before anyone says "search" i just spent 2 hours searching and haven't really found any helpful info.

I'm trying to decide on 280 cams or 272. I hear that w/ 280s you lose a lot of low end power, however the top end is much greater. Also i heard that w/ 280s it would be a better idea to get valve springs and retainers, not so much necissary w/ 272s. I will be sticking w/ the stock turbo for a while, my current mods are in my sig. Just lookings for some helpful advice. thanks

Matt

 

what are your goals? Do you want a top end drag monster or something that will pull from the midrange?

 

Its still my DD, my goals as of now are mid 11s in the 1/4.

also, are adjustable gears needed for 280s?

 

Im also wondering what a good cam combo would be for road race applications with a bolt on turbo such as the white rabbit or 20G.

 

nope gears aren't needed but they're not a bad idea.. I have the 280s and the top end power is just simply amazing.. I've had these cams in for over 10,000 miles now on completely stock valvetrain and still running great..

 

how is the low end and idle?

 

i did three different states of tune on slowboy racings dynapack dyno the last being hks 272's dropped in the motor with the stock pulleys on, they netted me 28whp with no loss of power or tourqe anywhere on the graph

 

mid 11's will be tough to do whether you go with 272's or 280's. You'll need to be a very good driver first.

It's personal preference as much as anything and compromise. Ive read numerous threads on here, and everyone with 280's state how well they pull on the top end.... is that compared to stock or 272's? My guess it's compared to stock, and my 264's pull like a bad **** up top compared to the stockers, so of course the 280's will. 280's will lose some mid range compared to 272's, but gain some top end, probably by about the same amounts so it's a compromise. 280's will be tougher to idle well since it will still be your daily driver. If you get cam gears, you can adjust the 272's or the 280's more to your liking, i.e. adjust them for better idle and torque, or adjust them for top end.

My personal opinion is that 280's aren't worth the sacrifice in idle on the stock turbo. The turbo really does choke off the exhaust flow, and no matter how big a cam you put it, the bottleneck is the turbo. Until someone disproves that, I'm sticking with it!

 

Low end is sacrificed a little but top end is excellent... Around 5800 rpms you can feel an extra kick and it pulls you hard throughout the rest of the power band.... Idle is very lopey but sounds great..

Also they didn't cause hardly any driveability problems which was important to me as my car is my DD... Very rarely when you are backing up as sharp as possible the car will occasionly die but like I said this is only occasional.. I would recommend them to anyone looking for great top end power

 

so 272s net you around 30whp, any ideas on the 280s? anyone switched from 272s to 280s and noticed a difference?

 

You'd need new cam gears with 280s.

 

sorry but no you don't.. I've driven my car over 10,000 miles with completely stock valvetrain and 280s, _NO_ cam gears...

 

mac, have you run at the track w/ your cams? what times did you run?

 

I did the up grade on the valvetrain, just to be on the safe side. I had the 272 and just put the 280 in. but I also have a gt30r turbo kit. so I will let you know how well it does. I think on the stock turbo you will want the 272. just my 2cents

 

never ran at the quarter mile track as there are not very many around... I ran at the local 1/8th mile track a really long time ago but my times weren't very good due to poor driving (mainly launching).. As soon as the tracks open back up though I'll be there seeing what I can get...