ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

I may have asked before, but what are the best cams to use, from a std engine. I think I recall someone saying the STI 3 were the best?? but is there really much difference between tham and STI4/5 etc.
Or does anyone have any experience yet with aftermarket cams?

carlos_hiraoka

also heard that STi ver 3 cams are the ones to look for ..... but I don't know much about aftermarket cams, JUN offers some camshaft kits but I think they give little improvement and only on top end. This should be interesting .....

Adam M

sti 3 are supposed to be the wildest profile on the standard car.

sti and wrx cams are interchangable, <96 and >96 are not (ie. at facelift time).

Dont think phase 2 cams will go in phase 1 heads, but the profile was supposed to be somewhat tamer. Difficult to tell driving cars side by side, as they have similar torque, similar power, and identical idle. Maybe its rumour that sti 3 is the most aggressive.

I do happen to know that due to a **** up, I have access to some reprofiled version 3/4 cams. The profile is that of a wrc 99, and apparently, unrestricted, with a large (vf22ish) turbo upwards, these work very well, without a substantial idle difference.

Pavlo

looking at the 97-98 engines, they seem to make good power at the top end on very low boost (0.6bar). So I wonder if Subaru didn't compensate for the turbo a little with the cams.

Steve at SMG (as previous posts) has measured quite a few cams.

HKS do some cams for sensible money I beleive, about £4-500 but I don't know if they are reground or not.

paul

ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

It does seem to be a bit of a grey area that few people have any actual data on. Whats the story with the wrc spec cams, as im sure they could be interesting for a road car?? Have they been run in a car??.
I think you are right about the Ph2 and Ph1 not being interchangeable, but I supppose if it was really worth it, then the heads could be changed, as I have access to second hand ones quite easily.

So are the STI cams definately different from UK cams, and while the V3 are supposed to be the most aggressive, there may not be much difference for V3/4/5 ?? Any differences in power could be due to turbo/mapping.
Im sure that if HKS are doing cams, they will hardly be re-grinds. They are bound to be new items as generally most of their stuff is good quality albeit expensive.
But again, has anyone used them?? or know any data on them compared to std??

Adam M

Not used them yet, and wont know until the engine goes on the dyno if they will be able to breathe up the top end.

All I can say is that the engine has been specced to well over 500bhp and 500lbft, and the WRC 99 spec cams are not meant to restrict this.

Pavlo

From the TDI website:

ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

Interesting....wonder why it says per pair?? when 4 are required
Must give them a ring tomorrow.
Who grinds the wrc profiles? and can/do they grind them for earlier models to save changine heads? Would be even better if they did a "GrpA" profile for early hydraulic heads. Are Group A cars allowed camshaft modifications???? If they were, then there should be a wide range of profiles available somewhere as there must have been a lot of development done for the Grp A rally cars in the past.

FASTER MIKE!!

do the heads need to come off to change the cams? or is it a job for when the whole engins out?

SMG

Stevie
phase two cams have bigger journal size and will not fit phase one
heads. Phase 2 cams have a bigger base circle and a better profile can be ground on, also hydrolic cams have a differant opening ramp and this will determin the profile a bit. Cams that come as std
seems to be the luck of the draw, lots have .345 cam lift, .335 valve lift and the better ones have .365c/l .355 v/l, .355 v/l will be the max realy that you will get away with on std spring set, measure crushed hieght of sring and allow .050 between coils.
This will give you the max lift that can be run. If you want to measure the lift of a cam then measure the base circle, and measure the the bottom of the base to the top of the profile, subtract the 1st measurment from the 2nd and you will have the lift, then subtract the valve clearance from that and you will have the valve lift.
Steve.