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Who has run a VX3 cam on a turbo engine?

red740t

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2008
Location
sarasota, fl
I'm constantly ready how the VX3 sucks for turbo engines but I just can't see why. the only negative is the smaller exhaust lift but that could be offset with larger exhaust valves and port work. The cam doesn't have a lot of overlap and valve sequence seems good.
I'm only asking because I'm building a 745t for the Grassroots Motorsports $2000 challenge and I got the cam cheap.
 
everything I've run the vx3 on has been slower than it was previously. even with a T cam. Why would you try to do port work and valve work to offset lower lift, when a better cam will yield better results without the port work (And even better with the port work). for the grm 2k challenge, unless you can score a cheap ipd turbo cam or enem v15, I'd just leave the turbo cam in there and focus on everything else.
 
everything I've run the vx3 on has been slower than it was previously. even with a T cam. Why would you try to do port work and valve work to offset lower lift, when a better cam will yield better results without the port work (And even better with the port work). for the grm 2k challenge, unless you can score a cheap ipd turbo cam or enem v15, I'd just leave the turbo cam in there and focus on everything else.

Really? The T cam is so friggin aweful. I just don't see what makes the VX3 so bad. I do have a B cam I could try.
 
I?d listen to the voice of experience. Linuxman knows more than most on here. I?d just try them all and see what you like. Or trade them all for an ipd turbo cam and call it a day. But that?s only talking from my own experience and what I like. What size turbo? What supporting mods you plan on running might help guys steer you in the right direction.
 
and the prize for stupidest comment goes to.

What does owning a chassis dyno have to do with why or why not a cam works well?

bold move calling out mike like that. probably not the best way to get good information either.

the bottom line here is this:
You're going to sit here and tell us it's cheaper to source oversized valves, do head work, spend money on a headgasket kit, etc... so you can crib up a lackluster cam?

Mike didn't mention I have a flow bench as well, and without channeling the power of the swedes I can't really say there are drastic gains to be had with bigger valves and exhaust porting. Further, the bulk of the airflow you're going to get from an 8v is in the mid-lift regions, going higher on the lift does help some, but it's not some kind of panacea of performance. You will find on the cams that work well, longer duration is more favorable than additional lift, overlap somewhat be damned... and this has held true for quite some time. Of course there are limitations to this rule, and eventually cubic dollar bills come in to play to go further.

The cars that have always performed well on the dyno(s) that I've tuned have pretty much all had either the ipd turbo or the enem v15. Just about everything else has underperformed for one reason or another. The oe b230 intake manifold leaves a lot to be desired, the exhaust manifold likely starts to get tight at higher rpms (but that's relative as well), to run the bigger cams you need pretty extensive head work, springs, different buckets, the list goes on.


so for a 2k build... skip the cam, get a 16t or a t3-60 trim, exhaust, engine management, and bigger bigger fuel injectors. if you still have some space left over in the performance budget, consider a better (not ebay-those are hot garbage as well, even on 170hp low boost setups) intercooler. the rest of your money and time should be spent doing things like brakes, suspension, the sorts of things that will help on the auto-x part of the competition, because you're not going to make waves with a nearly stock 8v for the drag race part of the event.
 
and anyway, regarding the dyno thing... willing to bet there's no other single person on the forum that's tuned more turbobricker cars (I know, odd flex, it just kinda shook out that way with the various SE meets and what not) in person and remote, so the sample data reaches pretty far and wide. Personally I don't much care for the 8v stuff, but a 16v conversion is definitely not in your budget.
 
bold move calling out mike like that. probably not the best way to get good information either.

the bottom line here is this:
You're going to sit here and tell us it's cheaper to source oversized valves, do head work, spend money on a headgasket kit, etc... so you can crib up a lackluster cam?

