Basic camshaft installation guide

Izso

NA NA NA NA NA
Helmet Clan
Moderator
Mar 28, 2004
15,389
6,411
5,213
KL


I've never been a believer of camshafts not because I think they're funny, only because I own an auto car. To make it worse - I'm driving a 3-speed auto. So anything that affects my low end is generally a bad thing for me since my gear ratios are ridiculously tall.

What does that mean? It means camshafts are for people who want to improve their mid to highend power. Or so I thought. I've tested a few cars with similar configurations as my own car and they all have fantastic oomph across the whole powerband (almost all) and the car was no less drivable as my own car when driving like a tortoise on a road. Reading about it at howstuffworks.com made it even clearer on how cams work (fantastic pictorial descriptions!)

That got me itching - should I get a cam installed? My evil friends all replied : Oh hell yes!
(What are friends for if not to poison you into modifying your car?)


After some surveying, I opted for what I call the "Hellokitty" camshaft. A mild 260 degree intake and 288 degree exhaust billet cam. Feedback for this cam was it worked wonders for the mid to high powerband and it didn't mess with your idling too much like the "Thundercat" 292 high cams. Too much overlap between intake and exhaust gases will need some A/F tuning which can only be done with management (piggyback or standalone) otherwise you'll have some really rough idling or it won't idle at all and just die off everytime you lift off the accelerator.




Anyway, since my car is only a single overhead cam engine, it was relatively simple to remove the cam.

First things first, battery comes out. Safety first! Next remove the whole airbox assembly right to the manifold. Then the rocker cover (or valve cover / cam cover / whatever you call it) comes off.

In my case, the ignition coil was in the way so that had to come out too.




Remove the bolts clamping down on the camshaft. Since I was changing my cam-pulley as well, that had to come out as well.

Gently turn and slide the cam shaft out. You have to be extremely patient to do this and brute force should never be used if it's stuck.




Once the stock camshaft is out, lube the new cam first. It makes it easier to install. Notice Drexchan (my installer for the cam shaft and pulley) is not wearing any gloves. Why? Gloves has hair and/or may introduce foreign objects into the exposed cylinder head. We wouldn't want any dirt or hair mixing in with the oil do we?




Gently slide and turn the new cam in. Be extra careful with the camshaft oil seal! You may need to take out the oil seal for the new cam to sit properly on the seal. If you're skilled enough like Drexchan, you should be able to twist it into the oil seal without problems.




Refit all the bolts back into the original locations. To tighten the bolts, start from inside/middle and work your way outwards to ensure equal pressure on the camshaft. Best to use a torque wrench to ensure you get the best and even torque is used to lock down the bolts. Once done install the new cam pulley.

At this point you can re-tune your tappets if you're not using a hydraulic lifter setup. Since mine is old school manual tappet adjustment, I had mine re-adjusted just to compensate for any differences between my original tappet gap difference and now since over time the clearances might change.




The cam pulley was retarded -4 degrees initially and it was found that the powerband was way too high. Changed that to -2 degrees and it worked better. From 0 to 4000rpm the rev was normal but after that the RPM meter moved drastically faster and the car surged forward quite satisfactorily. Happy but at 4k RPM, for an automatic that was somewhat dissapointing.

I experimented using a higher octane petrol with my next fuel fill and surprisingly this worked much better. 2.5k RPM all the way to 6k RPM the oomph was there! After a discussion with Drexchan on my findings, he figures the overlap between the intake valve and exhaust valve opening somewhat decreases the octane in the cylinder making it harder to burn. Switching to a higher octane petrol offset that loss and translated into power.

A week and a half later I'm still experimenting with different setups, mainly tappet adjustment, octane boosters mixed with RON95 (I'm a cheapass ok?), cost vs benefits, etc. Will share my findings as my experiments complete themselves.

Until then, I highly recommend camshafts to anyone who doesn't have one. I'm pretty much sure it'll help your acceleration or improve your overtaking prowess. And the rawwwrrr the Hellokitty cam gives me when I hit the powerband is priceless! :biggrin:
 

Attachments

Won

500 RPM
Sep 2, 2010
602
2,216
593
Kuala Lumpur
Mate, good write-up. I must admit that I learn a lot from reading your entries!
 

