Camming a High Mileage Engine

7th January 2011, 09:54

I have searched for this but theyre isnt really any accurate answer,
i would love to cam my VTR, Looking at newman PH3 cams,
I have seen some people say on here that you shouldnt cam a high mileage engine as it can result in a lot of problems...
Is this true...
My 03VTR is currently on 106,000 what would you suggest?

7th January 2011, 09:58

I'd take it with a pinch of salt dude.
If the engine is in poor condition then performance upgrades really aren't advised. However mileage rarley reflects the condition of the engine.

If it's been well looked after and has regular services there's no reason why cams shouldn't be installed.

If it's tired, burning oil, leaking, down on compression etc etc it's probably best to leave it.

Tom

7th January 2011, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by holdawayt

I'd take it with a pinch of salt dude.
If the engine is in poor condition then performance upgrades really aren't advised. However mileage rarley reflects the condition of the engine.

If it's been well looked after and has regular services there's no reason why cams shouldn't be installed.

If it's tired, burning oil, leaking, down on compression etc etc it's probably best to leave it.

Tom

Thanks for your help, I am currently running Raceland 4-2-1, Supersprint Race Pipe, and piper 3" Outwardly Rolled, With a Raceland Enclosed Greenfilter and she is running like a dream, not leaking any oil or burning any, i bought the car on 91,000 with no service history but since then she has run fine and has had two services... does that help with any more suggestions ?

7th January 2011, 10:13

Dont take my word for it just incase it goes balls up, but i'd personally go for it as the car seems to be in good condition. As i said, mileage is a weird one, i owned a fiesta on 50K that was in far worse condition than my 21 year old golf on 130K.

7th January 2011, 10:20

I agree with what Tom is saying tbh. I look at milage with a pinch of salt tbh. A car could have 20k miles on but not had a service, been abused and generally fucked.
Or you could have an enthusiast owned car on 100k miles, regular services with quality parts etc and well maintained, and it be fine.

Depends on the life its ran. Again, as Tom said, your car seems to be running fine & be healthy so just go for it

7th January 2011, 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAM-S44MDS-

I agree with what Tom is saying tbh. I look at milage with a pinch of salt tbh. A car could have 20k miles on but not had a service, been abused and generally fucked.
Or you could have an enthusiast owned car on 100k miles, regular services with quality parts etc and well maintained, and it be fine.

Depends on the life its ran. Again, as Tom said, your car seems to be running fine & be healthy so just go for it

TOM & SAM
thanks for your help guys its been much appreciated i have been wondering about it for a while, originally i was going to get a low mileage VTR engine and cam that but i really dont have the facility to store and work on an engine, my elderly neigbour lets me use her garage but i think thats taking the piss a bit, okay so now onto remaps, if i put a newman ph3 cam in it, what remap would you suggest, i have not as yet looked into remaps so dont really know a lot about them, or ecu chips what would you suggest to get the car running good with the cams as i use the car daily.

Thanks again!

7th January 2011, 10:26

Speak to Luthor1 on here about the remap mate, he will help you out alot more than we can on that 1

And give you a price to do it aswell

Or you could find someone local to you, and get prices of them also

7th January 2011, 10:30

Definatley contact luthor, i'm oldschool and prefer carbs with my old engines, not clued up at all with injection/ ecu's etc!!

7th January 2011, 10:31

as its high milage. when changing the cam.
check the springs and rollers make sure there ok.
will be changing cam belt anyway. so might aswell change the water pump.
and if u do head gasket at the same time.
new oils and sparkys then things should be ok.
all things that need doing as head is split anyway when changing the cam.

luthor supplys the predator
at the moment there is only one for the single plug vts, and i think he has done one on a quicksilver??

best place for a remap on standard ecu is chipwizards. wayne gets good results and will sort the cam timing (u will need an adjustable pulley with the new cam) and map the car to run perfectly.
hope this helps

7th January 2011, 10:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by adzvtr

as its high milage. when changing the cam.
check the springs and rollers make sure there ok.
will be changing cam belt anyway. so might aswell change the water pump.
and if u do head gasket at the same time.
new oils and sparkys then things should be ok.
all things that need doing as head is split anyway when changing the cam.

