I am going to change camps with my new engine and am looking for recommendations for setup.
My goal is about 450hp, it will still be my daily, my turbo is a Borg warner s256, and it hits at 4500rpm, and it doesn't help at all with cruising around town, so hopefully I can get cams that dont make that worse, also I've heard cam gears can help with that, which unless I go with hks, I believe I would need

Now the reason I'm asking is, i don't know enough about all the cam options, some of them use different measurements, I know that hks can be drop in and are less aggressive then most 272s, and I know kelfords are really good, but aggressive and will need gears, as for stuff like gsc, I have no clue.
Any recommendations are appropriate, thanks.

Sam's GSX said:

I am going to change camps with my new engine and am looking for recommendations for setup.
My goal is about 450hp, it will still be my daily, my turbo is a Borg warner s256, and it hits at 4500rpm, and it doesn't help at all with cruising around town, so hopefully I can get cams that dont make that worse, also I've heard cam gears can help with that, which unless I go with hks, I believe I would need

Now the reason I'm asking is, i don't know enough about all the cam options, some of them use different measurements, I know that hks can be drop in and are less aggressive then most 272s, and I know kelfords are really good, but aggressive and will need gears, as for stuff like gsc, I have no clue.
Any recommendations are appropriate, thanks.

Click to expand...

*I am going to change cams

Kelford 272's for the win... 100% (They do drop in without the need of cam gears, but you will need springs/retainers)

Ok, and I am planning on getting springs regardless, do you think it will kill my 2k to 3k rpm range? Cause it already has basically no power there

If your main goal is to get cams that don't make the spool up of your current turbo worse, then I don't think getting cams in general is a good idea. You may be able to compensate a little with the spool up but for the most part you're gonna be giving up the low end in order to have increased airflow at a higher rpm. In other words, with cams, you're going to be giving up SOMEthing.

Kelfords, in my opinion, would probably be the worst cams to get if you're looking for gains on the lower end. Like you said, they're very aggressive cams. When they hit, as I understand it, they will hit HARD. But, before they hit, you're going to feel that same lag.

I don't know anything about the Borg Warner turbo you're running, more so specifically the A/R spec, but I think if you're going to want earlier power, another turbo would be the better option to look into, like an Evo 3 16g or even a 68hta.

Kelford 272s will make the sub-3500 range a lot worse. They are big cams. The BC 272, HKS 272, GSC S1, Tomei 260, Kelford 264 and Jun 264 are your best bets for maintaining spool but making more power than stock.

It sounds like you can go down on turbine A/R and still make your power goal - this would have the biggest effect on improving response.

Edit: I see you're on the BEP .55 housing already, which is the quickest it's going to get for spool. What are you doing for boost control? An electronic controller might speed things up a tiny bit if you are still on a manual boost controller.

Ok, I'm on aem tru boost, and sometimes seems to be off, I feel it should be hitting before 4500, so hks seems like one of the smallest 272s, that might be the way to go, I will be using these cams on my new engine when it goes in, so if something is wrong with the head or block, that should fix it.

Are hks cams even available anymore ?

I normally get used parts to save money, as long as there are fine, I'd rather spend 250 than 550

Comp cams are VERY VERY similar to HKS. They’re based on them.

101100’s for 264
101200’s for 272

Ok, I'll keep my eyes out for either, thanks

Bleakley said:

Comp cams are VERY VERY similar to HKS. They’re based on them.

101100’s for 264
101200’s for 272

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The 101100 was the FP1 and the 101200 was the FP2. The 101200s are milder than the 'equivalent' HKS 272 on duration by 6 degrees. The 101100 looks a lot milder than the HKS 264 - the HKS has more duration at 0.040" than the 101100 has at 0.050", so the 101100s aren't much bigger than stock.

