cam gear questions

[cfmfocus2]

I have seen the cam timing vary a good amount as sleepyboy noted on the zetec engines. It does help a vehicle with stock camshafts if it off a good amount from factory. The article noted by sleepyboy shows a good example of how much cam gears can help by, which is a good amount.

Adjustable cam gears are a most for anyone look into aftermarket camshafts. There any many companies back in the day that used to offer cam gears for these cars. We are one of the few that still do. Link to cam gears

[sgtsmasher]

im still lost on the whole how to actually tune them though. i mean i know you guys said to get them dyno tuned for best results.
what if i dont have a dyno to adj them correctly?
would i just be screwing myself in the long run if i just took the stocks off and threw these on and tried adj them that way?
with the 5 bolt design do you loosen them up move the gear then tighten them again?

im just such a noob when it comes to the tech stuff, i mean i could throw parts on this car all day and not have any idea how they work or how to use them.

for mods as of right now i have:
svt header
ebay CAI w/ K&N filter
65mm CFM TB
full 3" from ORP back magnaflow exhaust with high flow cat and res
pretty much a race tranny w/ 406 gears-LSD-LW flywheel w/ some stg2 clutch
svt brake kit front and back
toms tune which included egr delete, rev limiter increase, and some others maybe idk

soon to come will be wide band A/F gauge
maybe a short throw shifter

so its not like the car is no stock by any means i just would maybe like a little more out of this thing before i kill it lol, but idk how to do this

[sleepyboy]

Dyno tuning them means going to a place that has a dyno and running the car to get a base line. Then adj the cam gears a little then make some more pulls. You keep doing this over and over till you find the optimal settings. Should take less than an hour. Most shops charge hourly for dyno time. Cam gears would be a good step in the right direction with all the mods you have now. With my cam gears dialed in on my stock cams I gain power everywhere. My car used to fall on it's face after 5k rpm to rev limiter, after the tuning I could pull all the way. But the over all power band was much broader with tq everywhere. Really made the car a lot more fun to drive.

[sgtsmasher]

i just wish that i knew of a dyno around my area or in maine that i could get on

[iminhell]

Originally Posted by sgtsmasher

im still lost on the whole how to actually tune them though. i mean i know you guys said to get them dyno tuned for best results.
what if i dont have a dyno to adj them correctly?

Then it'll be trial/error. If you can data log should help to verify your butt dyno. Watch for increases in load and air flow. Make a few different logs at the same settings and average them. Should reduce the error factor of a single WOT log.

Originally Posted by sgtsmasher

would i just be screwing myself in the long run if i just took the stocks off and threw these on and tried adj them that way?

No.
You can run the gears in any location you want with no damage. [b]But it is the best idea to turn the engine clockwise by hand after major adjustments to make sure nothing's binding.

Originally Posted by sgtsmasher

with the 5 bolt design do you loosen them up move the gear then tighten them again?

Yes.
Loosen the 5 bolts, use the center bolt to move the cam gear and hold it in place if need be, tighten all 5 lock bolts, then go back over then a second time to make sure you tightened them.
The bolts don't need to be gorilla TQ'd. Nice and snug is all you need, best guess, about 20 ft/lbs.
Over-tightening them will result in stripping the threads. And FWIW, 2 bolts still holds the gear in place,,, ya, I've stripped a few

[sgtsmasher]

Thanks for the advise iminhell, that helps me decide weather to keep them or not...i was just worried that if i put these on the car that i would screw something up really bad, i would like to have these set up for the best results, but without a dyno i wont get those results which sucks. I wish there was a how to that gave a better step by step