HKS 272 and Single Adj. Cam gear??
 

Just picked up a pair of HKS 272 shafts for my Evo 8, Is running a single adjustable cam gear (intake) worth even considering? Is picking up a set even worth it in general?

some may say you would and some would say you wouldn't.. i have the same cams and i got a set of aem cam gears.. my tuner said i didn't need them.. i just got them for eye candy i guess.. but i dunno.. hopefully someone will shine a light on this..

from what ive seen and hear from talking to locals is only one needs to be adjusted anyway..

where does that couple of degree's move the power-band exactly?

I've seen many people do only one. From hondas and everything in between. Personally I think they are worth it to run both intake and exhaust. Alot of aftermarket ones are lighter than the factory units which helps out on the rotating mass of the valvtrain. This concept is also y mitsu made the evo camshaft hollow from the factory. How much it helps idk but imo every little bit that helps is worth it to me. Im by no means a tuner but I do not think that moving ur timing forward or retarding it moves the power band. I just know it relates to helping aid in knock and the more timing u can get away with safely without knock the more power u will make. Anyone else care to shed more light on this with a better knowledge?

So if this aids i'n knock prevention will i be able to run a higher boost level on 93oct?

cam gears arent necessarily needed for the hks cams, as there pretty good from the factory. However, if trying to improve upon top end power, which the hks leave some peak top end power on the table, by retarding the cam gears one to two degrees....your gonna increase top end, but since your retarding your cam gears, your idle will be a lot more lopey then it currently is. Now the only reason you should buy 1 cam gear is if your on a mivec due to you cant have the second cam gear. But if you only have one cam gear installed on an 8, its like goin to the store and buying one shoe, its retarded, cuz if you advance your intake cam gear, youll get a better idle and better down low power with a sacrifice on top end, if you retard the intake cam gear, ull get a little better midrange, but top end wont be improved. So personally buy a set of cam gears, start with -1intake, -2 exhaust and go from there. Remember line up your tooth marks each time you decide to adjust your cam gears, or else your timing could be really off, which will lead to BOOM ! haha
good luck

Awesome!
On the cam install I'm Doing them one at a time, should the same be done during the gear install?- last thing i want to do is throw off base timing.

Suggest any specific brand in peticular?

You will get alot of opinions and advice about cam gears. How much time do you want to spend on gaining a few horsepower depends on you and how much they charge for dyno time. What I am saying is if you plan to do cam gears then put them on,set to 0 and do 2 dyno pulls,then try the settings that you were recommended,do 2 more pulls and see if you gained any horsepower or just moved it higher in the rpm band. BTW,what other mod's do you have as that will come into play and make the deciding factor on weather or not cam gears are even worth wasting the $$$ and time on.

Power mods are::
intake filter/maf adapter
Ams turboback w/ testpipe
Ported exhaust manifold
Ported head
And 272's soon to be added.

But plan on upgrading the turbo in the (not so near) future.

So for instance, if i ran a PT6262 I should toss 1-2 degrees advance on the intake and exhaust gears or retard timing to compensate for the extra CFM?

If you are currently on the stock turbo then wasting the $$$ on cam gears and some more $$ on an extra hour or so of dyno time would not be worth it. But...
if you were running a larger turbo kit where you would benefit from higher rev's to really make the larger framed turbo work then it would be a good idea for the cam gears,But.... if you were planning on running a larger framed turbo then you wouldn't be putting in HKS 272's to begin with, you would be better opting for a more agressive cam. These are just my opinions and should be taken with a grain of salt. I am sure you will get alot of other opinions/recommendations from the "experts" on Evom.

ideal setup on HKS 272's are +1 on intake n -1 on exhaust get great results which i have been told, even at 0 on both cam gears.

well the reason why ^^ cam gear setup will work, is there is a considerable lope with the hks 272s im runnin em but im on stock cam gears, advancing the intake cam one degree, smooths the idle out, and retarding the exhaust cam gear, will help move the power band to the right somewhat on a dynograph.

it might just be me here, but seems the benefits of the gears (majority) are for idle purposes on a stock turbo setup. i just dont see squeezing much more power from retarding the exhaust cam by one-single degree.

well if your tryin to dial in the idle id say leave the intake cam either at 0 or retard it to -2 and retard the exhaust cam to like -2 experiment with that cuz that should give u best midrange and topend... and as for the idle...Take it to a tuner who knows what there doing and he should be able to dial the idle in like its nobodys business. If he cant he shouldnt be touching your ecu.