Custom cam grinder

[Gen1GT]

I've been recently contacted by a guy who builds and races Swifts/Fireflys, and who also does cam grinding. He asked me which Mazda engines he should look into, since he wants to expand beyond just Swifts/Fireflys. I told him the BP is his best starting place since it's in 90-98 Proteges, 94-97 Miatas, 91-96 Escort GTs and 94-97 Kia Sephias, and because he has more experience with hydraulic set-ups. He's local to me, only about 20 minutes away, and for helping him pick applications and sharing information, he's going to give me a great price. He's currently doing 3 cams for the BP, and is only charging $250 US plus the cost of cores(or you supply your own) for BOTH cams. Here's the 3 grinds he's making for BPs

210----------------.340"
218----------------.350"
226----------------.375"

First number is lift at .050" lift of course. I'm going for the second grind. But here's the deal. I told him if he works on some grinds for the solid lifter FS engines, he could have quite a few potential customers from the Protege NA posse. And you can't beat those prices. So anyway, his name is Mike Cove and he can be reached at mcove@execulink.com . E-mail him, and get on his case about doing some FS grinds, and you guys can finally have a good source for aftermarket cams. He's great to talk to, knows his stuff and if enough of you show that he has potential customers, he'd probably be willing to work with some of you sorting out which cam profiles would be best.

 

[akhilleus]

Sounds like a great deal. However be careful. Top cam grinders work off multiple points. They can adjust ramp profiles and angles, the shape of the tip, etc... They are also more experienced. Unfortunately the end user pays for this. I would recommend finding out the advertised duration of those specs josh. First so u can have those customized and also so u can make sure that you are gaining the full potential of this grind.

 

[twilightprotege]

yep, see if you can get more numbers than just 0.050"

 

[CrazyCaker]

Josh, I sent you a PM.

Subscribing.

 

[Brian MP5T]

Wow, that's great. There is FREE HP lurking in Protege LOBES!

 

[Gen1GT]

Ok, I'll find out a bit more information. You guys should know that duration at .050" is more useful than advertised duration. You could have a 300 cam as advertised, but only have 200@.050". It would just have a gradual ramp.

edit: If you haven't already e-mailed this guy about the cams, do so. The more of you that contact him, the more likely he'll be to make them. Even if you're not 100% about getting the cams, I think we'd all like to know that there's a guy out there doing it for the FS, which we know sorely needs it.

 

[twilightprotege]

yeah i'm really interested at the .200 and .300 durations...

 

[ANDYMP3]

I have a exra set of stock cams sitting in my basement. I may send them in after somebody else gives it a try..

 

[akhilleus]

There are alot of factors that impact cam profiles. And Josh you are right to a point about advertised cam specs. I have seen many designs that have high adv. duration and not spectacular numbers at .050" However the more points you have plotted along the ramp the more you can change the speed of the valve opening.

I mean DSM 2.0L run HKS 272deg @.010", I think duration at .050" was like in the 208-210 range. It can be deceiving. It can also be very useful. Valve Springs will also have to be taken into account if having too much lift done, >.350" i believe. This is still alot less than many other import hi-perf cams.

218deg @.050" and .350" lift would be a great FS grind. It would need cam gears but could show impressive results. Probably better on the exhaust side.

 

[Brian MP5T]

I have a exra set of stock cams sitting in my basement. I may send them in after somebody else gives it a try..

Same Same.... They are off my new engine...Sitting there doing nothing...

Anyone interested??

 

[ANDYMP3]

Same Same.... They are off my new engine...Sitting there doing nothing...

Anyone interested??

It the guy can give us a good price I would be.. (dance)

 

[twilightprotege]

just so everyone knows, the reasons they make cams with high duration @ seat compared to 0.050" are 1, quieter cam-shim taps, 2, less stress on the valve springs as they dont have to open and close as quickly, and 3, less stress on the valve and valve seat

 

[Gen1GT]

He told me he'd measure seat to seat time, but mentioned that it's useless, as any good cam grinder carfully engineers ramps rates and such, and anyone can claim a long seat time. I agree. If you're worried about valvetrain damage by going with larger cams, you shouldn't be tuning. (wiggle)

 

[Focus]

He told me he'd measure seat to seat time, but mentioned that it's useless, as any good cam grinder carfully engineers ramps rates and such, and anyone can claim a long seat time. I agree. If you're worried about valvetrain damage by going with larger cams, you shouldn't be tuning. (wiggle)

Are we talking about new cams, or regrind our own ?

 

[Gen1GT]

Regrinds. Would you really want to buy a set of cams that only cost $250?

 

[bill harvey]

any idea what our options would be if we supplied the unground billets.

 

[Brian MP5T]

Regrinds. Would you really want to buy a set of cams that only cost $250?

Nice, Snotty Undertone, but nice...

 

[Gen1GT]

any idea what our options would be if we supplied the unground billets.

It wouldn't be any different in this case. There's the potential to have higher lift, since it's an untouched cam, but the amount of lift and duration you can get from a regrind is more than what most people will need. Any more lift than that, and you'd have to machine the lifter bosses to allow for it anyway.

 

[bill harvey]

thank you thats all i needed to know.

 

[Innu_Qc]

Really interesting Is that guy canadian ??

And last question, will a cam from a 626, mx6-probe engine will do also(talking about the FS 2.0l), assuming I'm using cam gear. I'm asking because I need my car everyday to go to work and its easier to get used cams from an older cars than newer ones. Any thought on this??