Which cam to buy?

[cheefpilot]

I'm going to do a cam replacement on my car and can't decide which cam to purchase. Right now my options are stock OEM replacement, cheaper aftermarket copy of OEM, or Franko6 chrome plated cam with modified bearings. Does anybody know anything about the chrome cams on the boraparts site? Any advice on which of these options is best?

[jreading]

Replaced my cam with the set up from Franko6 - chromed cam, modified bearings and lifters. I just filled the car up after 1500 miles and got the best city mileage ever - 44 mpg with a hand calculation. Frank was available for questions during the install and the car is running well. Very happy and would highly recommend this set up.

[cheefpilot]

Thanks, thats the decision I made too. Put Frank a check in the mail today so hopefully I'll get started on it soon.

[dieselpony]

Jreading - that's good news about your fuel economy. Cheefpilot - good luck with the install. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with Frank's kit too - its very complete. Although, I'm not sure I'm sold on the whole modified bearing idea. I'm still debating that part.

I'd be interested in any further reviews about Frank's kit, and any others as well. I'm looking for a pretty robust cam as I do a fair amount of short trips of less than 5 miles and lots of cold starts, of course with highway runs mixed in as well.

[cheefpilot]

I'm also primarily looking for durability and I decided to go with the modified bearings. Could you tell me why your aren't sure about them or what the possible disadvantages might be?

[dieselpony]

About the modified bearings, I guess I just haven't seen long-term evidence that they work any better than the stock bearings. But that probably goes with camshafts as well.

Some people recommend modified bearings and a stock vw camshaft. Some recommend stock bearings a reground cam that improves the shape of the lobes for wear. Some recommend both be modified.

I'm very thankful for everyone who is trying stuff and testing to make this work! And as I said, I'm leaning toward a reprofiled cam -- I just need to be convinced about the bearings, particularly the groove that is machined in the center of them. Is the groove there to improve oil flow to the bearing itself, or simply to make more oil flow around the bearing and therefore improve oil flow to the entire top end? Is it for cooling or lubrication? Or both?

[cheefpilot]

I'm told that the purpose is to get more oil flow to the cam lobe and followers for both cooling and lubrication.

[dieselpony]

Originally Posted by cheefpilot

I'm told that the purpose is to get more oil flow to the cam lobe and followers for both cooling and lubrication.

That makes sense to me -- just to open up the path for oil flow to lubricate the cam lobes. I just wish there were more conclusive evidence. But who wants to go through all the work of inspecting every so many miles? I'd like to just replace and run good oil and forget about it!

Mine is at 72K and 4 lobes have a lot of wear, one follower starting to dish. My plan is to do something by 80K, since I need to do timing belt then anyway. It still seems to run fine, but I'm sure power and mpgs have diminished some b/c of the wear.

Have you received your parts yet?

[cheefpilot]

I'm out of town and won't be able to start this project until late next week. The parts should be waiting on me when I get there. I'm surprised that you have that much wear at 72k, my car has 87k and only one lobe is worn. Still getting close to 50mpg and running good. I attached a pic below, are your lobes worn this much yet?

[dieselpony]

Originally Posted by cheefpilot

I'm out of town and won't be able to start this project until late next week. The parts should be waiting on me when I get there. I'm surprised that you have that much wear at 72k, my car has 87k and only one lobe is worn. Still getting close to 50mpg and running good. I attached a pic below, are your lobes worn this much yet?

Wow -- you managed to get a good picture of that lobe! I have some pictures posted over at Fred's under dieselpony. Mine didn't turn out that good though.

But as I remember, yes, at least 4 of my lobes had that much wear. A couple of them looked like new yet with the chamfer, but several had the chamfer gone on the tip and part of the way up the lobe on both sides, just like your pictures. And from what I could see, one of my followers looked like it was no longer flat, but dished out.

I just bought the car in September w/ 65k miles, knowing this could be a problem. But, I too was surprised the wear was this bad. I only knew about it because I had an oil analysis done that came back with 199 ppm of iron on a 5k change, which should have been more like 40. So, I knew something was up after that and took a look. I had another report done on this change and iron is at 172 ppm, so the wear at least is not accelerating. But, I probably should replace in the next couple months.

One reason I purchased this car specifically was because the original owner I bought it from had all of his maintenance records. Oil changed every 5k miles, with receipts. Car was dealer serviced, however, so I think it ran a steady diet of 5w30 instead of 5w40. And, 3 of the changes were done at Jiffylube, so the oil may not have been the 505.01 spec, but it was listed as Synthetic 5w40. And, with 5k mile change intervals, I can't imagine that alone could have done this much damage.

Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to replacing the worn parts and enjoying many more fun miles to come!

I'm hoping my mpgs improve as well. My wife and I took the car to MN for Thanksgiving and the best we could do was 43.5, cruising at about 73 mph. I think with a healthy cam the car could do better.

Post your progress - I'll be interested to see how it goes for you. Are you planning on using the Joe Gibbs breakin oil from Frank as well?