cam timing
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time for an update!
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I took my stock cam gears off and fitted some shiny adjustable ones.
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After installing the cam gears, initially set to zero, the car drove slightly differently.
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Slightly rougher idle, maybe a touch more low end torque.
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So I suspect zero on my adjustable gears is slightly different to the stock cam gears.
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To find out how much, you can find exact TDC and zero the cam gears.
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However I used the slightly less scientific method of finding out how much my ignition timing was out, and what exhaust cam adjustment was needed to get it back in again.
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Using this method I think my cam gears give about
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+1deg advance when set to zero.
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I'll figure it out exactly at some point and edit the results to give accurate numbers.
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So now I tried some settings.
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The first few settings I tried were just with the car stationary, checking how it revved and idled, so I could quickly try lots of different settings and get a feeling for what different cam timings do.
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The results were really not what I expected.
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.
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.
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I left the exhaust cam at close to zero and tried adjusting the intake cam first.
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intake
5deg advance![](./images/smilies/spacer.gif)
really lopey idle.
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sounded awesome, but getting it to idle happily at
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<1200rpm would be tricky! ran alright once it had some revs.
5deg retard![](./images/smilies/spacer.gif)
very nice idle.
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revs good, throttle response good.
10deg retard![](./images/smilies/spacer.gif)
still nice idle, maybe even nicer! still good revs and response.
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My cam gears maxed out at 12 degrees, so I set them back to 10 and moved on to the exhaust cam.
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Also I should add that I was a little confused at this point, because my results were the opposite of what I was expecting! Also I double checked my cam timing and it's correct; I'm not a tooth out.
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exhaust
After each exhaust cam adjustment I reset the ignition timing to 10degBTDC each time.
5deg advance![](./images/smilies/spacer.gif)
idle a bit rougher, felt boggy and revved up kinda slow when I blipped the throttle.
5deg retard![](./images/smilies/spacer.gif)
idled nice, revved up quick again.
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I could get it to idle at
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~800rpm to set the ignition timing, which is normally quite tricky.
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I couldn't try any more, because I was running out of adjustment on the dizzy.
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So, I left it like that.
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I have a super sweet idle, low rpm driving is fine, and the power comes in 6000-8000rpm, and there's more power than before.
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In fact I have to watch the tacho because it really doesn't drop off at all! So I'm running intake
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-10, exhaust
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-5, which with my cam gears zeroed I think is probably
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-9,-4.
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I think I might back off the intake retard a bit at some point, but I'll probably just drive it round like this for a while.
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