High Lift Cam on later 400s

High Lift Cam on later 400s

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andy216

Original Poster:

33 posts

188 months

Friday 12th August 2016
quotequote all
Lurked for many years. Probably my first post!
So I was looking to buy a Chim 500 as I really miss the one I had circa 2009. (1998 R non-PAS in imperial blue with magnolia and stealth cam upgrade). But prices have strengthened considerably since then where my budget hasn't !! So I've been working through the pros and cons and various logical and emotional and financial arguments of the different engine/facelift options.

Clearly the most common and least costly to buy option is a 400 (240bhp quoted) with prices building with the middleweight options (HC, 4.3 450) all about 275-285 quoted. To the heavyweight 500 at a quoted 320 Bhp and people asking serious premiums.

It's seems to be accepted widely that none of the cars are likely to be that close to those quoted figures (my 500 dyno'd at about 280 pre cam change). But those figures do give a useful reference in terms of performance differences rather than absolute BHP. So I'm probably happy getting a 275bhp car that actually produces 240. But I'm not happy buying a 240 car which barely makes 200. This brings me to the point if the post (finally):

someone posted that 400 HC mods were added to ALL later Chim 400 cars at the time they dropped the HC from the range. (The logic being if all 400s are HC then no need to differentiate). That suggests that if I buy say a 1999 400 I'm actually buying a 400HC with the power benefits of that. (Maybe not 275 but comfortably over 200).

Does anyone know THE FACTS on this??

P.S. PLEASE Please please do NOT let this deteriorate into a discussion of what "HC" actually stands for!! That's not the question here!

Cheers all.






andy216

Original Poster:

33 posts

188 months

Saturday 13th August 2016
quotequote all
That is good. Being within 10bhp of the quoted output figure after 17 years has got to be very good for any car.

andy216

Original Poster:

33 posts

188 months

Saturday 13th August 2016
quotequote all
That is good. Being within 10bhp of the quoted output figure after 17 years has got to be very good for any car.

andy216

Original Poster:

33 posts

188 months

Sunday 14th August 2016
quotequote all
Cheers

andy216

Original Poster:

33 posts

188 months

Friday 16th September 2016
quotequote all
Well, I didn't get to the bottom of the "HC on lall late 400s" question. But I did end up with a lovely 500 in the garage. So i can live without knowing the answer 🙂

Happy driving chaps 👍🏻

andy216

Original Poster:

33 posts

188 months

Tuesday 27th September 2016
quotequote all
Good detective work Latham91. That puts a big old dent in the "all late 400s are High Lift Cams" theory. Enough to conclude its a "busted" myth? Probably.