22 replies to this topic

[freshrican11]

I put in stage 1 cams in my engine with a friend who is a mechanic and helped him put them in. It took like 3 hours, not including time that we needed to get a part. I can say that its not that bad but you really have to pay attention to detail and know what you are doing. you can screw up the timing or lose the chain into the engine. then you will have bigger problems. anyways here is the general idea:

1. Basically you take the valve cover off. stick a rod/pen in the first cylinder head and and adjust the crank until it rises to the highest point which is "top dead center." Mark the timing chain position to the cams. loosen the the timing chain tensioner, which is located in the back of the the engine north of the header. pop it off and recoil it so that it will discharge in place when putting it back in.





2. Grab the chain and tie it down so it won't fall down in the engine. Carefully, take out the half moon pieces along with the cams and place them in the same position so you won't forget exactly the way they go back in. Do not touch cams with finger tips on the smooth areas. lube the smooth surfaces and half moon parts on the cams and in the head.





3. Position the the cams with the notch that it comes with to line up. Bolt them in to place and "carefully torque them. I broke one on accident and had to go to the junkyard and pull a bolt out of a tercel head. put the chain in place where it was marked by you. put the tensioner back in and it should lock and discharge to tighten. lol put the new gasket in and cover in place and bolt everything up again.





This is only for stage I cams. if you go any bigger like stage II, you need to remove the head so you can put bigger valve springs and retainers, which is a lot more work. if you want more info, ask Jcanracer. If you can't figure out what size ratchet or torque to use, then you probably shouldn't do this. I love my cams I feel like I got a little lift now lol. Stage I and II can run without a tune but its recommended to get full potential. if you have any questions on Stage II, ask Jcanracer. He has it on his car.

[Roxtar]

quoted from the other thread:

dnm, on Jul 26 2010, 08:25 PM, said:

And pray that none of your shims are out of spec because you made no mention of shimming.

Evilthorne, on Jul 28 2010, 06:57 PM, said:

Exactly what dnm just said, this how to made no mention of checking the valve clearance. Which means a few things.

Either you got very lucky and the valves shims were within spec, or the clearances are too far open which would cause a drop in the power or the clearances are too tight which could break a camshaft or rocker, push the valve too far open which could cause one cylinder to run differently, fatigue the valve spring by opening the stock units too much which would lead to failure of it and floating the valve into the piston. Not to mention obvious damage to the camshafts.

Not checking the clearances is a horrible idea.

Furthermore, if you really are planning to go turbo save your money and just buy the turbo instead. You don't need cams to make 250whp on a 2zz with boost at 3.5k RPM.

By the way 250whp is the most you should run on a stock 2zz.

also, keep in mind that the crank shaft turns 2 revolutions for every 1 revolution of the cams... so TDC on cylinder 1 happens twice for every revolution of the cam... once on the compression stroke and once on the exhaust stroke. there should be a TDC notch on the stock cams too. pay attention to this because if you don't you could accidentally have the cams 180 degrees off from where they should be.

[freshrican11]

exactly! Thank you for clearing that up Roxtar.

Remember If you are still not sure, ask a mechanic. They should know exactly what to do based on this general information. It should be the same general idea for other vvti engines. happy modding.

[sleepertrix]

What kind of whp gains do you see w/these?

[Vinster03XR]

Question... when installing cams, on a new engine build you have to make sure you properly lube the loabes with grease... but just on a swap, do you still have too? there is already oil on everything?

Vin

[dnm]

You'd do well to at least put a little grease on the lobes for those first few turns before the oil pump gets oil up there, but it's not likely to be a huge deal.

[freshrican11]

sleepertrix, on Jul 31 2010, 09:25 AM, said:

What kind of whp gains do you see w/these?

hp gains are claimed to be like 8-14 hp depending on tuning for the stage I. It also is dictated on the other stuff that you put on the engine. Lets say you are turbo charged and you put upgraded cams. there will be a greater number of hp which is based on a percentage. anyways I noticed a difference and im not tuned. I feel like it really kicks in at higher rpms as though it was "lift." I love that feeling. its a good mod. if I had the money, I would def go all out and get Stage II or III because of how much I like my Stage I and my curiosity of more power. I am satisfied with my results. I hopefully go further.

