Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Whats up y'all? First things first I just wanted to say that this forum has been more than helpful to me, as I'm going through my first engine build. I haven't had any issues, up until now. I need some opinions!

A little background on my build:

81.5mm B18C5, .005" decked
RS Machines PR3 pistons
ACL bearings
Alaniz ported B16 head
Skunk2 standard size flat valves
Skunk2 Tuner 2 cams
Golden Eagle cam gears

I bought the cams from a guy used. I did my homework with these cams, or so I thought, checking all markings and such to make sure they were the real deal. I was confident that they were real, until I went to assemble the head. I understand that with the tuner series cams, they're pretty much a drop in cam, set cam gears to 0,0 and it's good to go. I decided to check my V2V clearances anyway. I went by the procedure in the link in the FAQ post by locking the VTEC rockers, installing an old timing belt around the gears, and making the chart. These are the numbers I came up with:

http://imageshack.us/a/img268/3689/wk6b.jpg

I also decided to degree them in, again even though Skunk2 says you don't need to with these cams. Using their centerline (94 ATDC Intake, 112 BTDC Exhaust), I came up with the cam settings +6 Ex, +2 In. To me these numbers seemed a little crazy, I decided to call Skunk2 to ask their opinion. I talked to Brian, and my clearances seemed a bit off to him too. In the end we came to the conclusion that my camshafts could likely be fakes. Mine have the right etchings on the distributor end (H08IN / H08EX), no protruding rings on the thrust rings, but mine have holes in the casting, like the ones in OEM cams the hold them to install the timing belt. I was told the legit Skunk2s don't have holes in them because of the material their made of.

http://imageshack.us/a/img716/9403/bu17.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/3678/xnzp.jpg

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7312/t87d.jpg

Also, I noticed something while degreeing these in. The exhaust cam's lift and duration measurements are dead on with Skunk2's, but the intake cam isn't. Skunk2s spec is .486" lift and 262 duration @.050". My intake cam measures in with .477" lift and 257 duration @.050", Not all that far off, but definitely enough to make me question.

So I'm kindof stuck here. Should I just run these with all my clearances checked and be done with it? I'm just a bit hesitant to run these if they are indeed truly fakes and with the v2v numbers I'm getting. Or should I just scrap these and buy some legit cams? Opinions? Thanks!

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Hmm that is strange. Maybe Brian @ Skunk2 will chime in on this thread. That's too big to be a tuner 1 but too small for a tuner 2. Those don't look like skunk2 castings in the pics, but it could be the light. I thought S2 cams has that stamped in between the lobes somewhere with the series leve "1" in this case as well.

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

They look just like old sk2 tuner cams, like early 2000's but i'm sure everyone else will chime in saying they're fake.

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

i belive it also says there are variations in centerlines of the cams from manufacturing process...my pro1 cams ran better at 0:0 settings

they are fakes most likely. last year i got scammed and wound up with a set of these ill search my name in the all motor forum there is a thread about it. i was such a pain in the dick to get my credit card company to credit me back but they did after like 3 months of back and forth. also paypal and its buyer and seller protection blah blah blah is totally useless

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

S2 cams have s2 molded into the cores I believe and dont gave the pin holes to lock them at tdc, looks like a oem cam regrinded.

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Not old ones. There 3 different versions of them
New ones have etched stamp

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

We are not tallking about the end of the cam, we are talking about between the journals and the lobes, he has oem honda cores not skunk2s.

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Some aftermarket cams have them too

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Thanks for the insight y'all. I'd really love to believe that these are just older Skunk2 cams, I'm still unsure. It seems theres so much misinformation about this particular topic. I went ahead and snapped a couple more close pics:

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/2144/vaj1.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/6168/qm48.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/7641/ndsq.jpg

After a good bit of searching around, looking at pictures of other peoples S2T2 cams, there's quite a few that are real similar to mine that have the M and the 2. But again, there are some that say they're older S2's or they're fakes, regrinds, etc.

Well, assuming the worst case if they're fakes, what would yall do? Should I just stop worrying about it and run these? Or should I make these into cool paperweights? I'm just somewhat iffy

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

You can tell by looking at the lobes they have some pretty decent lift and duration. You can tell by how wide the lobes are the duration is decent. I'd run em and see what kinda numbers you put down. They're bigger than any stock cam so should make power still.

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

run them, regardless they measure bigger than stock and oem cores are very strong.

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

i had OLD sk2 cams (dont remember what ones) but they had s2 between journals as stated and mine also had alignment holes like oem.


get a setting that good with v2v and run with them

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

I think I'm just gonna go for it and run these. No sense in spending $600 more on cams that are pretty much the same as what I have now, although they would be legit. All I have left to do is check P2V now. Just to make sure, anything over .030" for V2V and over .060" for V2V is safe for a dd?

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

I'm in the same situation as you I got some skunk2 tuner2 with the same marking but no etching on the cams end, but I did get these back in 06. At least they made power in my b16

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

It's sad that this seems to be such a large problem. Oh well, I guess I'll see how much I can make with these, shouldn't be too bad.

I'm having another small issue, this time with my P2V. I'm measuring using the clay method. Im a little confused about measuring vertically into the valve relief in the piston and measuring radial clearance to the edgs of the valve relief. Here's what I'm talking about:

http://imageshack.us/a/img845/6842/7t8q.jpg

Vertically I'm getting a plenty .180" clearance. But from the edge of the valve to the side of the valve relief, it's about .030" Seems a bit tight to me. What do y'all think, as far as my radial clearance? Is this safe?

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Email pics to skunk2. I did so before I purchased my pro2 and they were more than happy to help me and let me know they were in fact real. But from this video, I do not think they are skunk2 cams

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

I wish I would have found that video before I bought them. I found that video after I talked to Skunk2. Oh well, I've pretty much accepted the fact that they are fakes, but I'm going to run them anyway. I'll report back with how they do.

As for my issue measuring P2V clearance, I figured it out. Just so everyone else can learn from my noob mistake, whenever measuring your P2V, make sure you have dowel pins installed in the head! Sometimes the obvious can be overlooked..

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Re: Question about possibly fake Skunk2 cams
 

Happy 4th mofo