Is a cam upgrade worth the money?

Is a cam upgrade worth the money?

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Discussion

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
quotequote all
I want to get more sound, power and enjoyment out of my car. The supercharger upgrade is costly so I figured maybe just get the cam done, can anyone who has gone from exhaust upgrade to cam advise on how it sounds and feels and whether they think it was money well spent?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
quotequote all
I have full high flow exhaust and air filter.

Not sure how much the tune is, but cam installation and tune is around £2400 from Monkfish for example.

Who do you recommend?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
quotequote all
blue666uk said:
When you say full exhaust, I assume you mean headers as well, as they're a must to get the full benefit of the cam. Otherwise, with full exhaust and uprated cold air intake, you already appear to have most of the supporting mods, so if thats you're bag, go for it, I very much doubt you'll regret it. You could get a FAST intake as well, but thats small beer in terms of gains, over the other mods and the cam itself (though it does give some tasty engine bay bling).

Although I have a cam, I can't really comment subjectively on the difference it makes solo as I also had a lot of other stuff done at the same time, but know those that have gone that route, generally haven't regretted it, especially if you go for the more aggressive cam option.
Thanks for the response.

That's right I have the headers.

So what's the deal? More low end torque and a decent idle sound?

How much did you pay to have it done and where?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
quotequote all
monkfish1 said:
Ideally you would want to be doing an intake manifold too.
What is the main advantage here?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Friday 31st March 2017
quotequote all
Phillphill said:
How good with spanners are you?
How lairy do you want a cam?
Are you planning on doing anything else?

Realistic prices are (if you can install yourself - it isn't overall a difficult either, more time consuming)

Tune/mapping - you NEED this, car will fire up after install and run but it must be mapped. Depending where you are and how far you can travel (not far on a untuned car). For example Wortec can map for iirc £550 + vat

Most tuning shops in the USA do deals on cam kits, giving you everything you will need to change the cam.
For example a cam (most are made by Comp to each shops own specs) are $175-$300
Valve springs (you must change depening on specs) are anywhere from $100-$300
You will need new pushrods these are normally about $70-$80
You will want a new crank seal, crank bolt and waterpump gaskets which are a few bucks.

shop around, most of the shops will help out including your shipping. TSP, Maryland, Speedinc are a few, Summit racing are helpful too

Some may disagree but I would change the Oil pump if you are a higer mileage engine given your 90% of the way there to do so and also the timing chain.
You can simply swap cams without doing the pump and chain

I swapped my cam out last year, I went for a Speedinc SI5 cam, its a good size 231/237 with .595 lift.
Heres the sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ddO7M_pE8

Totally transformed the car, and a mega hot day dyno pull it put down 450hp/480ftlb. The rest of the mods on the car were an old K&N, AAS headers and half a Wortec exhaust as one silencer had fallen off!

Cams make a big difference, yes you have improved power and future modifications like heads/fast intake will help improve those power gains but the characteristics of the car change too (for the better), the sound and how the power is delivered

You need to think about your budget and where you want the power modifications to progress too. I ran my car with just the cam for around 6 months and I have now bought heads and a Fast 102 to help bring the power up more (its addictive)
There are good deals out there for heads and cam packages too

Hope that makes sense!
Thanks. Can you send me links or names of places that will do these deals?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Friday 31st March 2017
quotequote all
Phillphill said:
How good with spanners are you?
How lairy do you want a cam?
Are you planning on doing anything else?

Realistic prices are (if you can install yourself - it isn't overall a difficult either, more time consuming)

Tune/mapping - you NEED this, car will fire up after install and run but it must be mapped. Depending where you are and how far you can travel (not far on a untuned car). For example Wortec can map for iirc £550 + vat

Most tuning shops in the USA do deals on cam kits, giving you everything you will need to change the cam.
For example a cam (most are made by Comp to each shops own specs) are $175-$300
Valve springs (you must change depening on specs) are anywhere from $100-$300
You will need new pushrods these are normally about $70-$80
You will want a new crank seal, crank bolt and waterpump gaskets which are a few bucks.