D7zul

2,000 RPM
Senior Member
Feb 24, 2011
2,697
848
1,713
Shah Alam
nice..

soon, we all going to be mechanics.. hehehe..

:biggrin:
 

amirmambo

Known Member
Senior Member
Jun 24, 2010
187
23
518
Subang Jaya
Soon Mechanics in Msia also dont knw what to do edi..Hahaha ZTH has alot of great members that keeps giving us information for DIY stuff or even things like Mods to make sure that we wont get cheated and cheers to that :biggrin:..Another great write up from a fellow caring ZTH member :rock:
 

omnikron

Known Member
Senior Member
Dec 13, 2005
66
8
1,508
i have a question in the write up :

"he figures the overlap between the intake valve and exhaust valve opening somewhat decreases the octane in the cylinder making it harder to burn"

can the octane number actually change? or is it the Air/Fuel Ratio?
 

Mr.JY

Known Member
May 3, 2011
147
87
528
Kuala Lumpur
Izso, you are really a DIY king! Even camshaft now?

Few years down the road, you'll be overhauling your own engine. Or you have already done that?! :biggrin:
 

achelone

Known Member
Senior Member
Jun 3, 2009
125
27
1,528
errr some camshafts require change of valve spring......that hello kitty (is it jasma?) doesn't need that?
 

myakac

Active Member
Senior Member
Jun 13, 2010
38
6
508
Kuala Lumpur
thank you for your passion and patience in sharing the knowledge,izso. may your passion alive all the time in sharing the knowledge to all of us; the petrolheads.Salute..
 

punk

Known Member
Senior Member
Aug 6, 2011
360
76
528
Negeri Sembilan
bro,,pls give more details in retune the tappet..:biggrin:
which part should i start first to adjust??
i have see the manual but still couldnt understand..
 

1JZtezza

Known Member
Senior Member
Sep 26, 2008
371
42
1,528



The cam pulley was retarded -4 degrees initially and it was found that the powerband was way too high. Changed that to -2 degrees and it worked better. From 0 to 4000rpm the rev was normal but after that the RPM meter moved drastically faster and the car surged forward quite satisfactorily. Happy but at 4k RPM, for an automatic that was somewhat dissapointing.

I experimented using a higher octane petrol with my next fuel fill and surprisingly this worked much better. 2.5k RPM all the way to 6k RPM the oomph was there! After a discussion with Drexchan on my findings, he figures the overlap between the intake valve and exhaust valve opening somewhat decreases the octane in the cylinder making it harder to burn. Switching to a higher octane petrol offset that loss and translated into power.

A week and a half later I'm still experimenting with different setups, mainly tappet adjustment, octane boosters mixed with RON95 (I'm a cheapass ok?), cost vs benefits, etc. Will share my findings as my experiments complete themselves.

Until then, I highly recommend camshafts to anyone who doesn't have one. I'm pretty much sure it'll help your acceleration or improve your overtaking prowess. And the rawwwrrr the Hellokitty cam gives me when I hit the powerband is priceless! :biggrin:

Just out of curiousity---'Hellokitty' cams?

Err why 260/288 compared with stock 248/252 which assuming my info is correct The exhaust increase by 36 degree not that mild anymore. compared to an increase of 12 degree for intake

Intake: open 15 degree BTDC close 53 degree ABDC peak (symetrical cam) 109 degree ATDC
Exhaust: open 57 degree BBDC close 15 degree ATDC peak 111 degree BTDC

Where you set the 'peak' or if based on inlet ;to maintain same peak should retard 6 degree but because its SOHC what about exhaust.

Stock engine says 69kw @ 5500 rpm and torque 126Nm @ 3000rpm

Any intentions to dyno and see the difference??

Adjustments to ignition timing??

cheers:beer::beer::beer:
 

Izso

NA NA NA NA NA
Helmet Clan
Moderator
Thread starter
Mar 28, 2004
15,389
6,411
5,213
KL
i have a question in the write up :

"he figures the overlap between the intake valve and exhaust valve opening somewhat decreases the octane in the cylinder making it harder to burn"

can the octane number actually change? or is it the Air/Fuel Ratio?
Well, if you look up the definition of "octane rating", it tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. It's not so much about the fuel itself when I was talking about it. I'm referring to all of the combination as a whole, exhaust gases, fresh air and fuel altogether. The exhaust gas will make it harder for the fuel to ignite or in this case prematurely ignite. Higher octane fuel is harder to ignite but when it does, it'll do it at much higher compression and that's what I've achieved here, harder to compress because of the extra exhaust gases but when it does, it does so at the right piston height.