Mike didn't mention I have a flow bench as well, and without channeling the power of the swedes I can't really say there are drastic gains to be had with bigger valves and exhaust porting. Further, the bulk of the airflow you're going to get from an 8v is in the mid-lift regions, going higher on the lift does help some, but it's not some kind of panacea of performance. You will find on the cams that work well, longer duration is more favorable than additional lift, overlap somewhat be damned... and this has held true for quite some time. Of course there are limitations to this rule, and eventually cubic dollar bills come in to play to go further.

The cars that have always performed well on the dyno(s) that I've tuned have pretty much all had either the ipd turbo or the enem v15. Just about everything else has underperformed for one reason or another. The oe b230 intake manifold leaves a lot to be desired, the exhaust manifold likely starts to get tight at higher rpms (but that's relative as well), to run the bigger cams you need pretty extensive head work, springs, different buckets, the list goes on.


so for a 2k build... skip the cam, get a 16t or a t3-60 trim, exhaust, engine management, and bigger bigger fuel injectors. if you still have some space left over in the performance budget, consider a better (not ebay-those are hot garbage as well, even on 170hp low boost setups) intercooler. the rest of your money and time should be spent doing things like brakes, suspension, the sorts of things that will help on the auto-x part of the competition, because you're not going to make waves with a nearly stock 8v for the drag race part of the event.

Thanks for the explanation. I have built a handful of red locks and have read more than I should have. I am using a 531 head and have cleaned the ports up. I?ll play with the cams and see what I can make work. I have a few cams but no Turbo cams.
As far as coming at mike, he basically insinuated that I was arguing with you. I simply asked who has experience with the VX cam and then mentioned how terrible the T cam and that maybe I would try the B cam.
His comment was just plain stupid. I have full access to a brand new Dynocom dyno so making assumptions is just foolish.
 
I assumed correctly. If you owned a dyno you would have bragged about it already.
And mine was a light-hearted comment, i don?t often feel the need to check/correct/?pwn? someone.
Project silly attitude, win silly prizes.
Good luck with your vx3.
 
Many years ago I met one of our old time members at the Rockleigh show in Northern NJ. He put a VX3 cam in a B23FT and when I asked how he liked it. He told me he didn't like it. It made the engine very on/off like no power off boost then in boost it turns on aggressively. I would use a B cam or buy IPD turbo or enem V15T cam. The enem cam would be my choice for a good street performance cam with good torque. I did it twice both turbo and n/a. Was worth every penny.
 
Thanks for the explanation. I have built a handful of red locks and have read more than I should have. I am using a 531 head and have cleaned the ports up. I?ll play with the cams and see what I can make work. I have a few cams but no Turbo cams.
As far as coming at mike, he basically insinuated that I was arguing with you. I simply asked who has experience with the VX cam and then mentioned how terrible the T cam and that maybe I would try the B cam.
His comment was just plain stupid. I have full access to a brand new Dynocom dyno so making assumptions is just foolish.

If you've built so many redblocks, why are you even asking the question?
 
531 has the same terrible exhaust port, so the same discussion applies there as well. the enem v15t and ipd turbo cam are virtually identical (word on the street is it's a direct copy)
 
The two my dad and I degreed were damn close, although not identical.

IPD cam 225/227 @.050", .447" lift after lash, 110* LSA
V15T cam 229/227 @.050", .457" lift after lash, 112* LSA

The VX has reliably disappointed my butt dyno although I've never tested one on a chassis dyno. T cam+13C torque hit is pretty respectable for minimal effort, could be handy on some autox courses.
 
My quickest ET was A cam and 15g stock head. 12.61. RSI stage 3 12.7's. Greg Ervin ran 12.60 with 15g and IPD turbo cam. 740's gutted and with slicks.
 
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interesting. we back-to-backed it against the ipd turbo cam and the ipd turbo cam made the same (or maybe more?) but with more under the curve

my take on the rsi stage 3 is that it wants more head flow all around (port work, better intake manifold, better exhaust manifold, bigger turbine and housing) and I imagine would then want to spin on up. in the relatively stock-ish world it doesn't really measure up.
 
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