1987 or 88 turbo camshaft good for a high hp build?

[speedfreek500]

Hello, i was told by a good friend of mine that the stock 1987 or 1988 (cant remember) turbo camshaft was a very good one compared to all the oem ones is this correct? I have a 89 n/a roller in it now and was gonna swap over when my new engine gets droped in.

Thanks

[John B]

The '88 turbo has 236/236 duration while your '89 has 225/225. The '87 has even more duration but it's not a roller. I have used the '88 turbo cam and like it.

[88_pacifica]

It is the '88 N/A cam that is the most desirable. The '88 turbo one is ok too, but I'm not sure what the specs are as compared to the N/A cam.

I would think the differences would be negligible until you are way up the horsepower totem pole. What are your goals?

[turbovanman²]

Yep, its supposed to be the 88 2.2 N/A roller cam.

I would run the 89 turbo cam, then try the N/A cam and see what happens.

The only issue is, the only know to really tell what you have is to have it measured by a cam doctor or you check it on the engine with a dial indicator and degree wheel. There are no markings/numbers on the cam except "turbo" can be stamped on the drivers end.

[speedfreek500]

Thanks guys, its going in my 2.5 with a ported 782 head, he351 turbo with all mods to support it, i also had shelgame make a cal for me and its all getting stuffed in my glh omni.

[Shadow]

I dyno'd 480WHP (Mustang dyno) with that same turbo and 88 turbo roller cam @ 37-38psi on a 2.2

[speedfreek500]

ok i just checked my spare head that has the i was talking about and it says its a 87, and its a roller. Thanks for the input shadow on your post, i always try to follow what you have tried and tie it into my biuld.

[turbovanman²]

ok i just checked my spare head that has the i was talking about and it says its a 87, and its a roller. Thanks for the input shadow on your post, i always try to follow what you have tried and tie it into my biuld.

So it could be any cam,

[Shadow]

ok i just checked my spare head that has the i was talking about and it says its a 87, and its a roller. Thanks for the input shadow on your post, i always try to follow what you have tried and tie it into my biuld.

No problem, but remember, a properly set-up proven cam like the FWD F4 or Taft S3 Will make more power on less boost And Increase your PB. (ie. move PB up in the RPM's)

[John B]

FWIW, I've gone back to my '88 turbo cam while waiting on my S60 cam to come back from the vendor.

[Keito]

I have a cam from an 88 TBI parts car and it's a square tooth gear.
Do I need to get an adjustable cam gear and retard the timing 4 degrees to run it on a 2.5
round tooth setup?

[turbovanman²]

I have a cam from an 88 TBI parts car and it's a square tooth gear.
Do I need to get an adjustable cam gear and retard the timing 4 degrees to run it on a 2.5
round tooth setup?

Yes, or just run it and see how it works.

[wallace]

I have a cam from an 88 TBI parts car and it's a square tooth gear.
Do I need to get an adjustable cam gear and retard the timing 4 degrees to run it on a 2.5
round tooth setup?

I'm using a 88 na cam that had the square tooth gear on it. I did degree the cam using the specs posted on donovans web site and to put it to the factory spec using the round tooth gear I did have to move it. I've got my notes in the shop on that if you want I can tell you how many degrees it took on my setup and where it ended up.

[supercrackerbox]

I'm using a 88 na cam that had the square tooth gear on it. I did degree the cam using the specs posted on donovans web site and to put it to the factory spec using the round tooth gear I did have to move it. I've got my notes in the shop on that if you want I can tell you how many degrees it took on my setup and where it ended up.

I'd be interested in those notes if you still have them.

[wallace]

I still have them I think. I'll go out and see if I can find them.
Here is what I recorded. I was using a degree wheel, solid lifter, stock 88 n/a camshaft, Fidanza round tooth cam gear.
Intake
@6* retarded
Open @ .006" 11* ATDC
Close @ .006" 88* ABDC
ICL 138*

@6* advanced
Open @ .006" 13* ATDC
Close @ .006" 65.5* ABDC
ICL 113*

Exhaust
Open @ .006" 132* ATDC
Close @.006" 32*ATDC
ECL 79.5* ABDC

Duration at .006" 260*
Duration at .050" 209*
.425" lift

Additional notes indicate that at 3* advance on the gear resulted in ICL of 123*, 4* advance was ICL 121.5. Please take all of this with a grain of salt I did this a good while ago and while I believe I double checked everything my real goal was to duplicate the ICL that I got off that site as a baseline. I did verify the lift and duration numbers were very close to what was listed there. HTH.

[ShadowFromHell]

Ive swapped 88 turbo rollers into a few diffrent cars with good results. It seemed to give my NY better throttle response but it could be in my head.