shop around, most of the shops will help out including your shipping. TSP, Maryland, Speedinc are a few, Summit racing are helpful too

Some may disagree but I would change the Oil pump if you are a higer mileage engine given your 90% of the way there to do so and also the timing chain.
You can simply swap cams without doing the pump and chain

I swapped my cam out last year, I went for a Speedinc SI5 cam, its a good size 231/237 with .595 lift.
Heres the sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ddO7M_pE8

Totally transformed the car, and a mega hot day dyno pull it put down 450hp/480ftlb. The rest of the mods on the car were an old K&N, AAS headers and half a Wortec exhaust as one silencer had fallen off!

Cams make a big difference, yes you have improved power and future modifications like heads/fast intake will help improve those power gains but the characteristics of the car change too (for the better), the sound and how the power is delivered

You need to think about your budget and where you want the power modifications to progress too. I ran my car with just the cam for around 6 months and I have now bought heads and a Fast 102 to help bring the power up more (its addictive)
There are good deals out there for heads and cam packages too

Hope that makes sense!
Thanks. Can you send me links or names of places that will do these deals?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Saturday 1st April 2017
quotequote all
xover said:
Phillphill said:
How good with spanners are you?
How lairy do you want a cam?
Are you planning on doing anything else?

Realistic prices are (if you can install yourself - it isn't overall a difficult either, more time consuming)

Tune/mapping - you NEED this, car will fire up after install and run but it must be mapped. Depending where you are and how far you can travel (not far on a untuned car). For example Wortec can map for iirc £550 + vat

Most tuning shops in the USA do deals on cam kits, giving you everything you will need to change the cam.
For example a cam (most are made by Comp to each shops own specs) are $175-$300
Valve springs (you must change depening on specs) are anywhere from $100-$300
You will need new pushrods these are normally about $70-$80
You will want a new crank seal, crank bolt and waterpump gaskets which are a few bucks.

shop around, most of the shops will help out including your shipping. TSP, Maryland, Speedinc are a few, Summit racing are helpful too

Some may disagree but I would change the Oil pump if you are a higer mileage engine given your 90% of the way there to do so and also the timing chain.
You can simply swap cams without doing the pump and chain

I swapped my cam out last year, I went for a Speedinc SI5 cam, its a good size 231/237 with .595 lift.
Heres the sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9ddO7M_pE8

Totally transformed the car, and a mega hot day dyno pull it put down 450hp/480ftlb. The rest of the mods on the car were an old K&N, AAS headers and half a Wortec exhaust as one silencer had fallen off!

Cams make a big difference, yes you have improved power and future modifications like heads/fast intake will help improve those power gains but the characteristics of the car change too (for the better), the sound and how the power is delivered

You need to think about your budget and where you want the power modifications to progress too. I ran my car with just the cam for around 6 months and I have now bought heads and a Fast 102 to help bring the power up more (its addictive)
There are good deals out there for heads and cam packages too

Hope that makes sense!
Thanks. Can you send me links or names of places that will do these deals?
Car sounds epic!

I have the tools but not the space nor time to do it since I live in a city.

How many hours does it take to fit the cam?

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
quotequote all
Thanks for all that info, very kind.

It sounds like a half day job, but tuners are asking for more than the labour time, tune and parts. I guess i'm paying for the power benefit on top of parts and labour which makes it less attractive proposition since it's an aging car.

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
quotequote all
007 VXR said:
I have the monkfish Cam, was added after all other mods still made a great improvement ?? and imho worth the money...
After your supercharger?

Edited by xover on Monday 3rd April 13:27

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Monday 3rd April 2017
quotequote all
Phillphill said:
Once you have faffed about with everything, it is a full days work
OK, that makes sense then. The few hours part threw me off.

Edited by xover on Monday 3rd April 18:20


Edited by xover on Tuesday 4th April 09:47

xover

Original Poster:

340 posts

167 months

Sunday 30th April 2017
quotequote all
Will the cam make it the exhaust pop on every lift off? I am keen to get this to happen, sounds awesome!