What goes into designing and manufacturing a cam for a brand new engine design that’s just hit the market? Kiel Rasmussen of Kelford Cams explains.
It was a no-brainer for Kelford Cams to dive into producing an aftermarket camshaft option for the BMW B58 engine that powers the MK5 A90 Toyota Supra, and at the Performance Racing Industry Trade show Kiel explains how things go from reverse-engineering the valve lift curve through to producing a final product.
The limitations in valve lift on the intake due to the B58s rocker arm system are explained as well as how the exhaust side is much easier to deal with at this stage giving a solid 50HP increase throughout the power range with an exhaust cam swap alone before you start to see some tradeoffs in power delivery. Note for now while the rest of the aftermarket is catching up the cams are set to match the stock internals, so there is still plenty in the tank for the future.
Also discussed is heat treatment and how the camshafts must be straightened afterwards where necessary depending on the metal used, and a little bit of what goes into the PAC Racing Kelford spec'd valve springs and retainers with setups like this.
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