I asked the guys at MTI what was the biggest cam I could use with their Stage 2E Heads and they told me it was their X1 cam (230/227 .591/.571 112lsa). Why is this I thought you could use alot bigger cam than that.

Thanks

 

I'm not going there. I'm tired of the big cam debate. But I can give you something that I found on the internet that sums it up nicely:

ELGIN CAM DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

You probably have figured out by now that I am not an advocate of extra high lift, unnecessarily long duration, or very high compression for any street driven car. I prefer instead to use maximum velocity in the camshaft design which allows my cams to have more duration at 0.050", 0.100", and 0.200" lift compared to the "Brand X" cams you might get from other sources. As a side benefit of this design choice, it turns out that when you have more duration at 0.200" - 0.300" lift and not as high a cam lift, you end up with a cam lobe with a rounder nose radius which will support higher valve spring loads and therefore will last longer than a "pointed" high lift cam. I learned a long time ago that dwell on the nose, or top, portion of the cam lobe is equivalent to lift provided that you have the valve open far enough when the piston reaches its maximum velocity. On a normally aspirated engine, I have never seen power increased by adding valve lift above and beyond the flow capacity of the head.
You now have all the info you need to make the important performance enhancement choices appropriate for your own application - so there is not much more to say except HAPPY TUNING.

By: Dimitri N. Elgin

 

Bigger isn't always better. Do a search on cams and read some, I'm sure you will understand it better. There is always a sacrifice somewhere, more power is never "free".

 

The Y1 or R1 probably won't clear due to Piston to Valve clearance unless you flycut, or notch the piston, to allow the valve somewhere to go other than into the piston. If MTI won't flycut, find someone who will.

I know LG will with the AFR/G5X3 package, and that'll make more power than the MTI 2E/X1 package while still being streetable. G5X3 is very similar to the MTI Y1, and will make a ton of power.

Oh, big cams do make more power than little cams if setup properly on stock heads. Small cams can see anywhere from a 25-40rwhp increase, and the big cams like the MS3 and G5X3 can see 65-70rwhp, once again if setup properly. The difference in a big cam only vs a small cam and heads is about $1500 in price, and about nothing in horsepower. Thus, big cam-only cars are very popular, but they don't drive as well as the more "balanced" packages.

 

My 2E/X1 combo pulled 430 rwhp thru catalytics and a factory catback on my '02 SS. At a local dyno day, it was the highest dynoing heads/cam car in the group, and several other cars had bigger cams and offroad exhausts with cutouts. I even won a gift certificate lol.

Bigger cams do make more power, but you also sacrifice drivability and valvespring life, as well as fuel economy. There are always trade-offs

 

So please tell me why the T rex, G5X2/G5X3/G5X4, f13/F14, Magic stick,
etc etc make more power then a cam that is more matched to the 240cfm's a stock LS1 headed car makes.

Hell if you flycut and run a 250/255 duration cam with 620+lift I bet it would make as good and or better power then the one's listed.

 

Like said above, anything bigger than a X1 will probably need flycuts in the pistons.

I run MTI's Stage 2E's and X1 cam in my car.

IMO, it's a killer street/strip combo. My car has been driven all over the country and pulls out 10 second time slips at the track. Good solid combo.

 

I had the Y1 in my set-up in sig. It drove me crazy with driving issues. Wasn`t worth the trouble. Pulled it and put a 232 234 598 598 114 in and love it. Drives sweet. I haven`t sprayed it yet with new cam either. I will have new numbers later. I got 440rwhp and 401rwtq with Y1 and 650rwhp 660rwtq with 150 shot - locked converter. This was with 12-bolt, A4. etc in sig!!

I did flycut my pistons!

 

if thats what MTI recommends thats what i would do...they know what there talking aobut. like tony said bigger is not always better