i just picked up a s2 stage 1 tuner series cams new for $300, it's going in my gsr and i'm about to go tune next month. my motor is bone stock with the injen short ram intake, was just wondering should i upgrade to skunk2 pro series intake manifold or is that a waste of time. i also have a stock header as well, which i know that will restrict my power.

 

Damn...I wish I'd have gotten a deal like that!

You'd get a better result by upgrading the Header, IMHO.

 

are you using stock valvetrain???

 

To be honest, I wouldn't touch the intake manifold or exhaust manifold since both work quite well in stock form. If you're going to install cams, you're going to need something like Hondata or Neptune etc to get any power out of them. Adjustable cam gears as well. That where you WILL need to spend money right away.

 

i disagree. a quality header will net you 15whp+ with no other modifications. get one asap!

 

You'd tell him to get a header vs tuning and cam gears....are you serious?

 

OP, depending on your expectations I'd set some money aside for the tune, but keep saving for the IM you want + header & exaust. You'll probably get the most from these cams this way.

I mean you'll need tuning either way, but should you decide to upgrade your I/H/E later on to better accomidate the cams, you'll need a retune then too. Just more money spent, why do it twice?

 

Considering how close these cams are to STOCK ITR cams, that would be my suggestion, too. I've known plenty of people getting gains out of ITR cams in a GS-R application on the stock P72 with stock P72 injectors, etc.

Short of it is....a header/exhaust or just a header SHOULD be on his list of things to get.

He'll benefit from dropping in Stage1 cams w/o a tune. They're so close to Stock ITR cams, they'll run well at 0,0 as a drop-in. Will they run OPTIMALLY? No. Will he see gains over stock w/ them? Yes.

He'll also see gains over stock w/ an UNTUNED header swap.

IF he's selecting parts that compliment each other to "add" to his engine, you COULD "Lego" build something BASIC (i.e. Stage 1 cams w/ I/H/E). It's not the optimal way to go...but it can be done IF he has a PLAN to begin with and he sticks with it.
Like: Drop in cams, now; Get header later; IM later; etc...
Once you have all your "hard" or tangible parts, get a tune and squeeze all you can out of the combination.

I wouldn't recommend doing so w/ more radical cams, compression, etc....but it could be done in this situation.

Valvesprings are something else....if he wants to get 100% of the potential out of the cams, you'll need them. I'd suggest getting them b/c you CANNOT turn the engine past 8100 w/ these cams a lot and expect not to float a valve. It's just too inexpensive of a part to skip. The cams will want to rev a little higher than your stock Redline...so just go ahead and do it.

 

Those cams are bigger than you think. ITR cams are still a stock cam and can be dropped in with little change and work well. Speaking from firsthand experience with those cams and upgrading, when I installed them in my car, it had some slight idle issues, completely fell on it's face when VTEC engaged and just when it started to make power, would bounce against the rev limiter. I too was under the "impression" that you could throw those cams in with little or no tuning and they'd be ok since they were only "slightly larger than ITR/CTR cams". I was wrong. It wasn't until I added cam gears and Hondata that the car actually ran well and made good power. When I drove the car before that, it was significantly slower than it was before the change.

You can drive the car as in "get it to move" reasonably well without tuning but it was hardly worth it IMHO. As far as valvetrain, I simply added ITR inner valvesprings to my stock B16a2 springs and had no problems at all. That being said, my springs only had like 25K miles on them at the time.

From personal experience with this, I can honestly say that adding any other performance part without a tuning system, to this combinations would have accomplished nothing but running rich and poor performance. The tuning system should be thought of as the foundation on which to build any significant mods. Anything else is doing it backwards.

 

im half and half with both of these guys

your gonna need cam gears for tuning tho, i would never put aftermarket cams in my car without cam gears

but i also agree on the header

you get a good quality header you can pick up some power.

save your money and get cam gears and crome and a decent header

 

Well then...I stand corrected, and apologize. I was basing that on an assumption, and was incorrect. For that, I'm sorry. This is good information for anyone considering this.

Yeah...save your pennies and get a good header and cam gears...put it all in at once and get it tuned. Really going to be your best bet.

 

yeah dont half *** and do this and dont do that...it will hurt you in the long run

 

i read that you can use stage 1 cams with type r valve spring. how is that possible when the stage 1 is rated at 11.9 intake and 11.0 exhaust. its much higher than ctr cams. please anyone clarify my thoughts. Is the stage 1 safe to be use with type r valvesprings? if im not mistaken type intake vspring coilbind is at 12mm and exhaust v spirng is at 10.8mm. how is this done?

 

Skunk says you can use those cams on stock valvesprings. By adding inner springs you increase spring control. Coil bind is NOT an issue with these cams.

 

ok understood. so is still ok if i use stage 1 cams with stock retainers?
as long as i don go over 8.4k..
even with Jun stage 2 12mm n 10.9mm, i was also amazed that type r valve spring could handle them til 8.8k..

 

nice info, i'm planning on going all legal, i just pick up a skunk2 pro series manifold, and i'm about to go pick up my comptech 4-2-1 carb legal header or either a jdm itr 4-1 header, the cams that i have are tuner series stage1 cams from skunk2, so hopefullie everything will work well after i slap all these parts on and get a tune.

 

With my personal experience i agree with "00Red_SiR" and C rock, both you guys are right, i have these cams in my car at the moment, it has half ***'d by a crome chip, with ITR base map=runs like ****, never tuned... (previous owner)

get the proper Engine Management, and with that get a good I/H/E combo, this will get the most out of those cams... as well as the cam gears.


from stop and go i am slow as hell, but on the highway with the cams i/h/e i was able to hang with a stage 1 SRT4.. may sound fake but its true..

with the chip i have, my power band falls flat on on its face from 0-4500, then from 4600 it picks up and then Vtec at 5700, thats the worst chip i have experienced.

with these cams you are ok to rev to 8500 safely, but after some time the valve train is gonna take its toll.

hope this helps man..


i have the old style Sk2 manifold, with a 68mm t body, i sport the stock header, i feel like these cams need a really good if not decent header to make the most out of it...

thanks just my .2 cents

 

kewl, what about the blox tuner series type a, how is that cam compare to the skunk2 and how do you even tell the difference between blox and skunk2 cams.

 

Where did you get a deal like that from? I need a set of cams desperately.

 

from a local seller, i have a set of brand new blox type a cams as well, hit me up if you want them. i got the blox for $400 and got skunk2 for cheaper, so i'm selling the blox.

 

No I never said INSTEAD of.

But he's putting the cart before the horse. You will need decent i/h/e before going into the head. I've installed big boy cams before with stock header and it just can't breathe enough - so it won't make much more power than stock without a decent flowing header. The stock exhaust isn't too bad, but the stock header is a real bottleneck.

And fwiw, this is with dyno testing by yours truly and not heresay off a messageboard.