Camshaft specs V8S

[Marcello]

Hi,

I'm new here.
I'm the owner of V8S. I'm busy with a slight engine overhaul at the moment. THe camshaft is worn (50,000 miles...) and I asked for advise. The Piper 285 is recommended by RPI. Seems like a good choice to me. Does anybody know what the V8S engine gaines with this camshaft (44/72/72/44, 296 degr., .440 valve lift) .

Thanks,
Marcel
Holland

[seb400]

Marcel,
I've looked through a book I have 'Tuning the Rover V8' it's a bit short on exact detail but says that the standard Rover V8 camshaft is 30/75/68/37 but this is for SD1 and TR7 V8 - a bit early for 3.9. It goes on to say that in 1980 came the 'two barrel' camshaft. The 'Eagle' engine (code name for US emission version) had a new camshaft for emission reasons which was also used for the 3.9 with the camshaft advanced by 2 degrees.

Another book I have lists the Piper HR285 as Fast Road - Ultimate road cam. Tractable but slightly lumpy at tickover.

I have a Kent H214 31/73/80/34 284 deg. .469/.494 lift Fast Road cam in my V8S - Very flexible. Power from 1500-5000rpm. Good road cam. It too is slightly lumpy at low revs.

Steve

[HarryW]

Very difficult to get the info on the profiles for the 'actual' TVR cams that came as standard fit which was probably a TVR51 cam profile, you can get a replacement supplied by TVR power if you want.
Just changed mine and consensus amongst the 'experts' was that the 218 profile was probably the best cam without going down the solid lifter route, lots of low down torque, slightly ragged in the 4 ltr at tick over.
'Suck eggs time' don't forget when changing the cam have the followers changed at the same time.

Harry

[Marcello]

Thanks for your replies. I already ordered the Piper 285 and I think that I will lose a little torque at the lower revs but gain power in the higher revs. With the old Cam it accellerates like hell, but it seems to be over at 5000rpm. So I guess that the original power bound is from 1500-5000rpm. I think (hope?) it will be 2000 - 6000rpm after I fitted the P285. I will let you know.
Why are you having others Cam's on your cars?Just for fun or was it necessary?

Cheers,
Marcel

[HarryW]

Marcel
The cam needed changing so I got it changed, personally didn't go for any of the piper profiles as they seem a little basic in their design with the same inlet exhaust profiles across the board. The profile you've gone for, is as you said, gives its power from 2000 up to 6500 rpm which for the RV8 is in my eye a little too highup the rev band for an unbalanced engine to go too often IMHO.
Before I got mine changed I sort a lot of opinions from people that had experience of cam upgrades and the 218 seemed to give the best balance between every day motoring and performance.
I know at the end of the day I could have got one with a higher top end but how often is the car used like that, in my case not too often .
I hope you enjoy the car once its sorted. Out of interest had I gone the peakier performance route I think I would have gone with a 214/224 profile if sticking with hydraulic lifters or the 404 profile if going with solid lifters.

Harry

PS are they replacing the hydraulic followers at the same time ?

[Marcello]

Harry,
About balancing , you are right. I already brought crankshaft, clutch , pistons etc to the guy who will balance/weigh it all. For the rest I have not changed anything. Since you say that the power bound goes up to 6500rpm I'm bigin to wonder if it can get enough air...
At what mileage did you have to replace your camshaft?
Marcel

[GreenV8S]

Tim/Mark would be the ideal people to advise you, but for what it's worth I would say a cam that needs to be revved to 6k5 is a bad idea in an engine with hydraulic lifters. If you're going for solid lifters I think you have a choice of more aggresive cams (the 404 seems to be well thought of), although as I understand it the oil pump drive wear goes through the roof when you rev pre-serpentine engines hard so I wouldn't plan to put a race cam in without getting expert advise (about the whole engine, not just the cam characteristics).

[rustoni]

Just been told that my Cam is on it's way out and needs to be replace soon - the car has done 42,000 miles is this about average ?
The guys have said that if im lucky i might be able to keep the current push rods etc is this wise or should i bite the bullet and replace these as well ?

The other issue is that i don't have the money at the moment to replace it so should i carry on driving it at the weekends or should i be cautious and keep it garaging it until i got the available funds as i just had to pay out for an expensive service last month

Also Marcello how does the car go now it has the piper cam and would you recommend it ?

Ian - Someone who's pockets seem to be permanently empty.

[GreenV8S]

New cam should always, always have new followers. I wouldn't have thought you need new pushrods though.

[marcello]

rustoni said: The guys have said that if im lucky i might be able to keep the current push rods etc is this wise or should i bite the bullet and replace these as well ?

Also Marcello how does the car go now it has the piper cam and would you recommend it ?

I only changed the camshaft and the followers . The pushrods were still perfect (50K miles), so that probably woll not be an issue. It might be wise to change the Timing chain as well, because the one from my care was quite wide (?). I bought a Piper kit, including camshaft, followers, duplex timing chain for 255 GBP, ex VAT.

I'm still rebuilding the engine , so I can't tell you much more about it.

Good luck,
Marcel

[rustoni]

How difficult is it to replace the camshaft - is this something i should cotemplate doing myself ?

Also i have tried searching the web - using google - for places that sell Cams but haven't been able to find any...can anyone recommend anywhere please ?

Ian

[GreenV8S]

Look up the V8 aftermarket specialists, RPI, V8 Developments, Kent, Real Steel. No reason you shouldn't do the cam yourself given the necessary skills, but there are plenty of ways to get it wrong, including some that can do considerable damage to the engine. I'd advise you to have a specialist do it for you, unless you're really confident you know what you're doing. If you have to ask ... you probably know it isn't a job for you.