Sorry if this is in the wrong place please move it if it is.

My question of the day is what is the difference between a cam rated to be used with a supercharger in comparison to a normal cam not rated for supercharger use? Hypothetically if I was to get a supercharger in the future but would like to cam swap for now would I be able to put a cam that works with the future supercharger in a NA engine?

I also would just like some information on the differences between the two "types" of cams.

Most of my questions that I post on here are for a future build that I am slowly trying to piece together and just have a better understanding on how engines run.

 

Overlap is the main difference. Medium to large NA cams use overlap to increase cylinder filling in the middle to upper RPM range. The consequence of this is you are not making compression with the valves open and a very small amount of the intake charge can (and probably does) go out the exhaust valve before it's burned. With FI, you don't have a cylinder filling problem, so cams will generally have less overlap than NA cams. FI cams generally don't chop at idle because of the little to no overlap, unless you go big. FI cams generally have good street manners even without FI.

 

So why do people even run a NA cam over an FI? This sounds like FI cams could be more powerful(?) unless I am reading wrong.

 

The fi cam in a street only deal would probably be a better choice for 90% of people but on big power na stuff you need that over lap to draw more air in.

 

Read post #2. As far as the specific values recommended, the OP was looking for very low range boost. But the concept of what makes a good SC cam still applies. I say "SC" specifically instead of "FI" because what makes a turbo-boost cam is a different matter.

https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...ow-cam-557149/

 

I have a supercharger cam in my 5.3, it drives very nicely out of boost. Lots of torque and it's not bad on fuel either. It idles smoothly and still has a slight chop, once the charger takes over that thing lets the 5.3 scream. I would not be afraid to drive around on one without a charger at all...

 

In general, on an NA engine, the NA cam will generally make more mid and upper RPM HP than the FI cam of the same size in the same NA engine. The NA cam uses overlap to better fill the cylinders in the mid to upper rpm range. The FI cam assumes you have a blower or turbo, so it's designed to not bleed off boost pressure and will make more power with FI.

If you are worried about driving on an FI cam before you have the blower, I wouldn't worry. Of course you could post up which cam you are thinking about and get feedback from someone who may have done the same thing.