Ok, now that I have a few days to play around with the new set, I have mixed emotions.
Back in the day, my old 1.8 used to be a fast revving fun motor. Lightened flywheel, euro intake, tt black box, made this motor a lot of fun, but no power down low. Then I went to a high compression 2008cc motor. Wow. The low end power of this thing was absolutely sick. Quite a quick car. That's how the motor was until this weekend.... Now with the new cams in, the motor has turned into a higher revving, power-up-top engine. This isn't a bad thing, as plenty of low end torque is still there. But it just doesnt snap your head into the seat at 3000rpm anymore. Instead, starting at about 2500 on to about 6500, the power is very steady, and just builds and build and builds. My friend said the motor feels somewhat like a VTEC now. Now, I am assuming this is due to the fact that the new camset has a much wilder exhaust cam, with higher lift, etc. Idle hasn't changed at all by the way. Sounds very much like stock, and is very steady (not like a 268 on an 8v 2.0l). Anyway, the thought has even crossed my mind to put the old euro intake back in along with my stock exhaust cam. Then there comes the whole idea of cam timing.... I know for sure now (100% sure) that my cams and my crank are in complete sync with each other. I avoided that whole part of 'tightening the timing belt and throwing off your timing' problem. I was thinking I could mess with my cam gear some to shift the power band down a bit (being as I would like the motor to peak at 6000rpm, not 6500rpm). But I don't even want to mess with the perfect cam-to-crank timing. Ignition timing is pretty good with little or no ping, with the compression it still has to be somewhat retarded from stock. Maybe a degree or two. And my fuel mixture should still be around 2.5-3ma. I haven't checked since last summer, but it shouldn't have changed (plus I always have the black smoke cloud behind me when I am at wide open throttle). Lastly, the car doesn't run so great when cold. I mean, worse that it used to when cold. Could this be a thermotime sensor or a coolant sensor problem? Neither have ever been replaced in over 5 1/2 years, but I always thought they just went bad, with no intermediate stage. I have to run over the tests in the bentley when I get a chance... Thanks for listening to my rambles. If anyone has any ideas on where my low end grunt may have gone, please feel free to let me know. (and don't tell me its because its a wilder cam set and thats what happens - I know this) =) BTW, anyone have shrick 260's with a 2L on the list? How is your power down low compared to stock? Being that the Autotech cam set and 260's are somewhat comparable... Thanks, Denis G.
