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Hi Kansas,
You assume right, it's a V4.
Looking at a photo in Haynes the cam enters and exits at the front of the engine. I am not quite sure what you mean with the journals (English is not my native tongue and on occasion I am a bit at loss with technical terms), but if you mean the places in the block where the cam is supported by the thicker parts with the oil grooves this means that these bearing sections on the cam get less in diameter (which they do, just measured) going from front to back, confirming the front side of the engine should be the place to install/remove the cam. When the engine is inverted the lifters should be kept in their places by the heads; these have holes with smaller diameter for the pushroads. This way the lifters are free from the cam (unless I overlook something). You have a point about the bearings, I will investigate this further.
The engine (a 1500 96 engine with 96 gearbox) has a double barrel manifold with a Weber 32/36, K&N filter and Pertronix ignition. The exhaust is a 2" twin pipe Highgate (I live on the European side of the big water). The flanges between the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe have been bored out, just as the exhaust channels in the heads. I reckon the next step in order to improve breathing (apart from porting and big valves) should be the cam. Already the car is quite responsive to the throttle, but over 4000 revs it runs a bit out of breath. So with the way Jack Ashcraft tunes V4s in mind, installing a hotter cam and a lighter flywheel should add to a better performance. I know Jack does a lot of extras with ported heads and bigger valves, but I guess with standard heads improvements must be noticeable too. At Motorsport Sweden's website is a page describing how to make 90hp out of a 1700 engine using standard valves and a 7.2 cam. My cam is a 7.9 so there will be sacrifice at lower rpm, but with the lower geared 96 gearbox I can do with some more ooomph in higher revs, which are reached quickly anyway with these short gears.
I am not looking for more than 5500rpm now so I leave stiffer valve springs and lighter lifters. The gearwheels are of improved model, metal with fiber teeth and brand new, meaning I leave the metal gears out. All said, this is new territory for me. Am I missing anything vital?
Alex
posted by 82.217.22...
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