Izso, you are really a DIY king! Even camshaft now?

Few years down the road, you'll be overhauling your own engine. Or you have already done that?! :biggrin:
Problem is full engine rebuild was actually completed 2 years ago without documentation. Sigh.

errr some camshafts require change of valve spring......that hello kitty (is it jasma?) doesn't need that?
Nah. It's not that aggressive to warrant a valve spring change. 292 might but 260 is too mild to need a stronger spring.

---------- Post added at 09:23 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 09:19 PM ----------

bro,,pls give more details in retune the tappet..:biggrin:
which part should i start first to adjust??
i have see the manual but still couldnt understand..
Erm.. Ok can. But I need to figure out what adjustments give what results before I write on it.


Just out of curiousity---'Hellokitty' cams?

Err why 260/288 compared with stock 248/252 which assuming my info is correct The exhaust increase by 36 degree not that mild anymore. compared to an increase of 12 degree for intake

Intake: open 15 degree BTDC close 53 degree ABDC peak (symetrical cam) 109 degree ATDC
Exhaust: open 57 degree BBDC close 15 degree ATDC peak 111 degree BTDC

Where you set the 'peak' or if based on inlet ;to maintain same peak should retard 6 degree but because its SOHC what about exhaust.

Stock engine says 69kw @ 5500 rpm and torque 126Nm @ 3000rpm

Any intentions to dyno and see the difference??

Adjustments to ignition timing??

cheers:beer::beer::beer:
LOL.. hellokitty referring to the Pipercam Billet 260 in 288 exhaust cams la. I don't consider these as aggressive cams.

I've yet to try 6 degrees as my testing is mostly based on guess work. But I'll test it based on your calculation and give feedback.

As for dyno, not really. I don't have the patience to sit on a roller and to let a machine tell me what my car is capable of. The weird thing is different machines give different readings. So what I'm doing is using a Gtech Pro to measure on the road performance. It's a crude reading, but in the end it's what feels good to me that counts. Besides, I don't have a base dyno figure to compare with.

Oh and adjusting ignition timing is not technically possible for the Siemens VDO 4G15. The only way I do it is by adjusting the crank sensor angle but the thing is that's pretty much guess work too and over advancing it will make my car knock pretty badly.
 

1JZtezza

Known Member
Senior Member
Sep 26, 2008
371
42
1,528
Well, if you look up the definition of "octane rating", it tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. It's not so much about the fuel itself when I was talking about it. I'm referring to all of the combination as a whole, exhaust gases, fresh air and fuel altogether. The exhaust gas will make it harder for the fuel to ignite or in this case prematurely ignite. Higher octane fuel is harder to ignite but when it does, it'll do it at much higher compression and that's what I've achieved here, harder to compress because of the extra exhaust gases but when it does, it does so at the right piston height.

I think 'Omnikron is right and have to disagree here;the Octane or RON dont change; its the air/fuel mixture.

Normally u run a higher duration intake to exhaust but perhaps because you have 2 inlet valves v one exhaust valve it should be ok but not too much a difference.

2O2R link in the Beams dyno registry gives a good insight!

In some ways the old carby engine is great for messing with cams as u can adjust the air/fuel




Oh and adjusting ignition timing is not technically possible for the Siemens VDO 4G15. The only way I do it is by adjusting the crank sensor angle but the thing is that's pretty much guess work too and over advancing it will make my car knock pretty badly.
How do u know if its not 'knocking'?..and to compensate for the bigger overlap may have to advance(earlier) ignition timing.

I am not criticising any of your stuff;please dont get me wrong-I would like to see you optimise your cam with and without fuel changes.I dont know the answer; I dont play the 4g15.Just call it points to ponder.
 

Random Post Every 5 Minutes

greetings to all sifu and friends...

1. i need to know what servo double layer can we put into proton waja?

2. cost and which workshop can do that mod?

plzz pm me or whatsapps..016-2250374. i live in shah alam selangor
Ask a question, start a discussion or post something for sale!
Post thread

Online now

Enjoying Zerotohundred?

Log-in for an ad-less experience