Changing camshafts is a time consuming event, and unless one knows exactly what one is doing, shouldn't be attempted by a beginning installer who isn't meticulous and extremely comfortable with the labor involved. If this is you or someone you know, it's best to leave this install up to a competent and experienced installer. With our Girl Friday Gary turning the wrenches, the camshafts were swapped without a hitch and within a fair amount of time. For those of you keeping tabs, the valve lashes were set at 0.006 in. and 0.008 in. Once the valvetrain was back on line and the engine was warmed to normal operating temperatures, we pulled the car back on the dyno. The engine idle, as promised by Crane Cams, was nothing less then silky smooth, and even an experienced installer wouldn't know there were a pair of aftermarket rollers underneath the valvecover.
After a few pulls, we recorded a monstrous increase in usable low- to mid-range power and torque, often showing gains as large as 9 to 10 hp and 13 to 15 lb-ft of torque. Clearly, these cams were designed with the all-around street enthusiast in mind; the "off-the-line" horsepower and torque numbers were simply remarkable. While there was a small sacrifice of peak horsepower at the peak point (- 2.6 hp), the increase in bottom end seemed more than enough to compensate. These cams would be well suited in all-around street cars and, especially, engines used for road racing; basically, anywhere a broad powerband is needed to help jettison the car in areas other than top-end.
The TODA adjustable cam pulleys, as you might have guessed, were installed at the same time as the new cams to maximize installation efficiency. Both intake and exhaust pulleys were left unadjusted (at 0 degrees) for an accurate horsepower measurement of the camshafts themselves. With that done, Gary's tuning experience came into play. With each adjustment of the cam pulleys, an opposite and equal amount had to be adjusted at the distributor, ensuring accurate ignition timing with the physical change of camshaft timing. After a few pulls, the tuning of the cam sprockets was able to extract an additional 2 to 3 hp throughout the entire powerband, effectively shifting the graph upwards. The degree settings, used in conjunction with a pair of Crane cams, would be 0 degrees adjustment on the intake side with plus 0.5 degrees advanced on the exhaust side. This brings the lobe separation closer together and puts our B18 engine at 125.2 peak hp and 122.0 lb-ft peak torque.
Finally, with all the changes made in the timing and volume of incoming air, an adequate supply of fuel, provided by the AEM fuel rail and adjustable fuel pressure regulator, was in order. Both the rail and regulator are easy to install; however, don't expect to get much tuning done without supplying your own fuel pressure gauge. By increasing the fuel pressure, a singular injector pulse duration is able to feed more fuel into the combustion chamber, resulting in efficient and complete combustion. Our Integra liked the sound of 40 psi, and, subsequently, bumped peak power output to 128.2 hp. Peak torque dropped off slightly to 121.1 lb-ft, but the maximum gains realized throughout the powerband (3 to 4 lb-ft of additional torque almost exclusively across the graph) were worth the price.
By Gary Castillo
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