AU CAMs

[SupahStah]

Hey fellas,

Ive got an EL XR6, I am going looking for a new cam for it shortly... However, the engine is a hybrid (AU Head) therefor I can only use AU Cams!

I was wondering what you fellas would recommend...

The car specs:

4 speed auto
6 cyl
pacey 4499's
into redback 2.5" catback
JMM pod filter intake kit.

[JoesAu]

Jay's RPD

[JoesAu]

heard of good things coming from there his got 4 or 5 different cam profiles.

[Casper]

G&D have created a number of custom grinds for the AU's now. 5% discount too!!!!!!

[JoesAu]

heard of good things coming from there his got 4 or 5 different cam profiles. Its what im looking at right now

[Sleeperau]

Originally Posted by SupahStah

Hey fellas,

Ive got an EL XR6, I am going looking for a new cam for it shortly... However, the engine is a hybrid (AU Head) therefor I can only use AU Cams!

I was wondering what you fellas would recommend...

The car specs:

4 speed auto
6 cyl
pacey 4499's
into redback 2.5" catback
JMM pod filter intake kit.

Not cheap but JMM, speak to Useless & Jonbays, living proof!

[Stav]

the fastest i6 cars on this forum ran a dev 5 and one has a surecam. If you want the truth..well a good cam is only brought to life with a good tune !! My dev 4 has been tuned by 3 tuners and the last one got it right and got my au wagon a 14.7 with wheelspin. Same cam ,3 tuners and it felt different each time. I can say that it goes quite hard now.For a guy who was nuts about shimms and stuff I honestly dont even want to clean the dirty filters for fear of it altering the tune..it is just too nice right now.

[jonbays]

You need to tell us what you want out of the cam in your car and be honest with us and yourself.

How much money do you want to spend. can you install it yourself and what other mods are you planning to do.

Cams aren't cams there are lots to choose from. Most are good at something none are good at everything.

[SupahStah]

Well, i'm after low end power and torque, power from 900RPM (or so) till about 5,000RPM would be good (maybe even 4,500RPM). Low lift, little duration, stock idle. I am happy spending anywhere upto $400 for the cam, if it gets me what I want. I will also get a aftermarket ECU.

Future mods will include: Bottom end work, Port + Polish, larger valves + injectors.

[jonbays]

Originally Posted by SupahStah

Well, i'm after low end power and torque, power from 900RPM (or so) till about 5,000RPM would be good (maybe even 4,500RPM). Low lift, little duration, stock idle. I am happy spending anywhere upto $400 for the cam, if it gets me what I want. I will also get a aftermarket ECU.

Future mods will include: Bottom end work, Port + Polish, larger valves + injectors.

Honestly and remeber I am not trying to sell you anything the stock XR6 cam is what you want.
Just get a good edit to get the best out of it.

If power from 900rpm is a serious requirement no aftermarket cam will help. I have seen AU's run 145rwkw with stock XR6 cam and head decent exhaust and edit and they had good low end much improved by the edit. This does need PULP only tuning so not cheap on fuel cost!

[Futura01]

Originally Posted by jonbays

Honestly and remeber I am not trying to sell you anything the stock XR6 cam is what you want.
Just get a good edit to get the best out of it.

If power from 900rpm is a serious requirement no aftermarket cam will help. I have seen AU's run 145rwkw with stock XR6 cam and head decent exhaust and edit and they had good low end much improved by the edit. This does need PULP only tuning so not cheap on fuel cost!

Well really whats the diffrence between a std cam and xr6 au cam ?? i always thought they are the same except for dial in timing????

[loxxr6]

Originally Posted by SupahStah

Well, i'm after low end power and torque, power from 900RPM (or so) till about 5,000RPM would be good (maybe even 4,500RPM). Low lift, little duration, stock idle. I am happy spending anywhere upto $400 for the cam, if it gets me what I want. I will also get a aftermarket ECU.

Future mods will include: Bottom end work, Port + Polish, larger valves + injectors.

That sounds like a really big range to expect power from. You won't get your big numbers without some loss in idle.

Your future mods of an aftermarket ECU and injectors are prob a waste of time if you're not going forced induction as well.

You'd prob be better to spend the ECU/injector money on some headwork and a cam to match. Then top it all off with the EL edit whenever that is due.

[Mark351]

Without headwork, AU XR6.

[jonbays]

Cams work by tuning the powerband. You can't extend the powerband mostly only move it and reduce its size.

Most of the aftermarket high torque cams are worse than an XR6 cam.
powerbands of 900 to 3500rpm.

Mild performance cams generally 1000 to 3800rpm are about the same as an XR6 cam.

Performance cams needs computer re calibration and give power from 1800 to 5500rpm

[TheSneakiness]

Sorry to hijack here...

Were AU cams already "advanced" from factory?

/end hijack

[SupahStah]

I always thaught so... 10 degrees I beleive (Walkinshaw could tell you exactly, as he was the one who helped my fix my timing!)

So if you want to advance 4 degrees for premium, you make your timing light read 14 degrees...

