Which cam for M20 2.8? + M20 suggestions welcomed

Post Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:26 pm

I'm looking to build (or have built for me, since I'm lazy) a standard-ish M20 2.8 early next year. I'm running a stock m20 2.5 in a facelift Sport and just need a little more.

I have the 130mm rods, the M52 2.8 crank is easy to get, I can re-use my FL pistons (preFL compression just seems a little too high) so my question is - which cam do I use? Piper and Kent seem to be the only brands I know in the UK (vs the US Schrick, etc), so what is the general consensus on the best one to get? I would probably add +1mm oversize valves as well while I am there, plus lightweight flywheel and a baffled sump (since I'm there).

I'm OK with a lumpy idle (in fact, I like it) but I mainly want to go for mid-range torque and not high rpm power.

The Kent 277 comes in Sports Injection and Sports R guises - does anyone know the difference (Links below)?

http://www.kentcams.com/product-details ... Injection/

http://www.kentcams.com/product-details ... ports-'-R-'/

I would appreciate any suggestions based on usage - it's mainly road driving with a little track (when I get enough sorted!) and I really just want a small increase over stock, am not expecting anything hugely powerful. 200hp+ would be nice and seems realistic from the numbers being thrown around. I don't want to go down the path of huge amounts of head mods or custom machining (to keep costs down, as I don't really want to throw huge $$ after an M20) and I want 100% reliability. I currently have a BTB2 and BBTB on there so would hope for a nice usable increase over stock 325i.

I'm not keen on M30 or M5x swaps (originality) BUT I would consider an S14...big $ though. The other thought was an 3L M20 stroker, but that starts being a big chunk of $ for the custom pistons and extra machine work that needs to happen.

Any suggestions and thoughts appreciated!

Cheers,
Gus

Post Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:41 pm

schrick 284/272 or thereabouts.

the dbilas 284/284 looks good on paper but i dont know anyone who uses one. it shouldnt be quite as lumpy as the schrick 288 but still lumpy enough to know about it

the kent cam ones dont have the same lift as a schrick, dbilas, etc

make sure your head guy knows what he is doing you can easily improve on the standard head by fixing some of the known problems

Post Mon Dec 02, 2013 1:07 pm

Thanks for that!

Do you have more info on improving the standard head?

Post Mon Dec 02, 2013 8:17 pm

check out e30tech forum and search there few threads on itscattered about. mostly vice valve job and fix the short side and streamline the guide a bit. no need to take much metal out at all

Post Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:15 pm

Jeff from IE is recommending the IE cam (it's about $200 cheaper, but not overly fussed) which is meant to be a Schrick copy - any thoughts on those?

Will have a dig around e30tech!

Cheers,
Gus

Post Wed Dec 04, 2013 8:42 pm

of course he does....if all the specs are same as the schrick 272 then it should be fine. dont forget it will be about 50-100 to ship it compared to finding one locally

Post Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:17 pm

Has anyone tried cat cams or Newman's cams?

Post Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:50 pm

Newman make F1 cams and i heard good things about them when i was researching this my-self. I bought one, but have not built the engine yet.

Post Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:52 pm

I’ve tried catcams in a 3.1L and many others here have in 2.7, 2.8's etc.
IMO they don’t make the torque that schrick do at the bottom end but make a little more topend when you compare a roughly equivalent cam between the two brands.

i would choose schrick over catcam for a street driven car and catcams for a car that sees the track