Hi all, I've been diging through the forum for the last 4 days trying to figure this all out but still have some issues being I'm an Xede/SMART newb.

Sorry for the long post, but I want to be sure I explain everything right

I installed HKS 272/272 cams with Vishnu cam gears (I set the cg's to -3 -3). I have the xedeflash and xede with smart. Full TBE no cat, and fule pump...basically a stage 1+

After the cam and cam gear install we start the car and the idle is what I excpect with these cams. lobe, no big thing. So we take the car out for a drive down the street to make sure everything is ok. (no xede installed at this point). And yea my friend that helped with the install is a mechanic and does this type of thing for a living so the install went without any issues and the timing marks line up. We used the white lines on the cam gears as TDC.

The car runs rough, looses power up top, pretty much what I excpect without the xede and SMART.

I hookup the xede, update the firmware to v3.2 and load in the stage 1+ 91 octane SMART map. At this point everything looks good. Reset the wideband and make sure everything is looking how it should be based on the instructions.

We then take the car for a test drive and it's no different. Runs real rough, meaning it kinda flutters, not turbo flutter it's just not smooth like stock (figure it's the cams). No knocking.

To be honest, the car feels weaker than stock and runs terrible. At WOT at high RPM like 6700-7000 it looses power for a second then the power comes back.

The green light on the xede is on. When I connect my laptop up and hit F8 the map downloads and when monitoring it while driving I can see the yellow boxes move like it should through the maps.

I have no idea what to do at this point. I've changed the cam gears to -4 -1.5 which made the low-mid run a little smoother but it still looses power and just doesn't feel that strong. I'm gonna try -2 -2 but I really don't think that is the issue. We've checked all hoses and connections for a vacuum leak and found nothing. I'm really stumped at this point.

I don't know much about tuning with this setup at all so I figured the map I got from Vishnu's site would be good enough to run till I can get to a dyno to get a tune. The closest awd dyno is 5-6 hours away from me.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

triple or quadruple check the cam gears. it sounds like something may be off there (there are numerous posts of mistakes made aligning the cam gears). worth checking.

 

I just checked them, the white marks still line up as TDC with the marks on the cover. I just reset them to -2 -2 I'm gonna go for a test drive and see what happens. I also made sure all the spark plug caps were actually on just in case

For the cam gear settings, I use the lines as one each, meaning 12 ||||||||||||||||||||||||| 12 middle is 0 so -3 would be 3 lines to the left of 0

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll let you know what happens in a few...

 

When u say losing power, what is your boost doing? Does it drop off? Could be a boost leak.

 

FWIW the Vishnu Cam Gears are not referenced off the Zero Degree mark that is silk screened on the gears. The nearest tooth to the Zero mark should have a dot marked on it to indicate TDC. If you do not go by that tooth, you'll be off several degrees and experience all the symptoms you have reported. I'll try doing a search to find a picture of what I'm talking about.

Here, this is what I'm talking about, look at the red dot; that's your TDC reference, not the Zero indicated on the gears. Adjust -3, -3 from that tooth and you should be good to go.

 

Ok, so in that pic, it's not set at -2 right now?

Here is mine, I have it set (At least I thought I did), at -2

 

align that at top dead center first

 

well that gear is at -2

 

That's what I did. I used the white marking as TDC when I installed the cams and gears.
I then adjusted the gear using the lines for -3 (now at -2). Am I missing something here?

 

Your gear is set correctly. But you are a tooth off of TDC, rotate your cam gear -> (clockwise) one tooth. Lots of people have done that.

To prove that, one tooth is about 7.5 degrees.

******UPDATE******
You are one tooth negative already. That means your -2 has made it -9.5. You need to move you gear forward to + 5.5 and that would leave you at -2.
Just loosen the cam gear screws and rotate the cam with a 17mm wrench and retighten the cam gear. You are set up -2 on an already -7.5 right now. Thanks for posting pic. That helps out TONS!

 

So you are saying if I set it at -10.5 (according to the lines) then I'll be at -3 correct?

I want to get this right

 

In the pic you posted, that is glare that you are pointing at, not a white marking

 

I run -2 -2 for both cams, with 264 intake and 272 Exhaust cams.

P.S. I would suggest putting thread locker on the bolts in the cam gears. remove one at a time and put a drop of thread locker.


In your pic -3 would be just before the deepest part of the first groove to the left of the 0 tooth. +4.5 is the same spot to the right of the tooth you used as TDC. is the same spot on the next valley. So a simple visual confirms the math too.


*****UPDATED**** you are one tooth forward (already -7.5 for the tooth). You need to move the gear to +5.5 to be at -2. Or Set them at +4.5 to be at -3.

If your pic of is the tooth that you used for TDC you are already -7.5 at TDC. You need to Move it forward! ! ! ! ! ! !

 

Ok, I'll go try it out. Thank you so much!

 

Sent you a PM with my mobile number just in case you have any other questions.