Basically i'm upgrading (most likely) to a BBK full turbo, and was told by my tuner it's time to pick up cams. I have every other bolt in on the book, from intake to 3.5" ic , tbe, pump, injectors, o2 housing etc...

I don't mind the money aspect - but I wanted to know, what are the CONS to cams from people who have them? I had the s2 cams recommended to me.

I had cams on my old car and the gas mileage went down, the idle was crappy (and would even stall sometimes when mixed with my lightweight flywheel on rapid decel) and I lost some bottom end.

When I bought this car I promised myself I wouldn't make the same mistakes again in terms of drive ability that I did with my old car (racing seats, hood pins, cams, excessive weight reduction - etc)

So for my application, from owners - what do you think the pros and cons of me upgrading cams would be? (It's a IX btw, which I heard you don't get as big an upgrade out of)

 

You can stay with your stock cams, which will behave better as the S2 cams are more aggressive in both lift and duration.. Its true that you will have worse idling characteristics but it can be improved with a good tuner...

The only thing you have to make sure of is trading off around 30-40 whp and close torque numbers depending on setup and dyno, and some uptop grunt as these cams are set for relatively higher RPMs!!

Most of the guys in here are upgrading thier cams, and to be honest, I have never read such issue with cams, unless the cams are not good quality.

So, if you want the idling and fuel characteristics to not be compromised, I would say stick with your cams,, you'll enjoy early spool and better behaviour at the expense of more power and torque..

Good Luck

 

I have HKS 264 I/E cams and there are no downside whatsoever.

 

I got BC272s and no real downside besides the idle can be a bit of a beootch at times. Putting my FP red on this weekend hopefully if it shows up.

 

That is a fantastic explanation!!

 

Well what are your power/torque goals?

If you had an evo 8 I would definitely be saying upgrade the cams because they have much more of an increase in power compared to upgrading from evo 9 cams to aftermarket.

The lumpy idle can be mostly tuned out if you still want a smooth idle. Upgrading the cams would allow more power to be made at top end by allowing the rpms to go beyond the stock redline. However, if you want to be a quick spooling car, as I assume because you went with a BBK turbo, then the oem cams should be good.

I do not believe you need to upgrade them. There are a ton of powerful evos on fully stock motors. If you do choose to upgrade them, also do springs and retainers as well.

 

Go for the cams.

 

Def go for the cams. I would get the S2s. They will make 30-40hp over your stock cams!

Mikey

 

you have to watch out as a lot of people on here are concerned with peak hp and not driveability.. i have herd the s2 dont loose on spool compared to stock i think it was dyno tested. I have seen cars on s2 with a pretty bad idle.. I have also seen a guy from here in nz with kelford 272 cams that said his car lost its response with them and they are similar in agressiveness to the s2. Im no expert but just make sure you do your research before pulling the trigger..

 

kelfords or gsc are my next ones.. with the more aggressive cam you are going to need to upgrade your springs and retainers..

 

IMO the #1 con to a bigger cam is that it will quickly show you how competent your tuner really is. A good tuner should be able to get bigger cams to idle without any issues, whether you're on the stock ECU or aftermarket ECU. There are a lot of Evos out there with big cams and idle issues ... you do the math.

I think the S2 cams are a solid choice, but they are higher lift cams and if I was in your shoes, I'd upgrade my valvetrain along with the cams.

l8r)

 

I would definitley say go with a set of cams. GSC S2 seem to be the popular choice for you IX guys but I'd look into the Kelfords as well. I personally went with the Kelfords 272 for my 8, a little less aggressive than the S2. People don't really give the OEM valvetrain much credit. The valvetrain can support the Kelfords just fine if you are staying within the stock rev limiter and if you are still on the stock turbo your not making much power up there anyway... I've spoken with various tuner shops from this forum and they say they the same thing when it comes to the valvetrain upgrade. I say put the $$ in the tune if you are on the oem turbo.

 

A lot of you are mentioning the S2, but it seems like the op is worried about adverse effects of the cams, such as rough idle or worse drivability. gsc s1 have proved to yield excellent gains on stock level turbos without sacrificing drivability. ive driven on the s1 before and u really wouldnt even notice the car is cammed. idle sounds very much like un-cammed. i use hks 272 and the idle is a little lumpy...but the gsc s1 have a bit less duration and im not sure about lift. i would go with gsc in your case simply because cbrd likes to use primarily s2 with their bbk (i think), but in ur case, since ur looking for a bit mellower cam, the s1 will work great

 

The S2's are almost always recommended on the EVO IX. i have a few friends that have the S2's and have absolutely no problems with idle. the only reason you should have problems with idle is because of your tuner or a bad install, period. If you still have issue and know for a fact that the two above aren't the problem then it's probably your car. The evo IX for some reason doesn't cam as hard as an VIII does, which i'm sure is because of MIVEC i may be wrong. Get the upgraded valve train and your engine should stay healthy. as far as fuel consumpion you will lose some MPG's obviously but still comes back to how you drive your car. I have Kelford 272's on my VIII i have no issues with idle, and the car is smooth and runs great.

 

My buddy just picked up a set of HKS Cams for his EVO 8. What are ya'lls opinon on those. When people upgrade his/her cams on an EVO 8 will they have some sort of VTC? Annnnnd when upgrading EVO 9 cams will the cams have VTC on both the exhaust and intake side of the house? Also learning here, thanks guys!