hey boys and girls heres one for ya,

first off, why in gods name would we go through the trouble of installing new cams on our Z if the net gain is only 15-20 HP..? isnt 10+ hours of labor a lot for that minimal of a gain..? i dont mean to be pessimistic or rude, but i find this to be a bit silly..also, isnt there a lot more work involved than just bolting in the new cams? i always thought that when u replaced camshafts you had to re-adjust gear ratios and change several other things along the way..i would love any and all thoughts on this subject, especially info reguarding the cam process on our beloved 350Z.....thanks in advance for your thoughts...joe

 

those were the nismo cams. I am willing to bet that JWT will give better numbers as well as others. If you talk to people that have installed the nismo they say it almost sounds like stock so it must be pretty mild set of cams

 

oh I forgot sometimes when a cam gets to radical different valve springs may have to be used to keep them from floating, but then at that point might as well do head work to go along and i bet with a radical cam, port and polish head work, 1mm oversized valves with titanium retainers and a good set of springs you could see as much as 40-45rwhp. sounds good to me

 

All that and an empty pocket book Someday that transformation will cost a lot less money, as more competition from suppliers exists, and then it will be time to go inside the engine for some fun with internals. Thats my plan anyway.

 

Nissan stayed conservative on the cams so they will work with the stock ECU. As a manufacturer they have to keep in mind most people wont do or have access to ECU programming. They can't afford the bad press of bad installs and people blaming Nissan for the failure. Then there are those of us who are always pressing for more from the car. Everytime we finish a mod on my toy we look at each other and ask what to try next.

 

Also, keep in mind the figures quoted on any cam is for the cams alone.

What a new set of cams will do is help your engine breathe better to produce more power. With new cams, you then encounter bottlenecks on the intake and/or the exhaust sides.

If you upgrade intake, exhaust, AND cams, you should see gains greater than the sum of the three areas. If you neglect any of these areas, you will probably only see the "advertised" gains. The key is matching the entire system. You cannot do just one thing and expect stellar gains.

So, if you upgrade cams, you need to make sure you are feeding the new cam dynamics with better intake and allowing it to clear out spent gases with better exhaust.

 

Cams with too much lift can cause binding. You encounter floating when you subject the valve springs to much higher than normal RPMs'. Although floating is easier to achieve with higher lift cams.

 

And whats more, 1 mm oversized valves might yeild great results on a car with a radical cam, but for the ones on the market (all of which are relatively mild actually), stock ones will be fine for an all motor car.

Now, introduce FI into the equation, and at a certain point, larger valves migh be of a benefit (though who is to say - I have not inspected the stock valves myself yet).

In the world of modding, the biggest bang for the buck always comes from the initial items - on this car, that is exhaust, pullies, etc. etc. As you go from there, gains get more and more incremental, mor expensive, and as someone stated above, more dependant upon other mods you have.

What gear ratios would you need to adjust with cams - not understanding that question