Comp 101100 Lift: 10.34/9.93
Comp 101100 Duration @ 0.050": 204/204

HKS 264 Lift: 10.48/9.97
HKS 264 Duration @ 0.040": 210/210


Comp 101200 Lift: 10.44/10.03
Comp 101200 Duration @ 0.050": 212/212

HKS 272 Lift: 10.48/9.97
HKS 272 Duration @ 0.040": 218/218
HKS 272 Duration @ 0.050": 213/213


Honestly, the HKS 272 is as mild as I would go. It's not worth paying to upgrade to anything smaller, so I'd disqualify the Comp 101100 and 101200 based on that alone. The GSC S1, Tomei 260 and Kelford 264 would all fit the bill, however.

I ran hks 272s back in the day. Honesty pull good vacuum at idle, almost zero low end power loss, decent gain up top. I would vote for them. Currently on GSC S2 and something like this or a Kelford I think would leave you unhappy.

Ok, good to hear, I think that would be best, thanks guys

Canadian_CD9A said:

The 101100 was the FP1 and the 101200 was the FP2. The 101200s are milder than the 'equivalent' HKS 272 on duration by 6 degrees. The 101100 looks a lot milder than the HKS 264 - the HKS has more duration at 0.040" than the 101100 has at 0.050", so the 101100s aren't much bigger than stock.

Comp 101100 Lift: 10.34/9.93
Comp 101100 Duration @ 0.050": 204/204

HKS 264 Lift: 10.48/9.97
HKS 264 Duration @ 0.040": 210/210


Comp 101200 Lift: 10.44/10.03
Comp 101200 Duration @ 0.050": 212/212

HKS 272 Lift: 10.48/9.97
HKS 272 Duration @ 0.040": 218/218
HKS 272 Duration @ 0.050": 213/213


Honestly, the HKS 272 is as mild as I would go. It's not worth paying to upgrade to anything smaller, so I'd disqualify the Comp 101100 and 101200 based on that alone. The GSC S1, Tomei 260 and Kelford 264 would all fit the bill, however.

Click to expand...

Do you have the cam cards / data for the HKS 264 and 272 cams?
I have data on a LOT of cams and have a LOT of cam cards, but do not have those yet here’s the information.
If you could please supply the cam cards that would be awesome.

Sam's GSX said:

Ok, I'm on aem tru boost, and sometimes seems to be off, I feel it should be hitting before 4500, so hks seems like one of the smallest 272s, that might be the way to go, I will be using these cams on my new engine when it goes in, so if something is wrong with the head or block, that should fix it.

Click to expand...

what are you tuning the car with? best way to see where spoolup starts is by datalogging it and you can see exaxctly where you start spooling at what rpm

Dsmlink full

Bleakley said:

Do you have the cam cards / data for the HKS 264 and 272 cams?
I have data on a LOT of cams and have a LOT of cam cards, but do not have those yet here’s the information.
If you could please supply the cam cards that would be awesome.

Click to expand...

https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/hks-cam-cards-real-specs.472608/

Nice. Thanks. So yeah, agreed. The comp replacements are only marginally milder. But they ARE in fact milder basing it off duration alone.
For the setup my recommendation is definitely Comp 101200’s though.
Also agree on Kelford 264’s being a contender. Solid cam.

End of the day recommendation is the Comp Cam 200’s though. I think he’d be very satisfied.

If spool up it the issue, cam gears can help a lot as you can change the amount of overlap. Basically, in turbo applications, less overlap will increase top end power but also lag time while decreasing overlap will give better spool up but reduced top end power.
Another reason to have cam gears is to "degree" aftermarket camshafts.
I've heard a lot of guys run the 264in/272ex and like it a lot for maintaining streetability which giving a little extra power in the mid and top end.

The engine is coming with 264 regrinds, should I try it with those to see how I like it first? and if I don't, I'll look for hks 272/kelford 264/comp 101200(also fp2s) and cams that are 264int/274exh

My S2s lack a lot of low-end. As mentioned, they seem to hit hard when they do hit but the car doesn't make a lot power below 3500. The car is still very streetable but aggressive cams like k272s and S2s seem to be drag-racing focused.

Ok, yeah I'll steer clear for now