I have a 1996 hatch with a 97 GSR swap in it. I am ready to upgrade the cams, and was wondering what the best route to go was. A friend of mine told me that type r cams were the way to go, and that skunk, crower, and others were just a waste of time. Any input would be appreciated. Also, what other modifications would be the most beneficial with the cam upgrade, and do I need to do springs and retainers if I do not plan to rev all that high?
Thanks in advance

James

 

bump, come on guys any help....

 

Type R cams are always a pretty good option, but they will not give you as much power as Skunk2, JUN, or Toda.

If you were to upgrade to Type R cams, you would need Type R intake springs and move your GSR intake spring to the exhaust side. I think Type R retainers are needed for the intake side, but i'm not sure about that.

If you went for Skunk2, JUN, or Toda cams, you would need new springs and retainers. In most situations, its best to get valve train compontents of the same brand of the cams.

Whether you get Type R cams or after market cams, it is always a good idea to raise your compression ratio. This is especially important with the after market cams.

New springs are, in most cases, needed with high lift cams because the stock GSR springs cannot handle the higher lift that these cams produce.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joe_bocc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Type R cams are always a pretty good option, but they will not give you as much power as Skunk2, JUN, or Toda.

If you were to upgrade to Type R cams, you would need Type R intake springs and move your GSR intake spring to the exhaust side. I think Type R retainers are needed for the intake side, but i'm not sure about that.

If you went for Skunk2, JUN, or Toda cams, you would need new springs and retainers. In most situations, its best to get valve train compontents of the same brand of the cams.

Whether you get Type R cams or after market cams, it is always a good idea to raise your compression ratio. This is especially important with the after market cams.

New springs are, in most cases, needed with high lift cams because the stock GSR springs cannot handle the higher lift that these cams produce.</TD></TR></TABLE>

good advice!

 

If you are going to keep the stock compression ratio, I would recommend Type-R, Skunk2 Stage1, or Toda "A"s. And upgrade the valve springs-you can move the GSR intake springs to the exhaust side and get ITR intake springs as suggested, or get a good set of aftermarket springs.
ITR LMA's would not hurt, either.


Modified by b19coupe at 7:47 AM 5/23/2003

 

Is there any disadvantage for him to use the stock retainers?

 

not really if he is not going to rev the **** out of it. Leave them stock.

 

It depends what kind of performance you are looking for. If you want something thats affordable and will give you extra power then go with itr or ctr cams. If you want to see bigger gains and higher rpm revs then go with Skunk2, Jun or Toda. I would recommend Skunk2 Stage one's as I have seen a few GSR's with them and they definately get the job done.

What kind of power are you looking for? Also, what kind of money are you looking to spend?

right now I am personally looking at the Skunk2 Stage one's (trying to find a used set for a good price).

whatever you decide to drop in. Make sure you get the car tuned so that you can achieve maximum power out of your setup

 

ITR and GSR Retainers are the same.

It really depends on what type of power you want.

97-98 spec cams are a little less agressive than the 00-01 cams.

You'll definitely have to upgrade the valvetrain. You can move the GSR intake Valves over, or you can just buy a set of ITR valve train. Brand new.

 

A lot of the above advice is accurate, but it should be stressed that if you go w/ a big aftermarket cam, especially Toda B's or C's (due to their large primary lobes), you almost have to raise your compression. Anything beyond Toda A's, ITR, CTR, or possibly one of the milder Skunks (I admit to not being very familiar w/ the Skunks) becomes a large project to run correctly. Big cams+stock compression=lots of stress on the motor but not big #'s that would expect from the components.

 

Thank you all for the replies. I am not looking to spend an arm and a leg but do not wanna get something that is not worth my time, I would rather wait. I am looking for some increased power throughout the entire band. So from what I have gathered, no matter what I choose, I def. need to do the springs and retainers with the cams. And one last question which is better itr or ctr cams? What can i expect to pay for these? I am thinjing of getting a skunk2 manifold and cam gears with the swao and then getting it tuned. Thanks again for all your help

 

I've seen ITR cams go from 300-400. And CTR cams go from 500-600. Based on my knowledge the CTR cams put out more power. Both will give you gains over your stock gsr cams. Either way you should be happy.

 

2001 ITR cams and CTR cams are the same, a little more cam than the 98 to 99 ITR's. I would personally reccomend getting a used set. (got a CTR intake cam for $120!). They will give you the best all around street performance, with the least amount of $$ and work. To see any real gains out of other cams, you will need to up the compression. EX: My friend put Skunk 2 stage 1 cams, v-springs, retainers, ECU, cam gears, VAFC, and FPR in his 2000 GSR, and is only pulling down @ 160 tunded HP to the wheels. (this it about what you can expect from this set up. We have seen a few others in the same range) Dont get me wrong, he has a nice flat 130 TQ across the powerband, but he is not going to truely benifit from all this work untill we up the compression. (about to install the JDM ITR pistons ...
It all depends on what you are looking for.
p.s. There are plenty of built motors running in the 13's with CTR/ITR cams...
very good street cam, especially for the $$ (Dam Honda is cool)