Okay thanks mate, i like to think i know a good bit about my car but when it comes to preformance in the engine im a little bit clueless, the cambelt and water pump got done at 94,000 but you think its worth doing them again?
Springs and rollers?? any chance you could ellaborate a little...sorry mate

Okay and thanks guys i will give that guy a message, would the car run okay without a remap for a while with the current modifications:
Raceland 4-2-1
S/S race pipe
3" piper B/b
Raceland enclosed induction

Thanks!!

7th January 2011, 10:45

valve springs m8,
and when you take the rocker cover off u will see the rocker which has rollers on it.
its all part of the valve system.

if the water pump was done recently that should be ok,
but rule of mouth is never reuse an old cambelt.
as the cambelt needs to come off when changing the cam its now old.
what e few quid for peice of mind.

and the car should run ok on standard map you just wont be seeing any benefits from having it in there.

7th January 2011, 10:52

100,000 miles is not high mileage.
When taking out the standard cam you need to check the springs are within tolerance and the rocker condition. The cambelt should be changed as part of the process along with tensioners, waterpump and other associated parts.

7th January 2011, 11:57

okay so can someone please list the parts that need replacing when doing cams,
okay and when you say no benefits do you mean from the ecu or te cams?

thanks

7th January 2011, 12:00

I cammed my 100k VTS engine. No problems at all. Didnt even bother changing the lifters.

7th January 2011, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin

I cammed my 100k VTS engine. No problems at all. Didnt even bother changing the lifters.

okay could someone please make a rule of thumb list of things that will need to be changed, will the engine needd to be lifted out?

regards

7th January 2011, 12:11

change:

cam belt + ALL tensioners
camshaft oil seals

check/replace:

springs
caps
rockers
water pump

advised:

oil and filter change.

nothing wrong with a well looked after high mileage engine, in a way its a good thing, its been stress relieved.
my original turbo engine was 115,000 miles and i went and stuck over 300hp down it.

7th January 2011, 12:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by atspeedracing

change:

cam belt + ALL tensioners
camshaft oil seals

check/replace:

springs
caps
rockers
water pump

advised:

oil and filter change.

nothing wrong with a well looked after high mileage engine, in a way its a good thing, its been stress relieved.
my original turbo engine was 115,000 miles and i went and stuck over 300hp down it.

okay sweet thanks mate thanks for everyones help has been much appreciated just need to learn aboutthe springs and caps cos i dont know what they are, fair enough thanks mate

7th January 2011, 12:48

Mileage is only a number, i wish everyone thought this!

7th January 2011, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannyVTS

Mileage is only a number, i wish everyone thought this!

Tooo true mate lol

7th January 2011, 13:10

would not worry darren as along as engine is fine just replace the stuff as above, I turbod my 130k engine in the past and had cams in a 150k enigne

7th January 2011, 13:18

This thread is loads of help, wanting to cam my vtr but didnt know if it was worth it on a 144K engine. Probably going to do it now

7th January 2011, 16:11

basically if u dont dial the cam in, and map the engine for the cams u may not see any gain from the cams also may result in being down on power.

the will run fine without a map on standard timing but for best gains remap is needed.

8th January 2011, 09:43

Just wait till you put that VTS lump in it buddy, cam that instead

8th January 2011, 18:06

Why not consider getting a rebuild ?
Or if you want piece of mind stick it on the dyno to see how she's running then you can decide if she's ready for cams

8th January 2011, 18:29

i cammed my mk1 vtr with 111k on the clock with the newman ph3s, its unmapped atm.

i changed;

headgasket
belt
valve stem seals
water pump
tensioner
spark plugs
new oil n filter.
all seals n gaskets etc.

the car appeared to show gains as in i could feel them, in 2nd n 3rd gear around 3000 rpm upwards. but for running about unmapped n sensible driving, its abit sh*t to drive as the fueling aint there, just becareful pulling away on islands n stuff.

my advice would be to buy it all, and save for the remap n pulley adjustment b4 you stick it all in. like i wish id of done.