The way I see it, the staggering performs a specific task depending on how you staggered the cams.
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Let's say you start with 272s on both sides.
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You'll get an uneven idle.
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This is caused by the overlap between both cams.
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Now, by staggering the cams
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(ie one of them being 264), you are reducing the overlap.
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Now, what does staggering the cams do? I've spoken to people that have used a higher lift/longer duration exhaust cam, and they claim that they've been able to bring in the power much sooner
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(ie better spool up), but it doesn't rev any differently.
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In contrast, by having a higher lift/duration on the inlet side, you are giving the engine more breathing, so it'll suit more top end work, but since you have a smaller exhaust cam, it won't be lumpy anymore.
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Incidentally, the published figures by any given company for their cams are there as a guide ONLY.
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Every engine is different, and to add to that, the timing is even affected by the thickness of the head gasket, so the only way to get the best out of the cams is to fit them and spend the time dialing them in according to what you see on the rolling road.
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To really know what the best combo is, you'd have to try at least 2 profiles on each side
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(inlet and exhaust), and the various combinations.
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Not only is this time consuming, but it would be VERY expensive to do this.
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This is why I've left cams to the very end, so that I'm not introducing a variable that may be causing me issues rather than achieving anything.
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Once I've got all other variables resolved, then I can concentrate on the cams.
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