and fuel would have given you.

Thats why specially made turbo cams (HKS, Skunk2, etc, etc) have little or less overlap when compared to stock cams or NA cams.

Someone correct me if im wrong here

 

[K2e2vin]

i dont think you can do that because then the intake cams would open up too early and the exaust cam would open up a little late, which would most likely give you a bad idle.

 

[JDMSpecAccordSir-T]

I knew YOU would say something like that. Stop Hating

So why do people actually make cam gears???? What would be the purpose????
Their purpose is to adjust cam timing.

I was not saying you're going to retain stock idle. But who cares about a perfect idle as long as the engine doesn't die on you at idle. I would give up a stock idle for more power (which is dependent on the application as you would probably get more power from a turbo engine vs NA engine with cam tuning) as would probably everyone here.

If you tune for NA you want more overlap. Not having help to breath (forced induction), a NA motor needs all the air flow it can make for itself.

If you tune for Turbo you want less overlap. Having air forced into it, it does'nt need overlap to make air flow.

About the only thing cam gears can control is overlap. If you want longer duration or higher lift you have to get different cams. Check out the HondaSwap cam reference. NA cams have lot more lift and duration than Turbo cams. This (along with less overlap) helps the turbo cams to allow for a higher cylinder pressure which goes with what i said before about the air/fuel being forced through the head and being wasted.

 

[posol]

well said

 

[K2e2vin]

im saying you would sacrifice low end, especially in a non-vtec motor because with the cams opening earlier and exaust later. in a vtec motor you dont even get boost on the low profile cams unless you have a very small turbine housing. adjustable cam gears are for fine-tuning a cam's timing.