What exactly is a cam? I've been confused as to what it does. I've heard cammed cars before and no that it adds power. But how much are they. Do I need other mods, and what are the benifits of a cam vs SC/ Turbo?

 

I am not an expert on camshafts, but what they do is change the events at when and how much, how long the valves stay opened or closed. The whole purpose of them is to help get the most air in and out of an engine, the better and more eficiently you can do this the better it will run. A engine is basically a big air pump. When you combine a good set of heads that flow with a good cam you can make great power. When you add a blower or turbo you need to pic a cam that works for them, which is going to be a differnt cam thenn would be used in a motor with out forced induction. The intake and exhaust lift , durations are different. Sory if this isn't totaly clear to you, someone that is a cam god will hook it up better.


Duration- how long the valve stays open or closed

Lift- how much the vlave is opened.

 

Here's a good starter article...

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/camshaft.htm

 

This is a hard one to explain... The cam is what opens the valves and allows fuel and air into the system. And once you know how it works its really easy to understand how it works... Unfortunately you cannot get the same gain from a cam as you can from a turbo or s/c because the farthest you can go with a cam is about high 90 in volumetric efficiency. Which is the engines ability to burn every bit of fuel and air introduced to it, and when you have a supercharger or turbo you are able to push wwell past 100%, because your engine is like a vaccum pump, and can only bring in as much air as can fit in each cylinder. with a turbo or supercharger you can actually cram more air by compressing it in the cylinder before the piston ever moves up.

The cam is what times when the valves open, and how far. Each engine requires something different to get different things. You can geta cam for torque, or for high rpm horsepower, or a mild in between cam. you can even get emissions legal cams.


here you go... how camshafts work


hope that helps

 

damn you thunder.... here i type all this up then figure hell with it just send him here and you beat me too it

 

Thats great! Now scroll down and look at the pushrod motor diagram. Thats how our motors work.

 

Bwahahahaha!!! Sniped you!

 

A Cam is one of the most improving mods you can add to the motor to completly change how it reacts, not including power adders like a S/C, Turbo, or nitrous.
Heads will give you more power but a cam will completly change how your motor feels, depending on what cam you go with. They are about $375 new for the GEN III motors.

 

a camshaft can mechanically reprogram the motor

 

It's also big and heavy and you can hit people with it.