I'm new to diesels, but an old hand in gas performance. I'v built my share of screaming small blocks.

With gas, there's a large selection of cams available, tailored to your specific app. Getting rid of the stock cam is almost the first step in getting a V8 to perform like it should. EVen if you just want more low end grunt for the street.

But, I don't hear many people talking about doing that on these Cummins diesels. I've seen pictures of the job being done, and it's a big deal; a lot more work than the average V8 car. Is that the reason? Not enough bang for the buck in a job that big? Or is there more power to be made with increasing the boost and timing?

Just curious, and learning more every day.

 

I think it is simply the bang for the buck you mentioned.

Cams are great and really help an engine.(diesel or gas) They are both basicly big air pumps, as you already know. But when a cam for a Cummins cost say $500, and then you need springs, even pushrods and studs to be safe. Now your talking over $1000. Then you could almost triple that for labor. And that is for a little better mpg, little lower EGT, and faster spool up. Power wise, well, that depends on if you had unburnt fuel to start with. If you did, then you will get some more air to burn with it and hence forth make some more ponies, but lets be real, maybe 50hp.

All that, and you could just spend half......no......a quarter of the money after labor and everthing, and just buy a Smarty and have an instant 150-230hp gain.

This is just my opinion, but cams are for 800+hp trucks in the diesel world. Thats the only place I really could see the "bang for the buck" breaking even. When your maxing things out and a little more air really helps.

 

some guys say if your going over 500hp a cam shaft is a good thing but there are cams for towing and fuel mileage out there at a good cost. and for labor it takes about 14 hours the first time you do it, need some cummins tools that you can rent but pretty easy. I run a hamilton cam and love it better spool, lowwer egt's. higher power band ,

 

Go back to the high preformance section and scroll down for "camshaft upgrade" because there is alot of good info.

 

I read that post, and that's what got me thinking about it. It appears that with the diesels, it's one of the last changes made for power production. Interesting.

 

if you add a pdr cam and ddp 50 hp injectors to the smarty jr you remove the in cylinder egr and increase your mpg by 4.5 mpg and lower your egt 300*