Please share experience with Cam work and ECU upgrade for NB

wozzah1975 · Postby **wozzah1975** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:05 pm

I have been playing around with cams in the BP's for a while now, mainly of FWD stuff, and in the engine in my race car.

I do regrinds in kit form for $460pr (you supply the cams). The kit is a direct fit, and requires no engine mods except adjustable cam gears, and I recommend new lifters (or shims if mechanical) at the same time. I have done a number of sets for people, and they have proven to make an excellent power increase. With the right mods 100rwkw on an internally standard BP.

It has been posted elsewhere here that regrinds are no good, which is absolute rubbish. I have been using reground cams on all sorts of engines for 20 years, and I have NEVER had one fail. I would question who has been grinding them if they have been failing.

Specs on mine are .363" lift, 226@50, 270deg duration, both inlet and exhaust.

Anything bigger on a standard head is a waste of time, as the standard ports won't support any more lift.

As far as the ECU is concerned I have had the standard unit tweeked and it works ok, but an aftermarket unit works better as far as drivability goes.

Cheers
Woz

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:00 pm

Definitely interested. Where are you based? Please send me a pm of your contact info so I can get in touch with you.

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:17 pm

I guess the real holy grail is drivability in the form of linear power delivery and stock level throttle response. If someone can come up with a package that can do that then they'll sell bucket loads.

Despite the fact that mucking around with an ecu and cams is not legal, it would very unlikely that any insurance company will spend the effort dismantling your engine to check if your cams have been altered. Where as in a turbo or sc scenario, say if you had a crash it would be dead obvious that there is a turbo or sc in there. So as they say in the stock market, it's not an elimination of risk that I am after but the management of risk.

That is why fi route is not for me until we can get something legalized because to me, sure fi installed is okay until you have a major accident and are liable for crashing into a BMW or a building.

We need someone in Melbourne to take the lead in being an expert in ecu and cams install and tuning for mx5.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:19 pm

Can you explain more woz? The people I had talked to said valve springs were the limiting factor above 9mm (0.354")

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Postby **NitroDann** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:34 pm

The issue is that to get the cams to lift 9mm in the same amount of time (the time between each revolution at 8000rpm) you have to get the cams to throw open the valves faster, momentum=mass X velocity. So you need stronger springs to keep the valves in the engine lol.

Its untrue that if someone could make cams with good smooth delivery and at least stock throttle response they would fly out the door because people are afraid of cams, because they are inside the engine and they dont understand them.

My car has delivery exactly like stock and way more response, the only difference being that has 20-30% more torque and revs past 8000rpm. In 6th gear my car WALKS a stock car in 4th at 100kph.

Guess what, its got some cams.

Dann

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:38 pm

NitroDann wrote:The issue is that to get the cams to lift 9mm in the same amount of time (the time between each revolution at 8000rpm) you have to get the cams to throw open the valves faster, momentum=mass X velocity. So you need stronger springs to keep the valves in the engine lol.

Its untrue that if someone could make cams with good smooth delivery and at least stock throttle response they would fly out the door because people are afraid of cams, because they are inside the engine and they dont understand them.

My car has delivery exactly like stock and way more response, the only difference being that has 20-30% more torque and revs past 8000rpm. In 6th gear my car WALKS a stock car in 4th at 100kph.

Guess what, its got some cams.

alright, you had me at cams...now keep educating us and just give us a list of what to do, where to buy it and who should do it...turn key solution

Dann

Postby **NitroDann** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:50 pm

What model is your car EXACTLY?

Dann

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:23 am

Yah I got the springs are need for the longer valve lift, I'm interested in the port not being able to cope with the additional lift.

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Postby **NitroDann** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:35 am

The hastle is that the valves outflow the ports at much more than 9mm lift, so the ports become the bottleneck until ported, where as in a stock situation the valve lift is the bottleneck.

dann

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:42 am

NitroDann wrote:What model is your car EXACTLY?

Dann

Dan, my car is nb8a 1999. Very happy with everything including low, mid, high power. However, I want more just in case I want to chase an Elise or boxster in the mountains. Appreciate your advice. And drivability and throttle response is very very important to me.

I really want a bit more mid range shove/ bite...bit no fi please.

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:45 am

The other thing I forgot to mention is my currents mods which is

Cold air intake
Town and country enlarged cat and exhaust system
Tokico illumina shocks and springs
Frame rails
Frog arms
Roll bar brown Davis.

That's about it.

Postby **NitroDann** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:52 am

NB8A, great, PM wazzah and talk cams.

He will be able to hook you up with a pair that ANY mechanic can install in under an hour and a half that will require no other changes and help the car to make at least 15% more power at every rpm and perhaps over 20% at the top end. You just need a basic set of drop in cams, and preferably an ecu upgrade to fully take care of them, if not a full ecu a piggyback like a resistor on the coolant temp sensor will help (yeah its not as good as a 2000 dollar tune but on mild street cams who would know).

Dann

Postby **NitroDann** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:56 am

Id suggest something around 265 advertised duration and 9mm lift with as aggressive a ramp as wazzah feels comfy with, and a [proper ecu if the budget permits, if not so be it, on cams like the ones I described id expect at least 10% more pull at every rpm and 15% above 4000.

And dont worry they wont magically 'come on' at 4000, it will be smooth.

Mine are bigger than this and if you hold 1cm throttle in 2nd or 3rd you can feel them just slighty come on around 4200rpm, but its hard to notice. at anything over 2-3cm throttle its just fast and smooth. Yes, elises no worries.

Dann

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:10 am

Okay I'll go for that. Budget is flexible. I am comfortable spending 2.5k on doing it right. Would you recommend megasquirt. I'll get dean from motorsports essential to do the install for me. Thanks again for your insights.

In my last mx5 which was an na, i did regret not modding the car more and getting more enjoyment out of it as budget was tight then so I want to do my nb justice by modding it sensibly to squeeze a bit more fun from one of the worlds best chassis.

Postby **NitroDann** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:13 am

the cams that me and wazzah recommended will net 100 odd rwkw with a megasquirt and your current mods along with some PROPER headers, talk to sabateur or gslender about alternator control with the MS on an nb8a.

get dean to tune it too.

get cams, get MS, get tune, enjoy PROPER sports car power. Godmode on.

dann