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Such a crucial element to your engine's power and performance, camshafts, must never be neglected during proper maintenance. By regulating the opening and closing of cylinder valves, they also regulate your engine's ever-important air/fuel mixture. To maintain your ride going directly for the miles ahead, Vivid Racing provides a plethora of camshafts designed from some of the most superior materials in the industry.
The camshaft, or cam for simple terms, opens and closes the intake and exhaust valves, enabling the new mixture of air and fuel to access the cylinder for combustion and the spent gases to stream out. Most of the cams are iron castings backed on journals that spin in bearings, with independent, eccentric lobes to actuate each valve. A single cam can be positioned in the cylinder block, or one or two cams can be installed on the cylinder head.
The block-mounted cam on the overhead valve (OHV) engines prompt the valves through lifters driving on the lobes, pushrods transmitting the movement to the head of the cylinders, and the rocker arms that pivot on shafts or bolts. Single overhead cam (SOHC) motors use rocker arms or rocker arm pivots, and buckets between the cams and valves are used for DOHC (Double Overhead Cam) motors, which have different cams for the intake and exhaust valve.
At 1???2 crankshaft speed, the crankshaft powers the cams using a timing chain and gears or timing belt and sprockets. The camshaft must be coordinated with the piston shaft to ensure proper harmonics with the valve's opening and closure with the piston motion. For power engines, valve time may be changed to attain optimal power properties by progressing or delaying the cam. Two significant motor power output factors are the valve lift and the length and timing and are both specified by the cam lobe profile.
Duration is the period that the valve is open. The duration of camshafts is extended to improve the volume for a higher rpm. Lift is the range from the seat of the valve. The lobe lift can be improved by the rocker arm ratio on vehicles with rocker arms so that a lobe lift and a valve lift specifications are provided. The lobe profile may also distinguish between solid and hydraulic camshafts. The former needs some clearance during service, or lash, and it needs to be adapted from time to time. In an oil-filled cavity, hydraulic elevators have a plunger and spring to accommodate expansion.
Ultimately, all cams wear, and many never note it, apart from the possibility that the engine doesn't sound as pleasant like it used to sound. But you could quickly end up with a bucking, slipping, backfiring disaster of a motor when a single lobe starts wearing out well before the majority because of lousy oil, increased spring pressure, or terrible valve train components. There are many diagnosing worn lobes, but the most successful way is to take off the valve cover and specifically test the camshaft lift.
Backfire
Typically, this will begin at high rpm and eventually work back to lower rpm as the lobe deflates fully. This single-cylinder backfire would usually occur as a popping noise from either the intake or exhaust instead of a full and very aggressive backfire.
Cylinder Miss
As engine rpm increases and the lifter cranks up, a miss from a single, slightly flattened cam lobe will always start to go down but will likely come back at a very high rpm as the cylinder begins to hunger for airflow again. Engines with solid lifters may exhibit decreased-rpm or idle issues or may not.
Lifter Tapping
A very severe form of flattened cam lobes is the lifter tap, which is often the very and perhaps the most recognizable one. Even so, with no lifter tap at all, it is conceivable for an engine to have one or even more fully wiped lobes; it depends on the configuration. When the lifters pump up the oil, the tapping can be much worse at rest and low rpm, and quiet down.
Based on whether they are flat tappets or rollers, lifters could be further segregated. To allow the lifter to move, flat tappet cam lobes are ground with a taper. Otherwise, the lobe and bottom of the lifter will indeed wear rapidly. Because the worn structure is distinctive to each lobe, they must be reinstalled in the very same location if parts are reused. With new lifters, flat tappet cams must always be placed. The substantially decreased friction allows roller lifter cams to be much more sturdy than flat tappet designs, and roller lifters can be repurposed as long as the roller wheels and bearings are in fine condition.
A high-performance camshaft or competition camshaft is a necessity if you are building or rebuilding your high-performance engine. Without the right performance camshaft, you won't get the performance or horsepower you need out of your engine when it counts. Vivid Racing carries racing camshafts, street comp camshafts, high-performance camshafts, and OEM replacement camshafts. Two of our most popular camshafts are Skunk 2 camshafts and HKS camshafts. If you can't find it here, give us a call, we will help you find the right camshaft for your application.
Now that you have taken the right step and decided to buy your new camshaft from Vivid Racing, you will want to look at the other parts you're going to need to finish your engine building project. We offer bearings, connecting rods, crankshafts, competition pistons, stroker kits, valve components, and camshaft gears. Don’t forget a new bolt kit to put it all together.
Vivid Racing carries high-performance parts for almost any need. Click these links to chose from our selection of Body Kits, Big Brake Kits, Seats, Custom Wheels and Tires, Engine Parts, Exhaust Parts, Intakes, Suspension, and Transmission Parts.
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Vivid Racing carries Performance Camshafts for most cars and trucks. Here are just a few.
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Vivid Racing carries Performance Camshafts from all the top manufacturers in the automotive industry. We Carry Brian Crower Camshafts, Cosworth Camshafts, HSK Camshafts, Greddy Camshafts, JUN Camshafts, JWT Camshafts, Kelford Camshafts, Kleeman Camshafts, Nismo Camshafts, Schrick Camshafts, Skunk2, and Tomei Camshafts.
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