03SilverCiv

can a properly tuned cam setting with an adjustable cam gear make more power or any gains?

brianmcgaugh

yes

VTEC_Thunder

You probably won't notice much by just adjusting the cam timing.

brianmcgaugh

Depending on the setup ,yes you will.
in most cases it will increse the area under the curve

03SilverCiv

i have an intake and axleback exhaust i plan on swaping cams for stage 1's later on but for now would this be a good way to be able to tune because its a d17.

imported_Kingjames1983

With minor add-ons cam gears are pretty point less. I can see if you have the cam shafts installed already but with just simple bolt ons especially with a d series your wasting your time and money.

zeeman

iTrader: (1)

well IMO an adjustable cam gear on a SOHC isn't very useful anyways. Its not like you can adjust the amount of overlap by adjusting each gear independantly, you can only advance/retard both the intake/exhaust valves together the same amount. Which will basically only move the powerband down/up a little depending on how you adjust them.
With adjustable gears on a DOHC you can advance the intake and retard the exhaust to increase the overlap, or retard the intake and advance the exhaust to reduce overlap...which is much more useful than just being able to either advance both the intake and exhaust or retard both the intake and exhaust at the same time.
Don't expect huge power gains out of an adjustable cam gear on a SOHC, hell don't expect huge power gains out of adjustable gears on a DOHC, but they're part of a combination of parts that can be tuned to gain a little more power, usually on a set up that has lots of mods already.
But the only way to adjust gears is on the dyno, and that can be very time consuming and time is money on a dyno.

brianmcgaugh

Like said above
on a sohc isnt going to help much.
From what ive seen live on a dohc boosted setup the power band will increase with some cam gear adjustment. Ive seen ~40whp gains through the mid range with cam gear adjustments on 400+ whp setups.
cam gear adjusting can get exspensive though for dyno time, where as if you only want to make power just raise the boost.
On a near stock motor only minimal gains

zeeman

iTrader: (1)

brian - what kind of adjustments was he making to gain 40whp? Stock cams?
You'd REALLY feel the difference gaining that kind of power through the midrange, and will make for a very fun street car and help get rid of the laggy feeling sometimes associated with bigger turbos.
I'd say in that case, cam gear tuning would really be worth it, b/c where else can you gain 40whp (or that much power under the curve) for $200-250? I say $200-250 b/c it'd only take 2 hours on the dyno to get the gears dialed in properly.
Or if you have aftermarket cams, get them degreed in, this will eliminate ALL of the guesswork on the dyno b/c ur setting them to the already established best setting determined by the manufacturer.

brianmcgaugh

I cant remeber what he ended doing for adjustments but I know he didnt have them @ 0-0 to begin with as he had the head planed, and he either advanced of retarded them both, kind foggy on that part, but for cams they were stock gsr's, turbo was a innovate turbo (i think it was a street heat 61) running ~20lbs. The adjustment didnt really make anymore peak power but the area under the curve was increased ALOT.
And im sure it was only around an hour of dyno time as well. Tuned for peak power then just played with them for a bit.

Now can someone other than andrew tell me why cam gear tuning is so benefical to a boosted motor? And how it make for a more efficient motor?