Anyone NA with cams?

 

Doug at Crawford has cams on his NA setup, he is the only one I know. His car sounds mean....

 

A bunch of guys on my350z.com are running JWT, Tomei, Nismo cams.

Anyway, it will run you about $1200 for the cams, more for the springs and shims plus ~$800 for install to gain about 10rwhp. It just isn't worth it IMO. Plus you'd have to reflash the ECU (~$600) to raise the rev limiter to really take advantage of the cams... Are you a "post" 2003 engine build? If so, you may need to buy additional items to raise your RPM's...

My opinion is that it's too much money for too little gain. YMMV

 

I'm running NISMO cams on my G, and I have to disagree with the "don't think it's worth it statement". Although the gains from idle to 3000 RPM are subtle, the "pull" from 3000 to redline is significantly stronger than stock. The cams truly transform the upper end of the engine, whereas in stock form it felt as if it had more, but just wasn't pushing it out. The cams unlocked that "push". To get the most of the cams, yes you will need to reflash your ecu but its not necceassry to run them. Even with your stock ecu, you will get nice gains, just more if you tune it properly. The NISMO cams will also NOT hurt your idle, which is an issue many cams out there have (JWT for one). The ones that do effect the idle, you may need to run an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, a vac kit and or have the ecu tuned acordingly, which means they take much more tunning and arent really "streetable". You also do not need springs or shims with the NISMO's and quite frankly, stay away from any cam that says you do (its not for the street). Price wise, yea cams are pricey, but what you're getting in return is solid all motor gains that are there 24/7, without any major increase in risk (potential motor damage, compared to other means of HP increase in such a manor). Installation is also not easy, but most any savy engine tech (familar with over head cams) can get them on without any problems, and the required gaskets and whatnot will only set you back about $75 which is a real bargain, compared to some european cars which have gasket kit that will set ya back over $200! If you've got the budget for them, NISMO cams are the way to go! If you can install them yourself, then you're in the zone! They're worth it my book...

 

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but wouldn't a Nismo 3.9 FD give you more acceleration across the board without the need for retuning? And a FD is a lot cheaper, to boot! Or, for the 5AT guys (3.3 FD) out there, you could buy/trade for the entire pumpkin out of a 6MT (3.5 FD), and it's a straight bolt-on installation, from what I've read. The 6MT guys who have gone F/I will be very happy to trade for your 5AT's taller gearing. Comments...?

 

For what it's worth - I considered cams... I was talking to an Infiniti tech that is performance minded and he is one of those that thinks all the bolt on mods we do are virtually pointless (not enough power to warrant cost). He advised cams and ECU (ECM) remapping for noticeable gain.

It's way down on my to do list. When you add cosmetic and performance upgrades, the list just gets too expensive at times!