Cams, smooth or...?

[QuickSilver 0]

Hey guys, just wondering if I could get your opinion, in the previous years of my cars, (mainly old fords) I've always had either a nice lumpy cam, or I've had a smooth but planed the head, 1 or 2 mm's. Now, in the e30 world, what am I looking at? is it worth having a lumpy, will it make much difference??? This is for future reference as I ain't doing it until I've done the manual conversion, which is going ahead whenever I have time.

Also, what am I looking at for extractors? I would like to make my car breathe a little more, intake and exhaust need attention, so, where can I find some?? don't have to be new, and what am I looking at price wise????

Cheers guys,

- A.

[QuickSilver 0]

was it something i said???... lol dumb question or something???

[Gus 5]

nope, not quite sure what you mean by smooth cam.

i have a lumpy (not sure what 280-300) cam in my m20, am v happy with it. basically moves the power curve up more so it makes power to redline instead of peaking early. not sure of power gains, my engine is prob 10-20 hp up on stock with the cam and a few other mods.

hope this helps, not many have lumpy m20 cams. not a hard mod and worth it for the sound if nothing else..mine starts making more power at 4k

[QuickSilver 0]

lol by smooth i mean "non lumpy"lolbad wording on my side... ive always seen quite an increase with my others, just curious, cheers, any iinfo on extractors???

Cheers

[Gus 5]

right...head skimming doesnt seem to work with m20s as piston-head clearance is already tight

as for headers, good quality big $$ ones seem to give improvements, one of the few recorded ones is the BTB manifolds (from UK) giving about 18hp and around the same ft lb improvement (SAE Corrected assumed). andrews race car headers from mark herbert gave good gains too (with a host of other mods too) big $$ though.

if choosing between stock manifolds, go facelift, it had much larger ports

[QuickSilver 0]

right...head skimming doesnt seem to work with m20s as piston-head clearance is already tight

as for headers, good quality big $$ ones seem to give improvements, one of the few recorded ones is the BTB manifolds (from UK) giving about 18hp and around the same ft lb improvement (SAE Corrected assumed). andrews race car headers from mark herbert gave good gains too (with a host of other mods too) big $$ though.

if choosing between stock manifolds, go facelift, it had much larger ports

Cheers, thats good to know about the skimming, thanks heaps for the info, what about custom headers??? Heard of any place that has made up any good ones????

Also, I dont mean to be annoying with all my questions so just tell me if their repeatetive or pointless, im not afraid to ask what I dont know.

Thanks again.

Edited April 5, 2007 by QuickSilver

[Gus 5]

please ask, im no expert but can relate my own experiences

depending on how things go down, may be copying a set of reputable headers anyway..im over in the UK in July so might try get a BTB back here somehow, depending on $$ at the time

[QuickSilver 0]

please ask, im no expert but can relate my own experiences

depending on how things go down, may be copying a set of reputable headers anyway..im over in the UK in July so might try get a BTB back here somehow, depending on $$ at the time

what exactly do u mean by $$$? are we talking, low hundreds, high hundreds, low thousands, high thousands??? etc etc

Cheers.

[Gus 5]

a btb manifold converts to around $1800 plus the cost of getting it here...andys headers + exhaust cost around 3k...so not exactly cheap.

ideally would want to sell for around a grand

[QuickSilver 0]

ah yep, fair enough, i guess if you want good quality one should have the cash.

[jpp 0]

nope, not quite sure what you mean by smooth cam.

i have a lumpy (not sure what 280-300) cam in my m20, am v happy with it. basically moves the power curve up more so it makes power to redline instead of peaking early. not sure of power gains, my engine is prob 10-20 hp up on stock with the cam and a few other mods.

hope this helps, not many have lumpy m20 cams. not a hard mod and worth it for the sound if nothing else..mine starts making more power at 4k

[jpp 0]

nope, not quite sure what you mean by smooth cam.

i have a lumpy (not sure what 280-300) cam in my m20, am v happy with it. basically moves the power curve up more so it makes power to redline instead of peaking early. not sure of power gains, my engine is prob 10-20 hp up on stock with the cam and a few other mods.

hope this helps, not many have lumpy m20 cams. not a hard mod and worth it for the sound if nothing else..mine starts making more power at 4k

How does one get their sticky hands on a lumpy cam?

Edited April 6, 2007 by JP

[M325is 0]

Im sorry if I missed it somewhere but what E30 do you have there?

[QuickSilver 0]

Im sorry if I missed it somewhere but what E30 do you have there?

got a 1989 p/fl e30 320i.

[pureboiracer 0]

theres a place in ch ch cald kelford cams they will regrind u a new cam to whatever spec u want for nt 2 much muny

[QuickSilver 0]

Yea, i know about the place in ch ch couple friends have done their cams through them. But some came back TOO lumpy,

[kerrynzl 3]

Yea, i know about the place in ch ch couple friends have done their cams through them. But some came back TOO lumpy,

Kevin at Kelfords can Grind a Cam for any spec you wan't [they do contract work for Cosworth]their quality is good

The problem is usually the Customer isn't honest with themselves [they usually want the fattest cam they can get]

If you tell them of your wants, they'll get it right

[QuickSilver 0]

lol, always be honest with grinding up cams! its not nice when their not right haha, gotta have a good balance, whereabouts is this place?? and roughly how much does he charge?

[hybrid 1039]

pre made

http://www.vacmotorsports.com/cgi-bin/spec....pl?man=Schrick

what gus is running

[wms 1]

I got Schrick 290 for my M30 - technically the cut-off point between race & street.

Don't have a clue what its like cos engines still being built. Should be +20bhp apparently and lumpity lump lump.