Choosing a camshaft (rover V8)

[wombat172a]

Afternoon,

One of my hydraulic lifters has given up, so of course this means replacing the camshaft. It'll be silly to put a standard one back in so I'm looking for something with a bit more poke. The car is a TVR wedge 350i with the flapper system, and it's mainly a track toy (but with occasionaly use driving it, which I'm quite happy to sacrifice). No other engine mods have been done, but I'll be swapping out the fuel regulator if that makes any difference.

The question is though, which cam, as everybody I make contact with offers a different camshaft (which of course is the best).

So far it's been suggested I go for a Viper Hurricane (Real Steel), a Piper 285 (RPI Eng.), and a MC1 (by V8 developments). How does one choose?

Thanks,
Chris

[Steve_D]

You choose by comparing their specifications with what you want to use the car for.
Many RV8 cams will be aimed at the 4x4 marked to give improved torque at low revs which is not what you are looking for.
Post the specs here.
Someone who know more about cams than me will advise you.

Steve

[coetzeeh]

Search for member V8 Racing on PH. What he does not know about RV8 and their camshaft designs is not worth knowing. He does work for V8D so of the lot you mentioned V8D is where I would go.

[350zwelgje]

Regarding your list, Kent 218 seemed a choice that came up in the past. Was thinking about this myself (also standard 350i here), but have a standard 3.9 camshaft ready to try first, hopefully this year.

If you go wild you will need to have the ECU remapped, which is not straightforard on the flapper as it is controlled by resistors...., and pocketed pistons! If I would go this route myself, would consider to go hotwire as mapping is simpler and stay hydraulic and without the necessity to change the pistons.

On the hotwire: it would still leave things you would like to take out or be able to vary, that is why many go the aftermarket ECU route.....

As always the sky is the limit.

Rob

[piemanpaul]

I have Rover 4.3L
Understand come from factory with Kent 214 in it.

Trying to decide between:
- TVR Power 885
- Kent 218
- Stealth (much more expensive)

Thoughts?

[stevieturbo]

Choose one that will work with your valvetrain first of all.

Then speak to each tuner, get their reccomendation, and see how the specs of those cams compare. Hopefully they will all be very similar.

But the fact the engine is otherwise standard will limit your choice to something quite mild. Which probably isnt a bad thing anyway.

[paintman]

Depending where you are, you might have a chat with Stuart Armson - is a LR specialist but that involves a lot of work on the Rover V8!
http://armsonae.webs.com/

[coetzeeh]

piemanpaul said:

I have Rover 4.3L
Understand come from factory with Kent 214 in it.

Trying to decide between:
- TVR Power 885
- Kent 218
- Stealth (much more expensive)

Thoughts?

I have the 218H in my Griff 500. I like the characteristics of the cam - nice & punchy in lower rev range but it runs out of puff at 5k rpm which suits my driving style.

[coetzeeh]

Here are all the answers to your question courtesy Rob Robertson from V8 Racing.

Look no further.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[wombat172a]

piemanpaul said:

I have Rover 4.3L
Understand come from factory with Kent 214 in it.

Trying to decide between:
- TVR Power 885
- Kent 218
- Stealth (much more expensive)

Thoughts?

I ended up fitting a V8 developments MC1 cam. All three were fairly similar, but the deal closer for the MC1 was that V8 developments have sorted out custom timing gears so it's now a case of lining up the dots on the gears (same as the standard gears) as opposed to dialing it in manually.

[rev-erend]

This cam table is useful ..

http://www.btinternet.com/~jon.wolfe/kentcamdata.h...

G33 produced a great page on cams with input from Rob Robertson at V8 Devs..

http://www.g33.co.uk/tuning.htm