does getting better cams make your car go faster? stupid and simple question

 

Kinda, sorta, maybe.

If you're expecting to have a Huge noticeable difference from cams alone,
Don't get your hopes up too high, you'd need cam gears to get the most out of them.

Probably a few dyno runs to figure out what works best for it,
and then still, I would assume anywhere from 10 to 20hp fully tuned.

But you also can benefit from having other mods related to raising your comp. to get some more power out of it.

 

what other mods are you speaking of to aid the cams themselves

 

Since you would be adding cams,
Then would be a time when an aftermarket Intake Manifold would Actually be beneficial.

But it really depends on what route you would be going in terms of power,
If you were keeping it N/A, some higher comp pistons would help out a lot.


Also, since you didn't state what your engine is, and if completely stock or not,
I'm just assuming a stock ls/gsr, where you can actually go up in comp with dif pistons,
such as ITR/CTR, or maybe a set of forged ones that are high comp.

 

yea i have a stock LS engine with 147,000 miles on it but a lot less on the top end because i had to replace the head after the timing belt snapped. i've never worked on the inside of an engine before and im not sure how hard replacing pistons would be. im pretty mechanically inclined i've just never done it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sickofitall1113 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yea i have a stock LS engine with 147,000 miles on it but a lot less on the top end because i had to replace the head after the timing belt snapped. i've never worked on the inside of an engine before and im not sure how hard replacing pistons would be. im pretty mechanically inclined i've just never done it</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you take the pistons out, then you pretty much need new rings, and bearings.
They're not something you wanna reuse, plus having new ones is always good.

Having the block honed is something you need done also to help the new rings seat.


So unless you have a beater, or some other form of transportation,
or maybe even another engine to be able to build up, and then swap in,
it would take a Week at the least amount of time to get stuff done.

That's if w/e machine shop you take your block to has time to get stuff done quickly.

 

ok yea i definately dont have another car at all. i know engine work is the way to build up horsepower, not turbo, but i guess it might be too expensive for me right now.

 

ur bottom end (pistons, crank, rods) would b taking the punishment for putting in an aftermarket cam, not just the head. but in my honest opinion, honda's are well engineered vehicles and putting in a new cam at 150k miles prolly wouldnt hurt it too much, although, i've never actually put in new cams... when u replace a cam i think it's ideal to replace the valve springs as well. but there are many ways to have extra gains from the cam replacement, just like CleanLikeJdm said. u can put higher compression pistons in, put on a new intake manifold, get a slightly bigger throttle body... not a huge one, but like the type R 62 mm... and then port match it to the intake manifold. and then port and polish, although thats getting into a field that i don't have any understanding of at all...

 

yea interior engine work is something i know nothing about but have wanted to learn about. i wish i could do more of it myself though.

 

think of your engine as a big air pump (which it is in very simple terms) when you make one part of it breath better you need to make the other parts breath better. everything works together as a system.

 

I like the engine like an air pump analogy, I myself like to use the lung analogy, breathe more air in requires being able to exhale more air out

 

You need more than just cams to see a noticeable improvment.