Any good cam for 308GTSi US version

I would go with Wiseco on the pistons. Talk to Brian there, as he is quite knowledgeable on Ferrari motors. Web Cam is a good chioce on getting the cams eworked for more lift and duration. Laurie is also a great one to deal with. I would keep away from too much overlap, as the Bbosch fuel system does not like low manifold vacuum that a lot more overlap will give.

 

If you talk to anyone who is really experienced with K-jet, & the 308 engines, I mean the guys who do not just read if from a generic how to tune Bosch fuel injection book, they will tell you to leave the OEM cams alone. I have disassembled engines that have had custom cams with K-jets, they do not run right, and as a matter of fact the last one I disassembled did not run at all after a rebuild! Ask other builders such as James Patterson of Norwood Performance or Frank Capo of Modena Engineering or even Bob Norwood himself, who by the way is currently working on a 308QV engine that had a crazy set of cams in it. We had a discussion a few days ago as he was looking for some stock cams & a UN bored throttle body for a client who purchased a Blue 308 on an online auction that was written off due to a terrible rebuild. If you are going to run K-jet, leave the cams alone.

The best single bolt on thing you can do to an injected 2 valve engine is remove the K jet & go with an Electromotive TEC3R or some other complete engine management set up like a Motec, it will give you great drivability & performance compared to the OEM system.

Change the pistons, do a new engine management, you will be happy with the changes on a naturally aspirated engine, your other option for more power is a turbo or a supercharger, even with that, most builders who actually understand the 308 engine leave the stock cams alone.

With respect to pistons, we have done many sets in different compression ratios with different companies, Wiseco are a good value for the money, and you may want to contact someone who has worked with them. I have many different job numbers with them along with other Piston manufacturers.

If you decide NOT to listen to these suggestions, at least make sure that you have the correct valve pockets cut into the piston top for the cam lift that you want to use, I have seen so called Master builders make mistakes like that after making cam changes without the correct maching to the piston top, what will happen is a big mess that will destroy an engine as the valves are hammering the piston tops.

 

nick what will the HP be with the wiseco pistons and the electromotive setup i have a 1980 308 gtsi US car price for this setup parts only . can you give us some info on this?. thanks.

 

The car is 205HP to start with, dont expect more than a 30HP gain with pistons and aftermarket management (i might even be high on that number). I wouldnt race the yellow neon at the lights if I were you. The 255HP euro number is crap, dyno headers and cams that would be lame on the street is where ferrari got their numbers. Live with it or open your wallet wide.

 

CIS K-jet uses a flapper door for metering the air, high performance cams cause a wave reversion that distrupts the door from operating correctly. this is why the early FI cars have mild cams. if you upgrade to a mass air sensor setup then that would no longer be an issue, smog restrictions and drivabilty would now be your new concerns with more aggressive cams.

i'm going backwords in technology and putting on webers with aggresive cams until i figure out how i want to turbo/supercharge it. lots of options there.

 

While everything written here is so far pretty good... If you don't want to change the injection, you CAN do some work with camshafts...

Firstly... as said, stock cams are best... BUT, what is stock?? US cars have low lift short duration INLET, where as a UK/Euro spec has higher lift and longer duration (still mild by race stds though) so you CAN use the BEST stock INTAKE cams...

and you CAN use some better exhaust cams, but you have to time them carefully to keep overlap to a minimum.

I also rate the K jet a bit higher than some it would seem.... I know of some really sweet QV engines with about 260BHP using stock K jet in Euro spec.

Many years ago now, I built a Porsche Turbo engine to over 600BHP.. I used SC cams and stock std K-Jet of the 83 era... Just made the cold start injector run at certain boost levels with a switch in the intercooler.

It's still running strong after about 10 years of doing mainly track days.

 

Since it turns out the car is now a carbed car that was once CIS, that changes everything. Go for the cams, have WEB in california regrind yours for $1300USD for the set to what ever spec you like. Thats cheaper than stock euro cams, do the pistons, exhaust and an ignition upgrade as well. Will make a big difference. Also, yank some of the unused items like the US spec extra insulation for the heat producing smog, lighter muffler system, thermocouple box and so on.

 

NICK?

 

nice thread, can't he just regrind his cams (both intake and exhaust) to euro spec? if he already has carbs, that could give him some extra horsepower...

john

 

I would find out what other stuff the previous owner changed before I do anything....if he changed it from FI to Webers then he most likely changed other items which could include cams and pistons.

Get the complete history of mods 1st.