[Vibe freak]

freshrican11, on Aug 2 2010, 12:49 AM, said:

sleepertrix, on Jul 31 2010, 09:25 AM, said:

What kind of whp gains do you see w/these?

hp gains are claimed to be like 8-14 hp depending on tuning for the stage I. It also is dictated on the other stuff that you put on the engine. Lets say you are turbo charged and you put upgraded cams. there will be a greater number of hp which is based on a percentage. anyways I noticed a difference and im not tuned. I feel like it really kicks in at higher rpms as though it was "lift." I love that feeling. its a good mod. if I had the money, I would def go all out and get Stage II or III because of how much I like my Stage I and my curiosity of more power. I am satisfied with my results. I hopefully go further.

Are you a auto or manuel, also did you loose any low end grunt do to the cams? I have an auto and can't afford to loss what ever low end I have.

[freshrican11]

Vibe freak, on Aug 3 2010, 04:21 AM, said:

freshrican11, on Aug 2 2010, 12:49 AM, said:

sleepertrix, on Jul 31 2010, 09:25 AM, said:

What kind of whp gains do you see w/these?

hp gains are claimed to be like 8-14 hp depending on tuning for the stage I. It also is dictated on the other stuff that you put on the engine. Lets say you are turbo charged and you put upgraded cams. there will be a greater number of hp which is based on a percentage. anyways I noticed a difference and im not tuned. I feel like it really kicks in at higher rpms as though it was "lift." I love that feeling. its a good mod. if I had the money, I would def go all out and get Stage II or III because of how much I like my Stage I and my curiosity of more power. I am satisfied with my results. I hopefully go further.

Are you a auto or manuel, also did you loose any low end grunt do to the cams? I have an auto and can't afford to loss what ever low end I have.

I have an auto too. and I dont feel any negative affects with stage I. Stage II, I heard untuned, can show less torque and some extra hp. But, tuned will can give you close to 20hp and lift at high rpms. I can't imagine stage III.

[Vibe freak]

Have you notice any more power since the ECU has had time to adjust to the new cams? I am strongly thinking about getting these cams, what other mods do you have done to the car? Have you noticed a drop in mpg? Out of all the mods which one did you feel pulled the hardest?

Edited by Vibe freak, 08 August 2010 - 11:40 PM.

[freshrican11]

Vibe freak, on Aug 9 2010, 12:48 AM, said:

Have you notice any more power since the ECU has had time to adjust to the new cams? I am strongly thinking about getting these cams, what other mods do you have done to the car? Have you noticed a drop in mpg? Out of all the mods which one did you feel pulled the hardest?

I have a full exhaust, light weight pulleys, suspension, motor mounts, cams, I am going to put the 2zz manifold and a tundra TB lol. we will see what happens. and I plan on just leaving the Camcon unit hooked up to it. So, it will be a nice N/a setup before I go turbo lol.

[TXMatrix2NR]

Running the stock ECU or piggy back tune ? These are the crower stg 1's right ? Thanks.

[03tmx]

i have stage II cams and i feel very little low end grunt lost(no felt difference). gain 18hp. lost 1lb/ft.

[BlueCrush]

03tmx, on Sep 17 2010, 09:15 AM, said:

i have stage II cams and i feel very little low end grunt lost(no felt difference). gain 18hp. lost 1lb/ft.

What are YOU using for tuning?

[jcanracer]

I've been off the forums for a while, but i'm glad to see you got this done with good results Freshrican!

[TRDfrankie]

Same here. Nice. I have some cams sitting in my garage brand new in a box, but I am not sure if I am going this route now... I may sell. Or I may keep them.



Nice work!

[CrailTrixXR]

Hey I was wondering, what exactly do you mean by torquing the cams when you put in the new ones. I looked up a set of crower cams (http://www.monkeywre...products_id=377). They are for about $400. I also found a website that shows exactly how to swap out the old ones with the new stage I. Exactly like this post. I plan on changing to stage I, but I want to know all the details so I don't mess it up and have to spend another $400. I got a 2006 Matrix XR awd with the 1ZZ-FE.

[Vinster03XR]

^I'd recommend having a shop do it. if you mess up you grenade something... a few hundred bucks saved... and for what.

another alternative is finding someone knowledgeable and pay them a few buck as you help and learn..

Vin

[adamderry]

I'd love to see a before and after dyno of these stage I cams

[CrailTrixXR]

Vinster03XR, on Sep 25 2010, 09:38 PM, said:

^I'd recommend having a shop do it. if you mess up you grenade something... a few hundred bucks saved... and for what.

another alternative is finding someone knowledgeable and pay them a few buck as you help and learn..

Vin

Thank you for the input! I might just go that route.