I dont know much about cam timing, but from what I have seen through others is that larger profile cams, usually dont need a lot of cam timing adjustment. An example I can think of is someone I know was using some Web cams, and the car made more power @ 0,0 than it did with the cams advanced a degree or to. I know that it is probably going to be different with each and every motor, because they are not all the same. But to my original question, how many of you use stock cam gears with large cams? Also is there a rule of thumb that with larger profile cams you either do one or the other (intake or exhaust)?

 

I would also think that by using stock cam gears, you would limit the chance of aftermarket cam gears "slipping".

 

im not positive,but i dont think you can degree cams with stock gears

 

For the most part, you can not use stock cam gears with many aftermarket cams because the duration tends to be large enough that you could have v-v contact. The manufacturer could design the cams such that you had off-set degrees between the vtec and primary/secondary lobes but you would still need adjustable gears to degree the cams.

To degree a motor, I would think it is a requirement to have adjustable cam gears.

 

so then how was it that the example car I was talking about was using aftermarket cams with the cam gears reading 0 and 0? wouldnt that be what stock cam gears would do?

 

Remember, I said many not all. For instance, the Pro series cams, M24s, BC4 and 5s, BC stg3, some RLZ cams, etc they can not be run with stock gears. For mild cams, it is possible to run stock gears and make optimal power.

 

When Marc said " For the most Part " he was not saying that ALL aftermarket cams can not run at 0,0, just most. It seems to me that the owner of the example car degreed his cams, using adjustable cam gears, and he knew that he had enough clearance to run them at 0,0.

For example: I have Rocket Motorsport cams, custom intake and M24xx exhaust cam. My custom intake cam allows me to run my cams at 0,0 and still have enough v to v clearance even though I have 34mm intake valves. I sent my head to rocket to check v to v because I didnt have the resource at the time to check myself. Also I will still be running adjustable cam gears.

Marc you bet me to it.

 

Quick rule of thumb: Aftermarket cams=aftermarket cam gears.
Most cam manufacturers recommend adjustable cam gears; there is a good reason for that

 

I have S2S3's and I have the 1st gen AEM cam gears, they were free and I just havent spent the money on better one's and I have just always been afraid of them and was thinking about stock cam gears. I just thought there was a rule of thumb that usually with larger cam profiles, you dont have to adjust the cam timing that much and if you did you were touching one, not both. There are many unanswered questions regarding my motor and I am just trying to figure some things out.

 

I remember all the old rumors of the AEM "tru-slip" cam gears, the old 3 bolt design,but never actually SAW any slip. I have run a set in a personal motor and they never gave me any problems. Anyone with first hand experience?

 

I use to run them for a couple years when I still had my b16a in the car and never had any problems with them slipping or bolts coming loose. I knew others running them that never had any troubles either. It wasn't until I joined this site that I ever "heard" of anyone having trouble with those gears.

 

Well not only the slip fear, but someone told me the degree markings were off, something like 2 degrees was really like 4 and so on.

 

they were probably confused about the concept of crank timing vs cam timing. for every 2 deg the crank turns, the cam turns 1. some cam gears are marked in crank deg, some in cam. AEM is in cam.

 

good to know.

why are you up so early? LOL!

 

he is probably up because he has like a thousand heads laying around and decided to get a head start today since yesterday all he did was get drunk...lol but yea why would you not get cam gears you need them and you can maximize the power out of a set of aftermarket camshafts and reliability of the cams

 

It wasnt that he knew he had enough room, its where they made the most power, I remember they did pulls with the intake +2 and then +3 or something, and it made less power than with the cams @ 0,0.