[sprjenkins]

sorry i don't know a whole heap but i thought aftermarket cams could increase the duration the valves were open and allow more air/fuel in. Therefore wouldn't an aftermarket cam with a longer duration produce more power, but cost more in fuel and idle

[SupahStah]

Originally Posted by sprjenkins

sorry i don't know a whole heap but i thought aftermarket cams could increase the duration the valves were open and allow more air/fuel in. Therefore wouldn't an aftermarket cam with a longer duration produce more power, but cost more in fuel and idle

Thats correct as far as I can tell. Different cams however give different results. Puting in a lumpy idling cam may cause little HP increase and heaps more fuel usage if not tuned correct (or using standard ECU)... Also your standard ECU could have trouble reading the CAM and may stall / run poor

The more lift + duration, the lumpier it will sound

I want a cam that gives little lift and duration, therefor give it good pickup and low end power. Lumpy idle doesnt realy worry me, I would just like power + torque from 900-5,000RPM...

Correct me if im wrong tho!

[sprjenkins]

i'm interested because i also have an AU, jmm intake kit, 2.5 inch cat back and was looking for a cam and headers

[NeishaXR8_347]

you can get big cams with a not so much affected idle, it mostly has to do with the lobe separation that has been ground on the cam, with the power band you want there is none that will give it to you, most cams come from a big place anyways like crow, wade or whateva, so jmm and all the like are just from cam specialists anyway. they might have a few slight variances but ive measured up a dev5 and its almost identical to the biggest crow cam with power from 3000-6000rpm.

[NeishaXR8_347]

The tighter the lobe separation the lumpier the cam is, if you want a good idle around the 116deg will be ok. if you can find one with that.

[jonbays]

LSA or lobe separation or overalap is a key for idle quality. STock AU is like 119 degrees. At the moment i am running 111 degress and yes it does idle in an auto just with a unichip.

[NeishaXR8_347]

lol 111 not bad would idle like a cow with hiccups on std ecu.

[SupahStah]

Originally Posted by neishaxr8

lol 111 not bad would idle like a cow with hiccups on std ecu.

rofl

Well, what Cam should I look at for an AU Head that will provide the best 1/4mile times ?

And if the powerband is 3000-6000 does that mean the power between 500-2999 will be: Better(But not by much) / Worse / The same ??

Supahstah

[jonbays]

Originally Posted by SupahStah

rofl

Well, what Cam should I look at for an AU Head that will provide the best 1/4mile times ?

And if the powerband is 3000-6000 does that mean the power between 500-2999 will be: Better(But not by much) / Worse / The same ??

Supahstah

Now you have to be honest with us and yourself here.

What do you really want best qtr times OR power from 900rpm?

With cams think of the powerband like a balloon squeeze it tight and you have lots of power at high revs and none down low.

With a turbo or supercahrger think of blowing the balloon up bigger more power everywhere.

Does that make it easy to understand?

Also a big cam needs head work better valve springs and a manual gearbox with a high ratio LSD diff or if auto a high stall converter. Starting to sound expensive to go fast isn't it.

[loxxr6]

Originally Posted by SupahStah

rofl

Well, what Cam should I look at for an AU Head that will provide the best 1/4mile times ?

And if the powerband is 3000-6000 does that mean the power between 500-2999 will be: Better(But not by much) / Worse / The same ??

Supahstah

In the case of the dev5 cam I had, the power down low was worse. The Unichip perked it up a bit tho.

But what you really should be making sure of, is what exactly do you want out of the cam coz you're prob searching for the holy grail of cams if you want instant power with the ultimate quarter mile as well.

[JoesAu]

Jay's Rpd .


Street spec
R spec 1 - the old faithfull and well proven RPD stg 1 cam
R spec 2 - a new profile similar to the stage 1 with a little more duration to give it a bit more poke

Both these profiles will run on std springs however it is advised that you do change your springs as your original ones can break. You dont need super high performance springs, just your heavy duty replacements for the 6 available at every speed shop will take care of the task. These cams are very auto friendly and will lead any insurer/cops to believe you are running a std cam

Touring spec
R spec 3 - the original stg 2, again well proven but lacking a little down low for the auto's running tall diff ratios

being the original stg 2 they still require HD valve springs, and the only ones that I recomend that are up to the task are the Crane variants that I supply. The Crane springs have all the right pressures in the right places which makes sure that the valves stay where they belong

Race spec
R spec 4 - the original stg 3, cranky as a tassie devil, but great at turning heads
R spec 5- a completely new profile that will have similar charactistics to the R spec 4

Both the R 4 & 5 are very similar. The lobe area under curve when graphed are almost identical, however the R4 has more lift and less duration, and the R5 has the opposite. Both these cams will work on std engines, however it is advised to have a higher comp ratio, blue printed bottom ends so that you can rev past the 6000rpm range and so that the valve reliefs in the piston crowns will let these cams achive thier highest potential. Manual boxes or high stall converters are advised, and short diff ratio's will make your car an absolute weapon.

[JoesAu]

i think from memory a guy with an eseries car punched out 146rwkw on stg 1 with other mods. no internall work apart from cam etc

[EFFalcon]

SupahStah: forget that 900rpm crap... its not going to do you any favours.
if you want your car to go hard, you'll need to stall it up, and you're dealing with stall speeds of around 1800rpm with a stock converter.
having a cam that has a power range of 2000-5000rpm won't be a problem in your car and will give way better results.

are you planning on doing ECU mods in the future?