Hey, All. I'm in the process of scraping together parts for kind-of a low budget, bolt-together, performance B20 engine build. One new item that I will buy is a camshaft. I want a street, hot rod, snappy, hard-pulling, strong-accelerating cam, that will make some noise and maybe even be a little bumpy at idle. The engine will never see sustained high rpm use and and I'll probably always shift at around 6,000 rpm when having fun, and no higher. I know that I may be asking for too much, but maybe you get the idea of what I want. Any ideas? If so - how about cam names/numbers and their vendors?

Thanks much!

Deluxe

I've heard that the VV71 is a reasonably priced performance upgrade. I've got a VPD street performance cam, but it wasn't cheap and I haven't assembled the B20 yet. Other than that, there is almost nothing else out there unless you want to import from Sweden.

That being said, I don't know if economy and performance are mentioned in the same breath for engine building. There is no cheap way to build a quality engine. Personally, If I'm building a low budget engine (and I've done a few), then I focus on cams and making sure they flow well. Get the best stock internals (6-bolt internals (rods) are stronger than B20 8-bolt internals for example), M-rods from a B21 would be a good upgrade if you've got an 8-bolt crank.

Make sure everything is perfectly clean, new cams need new lifters always. New gasket sets are available. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a large margin between economy and false economy. For example, spec the oil pump and get the reinforcing ring and higher pressure spring from IPD (it's $20 for the pair). Get a decent set of carbs and have a specialist fix them up for you etc.

Craig