Here is the difference between 0/0 and +1/-1 on my car:



I tryed -4/-1 and lost a bunch of power and it got pretty laggy.

 

I have gears only because I bought the whole setup as a package from another EvoM member. I have them set at 0,0. Up to 6000rpms, I made about 10-15whp more all the way up compared to cams set at -4,-1 on an MR... my experience may be unique, though...

If you wanna smooth it out or shift the band, then gears can help, otherwise it's not essential to using cams

here's the chart, I'm the dark blue and the -4-1MR is the red. Ignore the HP #s that seem lower than you'd expect, the MR trapped 113.9 on pump:



*Note, I'm pulling timing above 6000, you can see the drop. We leaned out too much there and added too much boost

 

I don't think it is valid trying to compare the results of cam gears on two different cars. There are too many variables from car to car. We really would need to see what the MR did at 0/0 to tell if those settings are helping or hurting him. Obviously if you don't set them right you will loose power. These aren't your typical bolt on like an exhaust, where you just throw them on there and you've got all you're gonna get. You need to adjust them to what works for your car and adjust the tuning accordingly.

 

On a similar note, I have the Works 269s, which I love BTW. I keep hearing that cam gears aren't needed with the Works Cams, but I can't help but think that I would be able to squeeze a few more ponies out of them with the addition of some cams...any thoughts?

 

This is very true, and add in the variable that he's an MR and I'm not, but results were similar for other cars that day, and even though it's not exact, it does give you an idea as to how the power is put down. The "Area under the curves" in our cars is roughly the same (as it is with the other 272 guys around here) but the peaks are in different places.

 

I think we have all agreed that there is additional power and flexibility in them. The gains versus cost is for you to decide if it is worth your money.

 

Cam gears aren't needed with any decent cam set. They do however provide a means of improving spool characteristics, midrange torque, and peak hp - sometimes all three simultaneously - to those that know how to use them.

On a separate note, I do not advise a -4/-1 setting for any HKS cam set. This application seems to respond better to tightening the LSA slightly, which requires moving the cams in the opposite direction. This is demonstrated by the post above that shows a +1/-1 setting for the HKS 272 and the resulting improvements. When tightening the LSA however, the car becomes more sensitive to tuning shortcomings and limitations in fuel octane, so be advised. Furthermore, this should best be limited to a total of 2 cam degrees movement.

 

Nathan.....just get 272's without gears, get it tuned and drive the thing. I should be getting mine put in after Christmas. I'm tired of looking at them just sitting on my work bench.

 

Ok, Saturday night I adjusted the camgears from 0/0 to -1/+1, I was looking for more low end because we had an AutoX on Sunday and I wanted to try this to see if it helped.

Based on how the car felt there was a definite improvement, but, the air temperature here was around 30 degrees and I noticed that my boost was up from 25lbs to 27lbs so I am sure that helped some. The car had better low end and I noticed that the throttle response was much better than the previous setting of 0/0.

I need to get down to the Dallas/Ft Worth area where there is a AWD Dyno.

Thanks for everyones help.