Anyone hear anything about cams for A3 motor?

[Hatched1]

This is my virgin post but I have been reading the forum for a little while now and remember the threads about crane cams coming out with some cams for us as well as skunk2 I believe. Anybody heard anything different lately, news or whatever? BTW, I really like this forum... I came from Corvettes to this nice little Honda, (believe me you aren't missing a thing with Vettes except for repair bills etc..) and most of the people on those forums were just JERKS. Not all of course, but I like it here much better... :cool:

[Gasp23]

Welcome to the board and I hope you enjoy your stay. This is a great community we have going on and then again it's build by people like you that came from a more hostile crowd and we are able to chill here.

About the cams I think I saw something from skunk2 too but I'm not sure. I think the best bet would be to get the K20A2 swap and get better cams there since that's a better engine or do a head swap and put better cams.

Again welcome to the board.

[RiCeCoOkEr1280]

I called Skunk2 last month. They will be releasing the following in April '04 for the a3:

- cams (dunno what stage)
- valves
- valve springs
- intake manifold

The retainers for the K-series that are out right now fit the a3. HTH

Paul

[Peking]

Originally posted by RiCeCoOkEr1280
I called Skunk2 last month. They will be releasing the following in April '04 for the a3:
- cams (dunno what stage)
- valves
- valve springs
- intake manifold
The retainers for the K-series that are out right now fit the a3. HTH
Paul

Cool, I will be looking forward to that. Oh and welcome Hatched1
:)

[andy]

Crane cams (cranecams.com) is supposedly working on a set. It was
supposed to debut at SEMA, but I haven't heard anything and haven't
had a chance to call them.

[HARRY POTTER]

YES!!!! finally more goodies for the A3!:tongue:

[Hatched1]

Thanks for the replies guys, good info.
I wonder how much better the a2 head flows in comparison to the a3, it would be interesting to see a flow chart between the two. And of course having VTEC on the exhaust side as well would make a difference for sure with big cams, especially for a NA motor.

I have looked into the motor swap or head swap but am a bit reluctant to start swapping major components right now as I have the 7 year 100k plan on my car. Not to mention I only have 1500 miles. But I bet it would take a pretty sharp tech to catch an A2 head swap without digging real deep. I am watching the thread on the cylinder head swap...should be interesting. ;)

[myeverlovinsir]

Originally posted by Hatched1
Thanks for the replies guys, good info.
I wonder how much better the a2 head flows in comparison to the a3, it would be interesting to see a flow chart between the two. And of course having VTEC on the exhaust side as well would make a difference for sure with big cams, especially for a NA motor.

I have looked into the motor swap or head swap but am a bit reluctant to start swapping major components right now as I have the 7 year 100k plan on my car. Not to mention I only have 1500 miles. But I bet it would take a pretty sharp tech to catch an A2 head swap without digging real deep. I am watching the thread on the cylinder head swap...should be interesting. ;)

I can say that the testing has been done, I heard the flow increase is over 20% greater for A2 head vs. B18. I will find out what the gains are for the A2 vs. the A3, but suspect they are near the same flow wise, the diff. lies in how the head breaths, the valve height and duration. (cam lobes/vtec on the exhuast) Port sizing/valve diameters appear identical.
BTW: I also heard that the Nissan SE-R head currently has the best flow rates out there for a four banger.

Source: Joe Demaree, NOPI national champ, one of the best racers you'll ever meet!

Link to Joe (http://www.nopi.com/NDRA/asm_storypage112.cfm)

[!@#$%]

So you are saying the base altima has one of the best flowing heads out there for a 4 cylinder?

My sis had a new altima 2.5S and the engine looked identical to the spec's. Just different tranny.

[RedVRy81]

Originally posted by !@#$%
So you are saying the base altima has one of the best flowing heads out there for a 4 cylinder?

My sis had a new altima 2.5S and the engine looked identical to the spec's. Just different tranny.


yes the qr25 has a very nice flowing head...to the point that a port and polish really wouldnt do that much for it...i guess thats the trade offs of the qr25...better flowing head, but weaker internals

[Vivid04Si]

is the Toda kit only for the a2 or will it work also on the a3?

[03EP3Si]

Toda kit is only for the A2.

[bgsteve523]

quick question guys I am a total noob when it comes down to NA I was saving forever for a turbo and just did all the math with install its going to be like 5,000 basicly way to much $. Anyway I have decided to say screw it and do what I can now I just sent off my esu to hondata to get flashed, I ordered a AEM V2 CAI, Neuspeed short shifter and looking into headers right now but since I am now way off topic here I was wondering when cams do come out what exactly do they do? Increase WHP I assume and how hard are they to put in? Do you need to tune your engine afterwards? Can you put them in yourself please any info is good I really am new to this stuff.
Thanks,
Steve O

[mugen_ep3]

in superstreet they did the k20a2 head swap on their a3 and gain a lot of horsepower at the wheel. the k20a3 bone stock baseline was 130 whp vs. the a2 head swap which was 170 whp. and that was without the ecu tuned. i would just save up for a k20a instead of a turbo. but that is just me.

[myeverlovinsir]

Originally posted by mugen_ep3
in superstreet they did the k20a2 head swap on their a3 and gain a lot of horsepower at the wheel. the k20a3 bone stock baseline was 130 whp vs. the a2 head swap which was 170 whp. and that was without the ecu tuned. i would just save up for a k20a instead of a turbo. but that is just me.

SS and Hasport were the first to do the head swap, I just followed suit!

[Type X]

i emaild Skunk 2 yesterday about the k20a3 cams
they emailed me back...

No ETA on them :(

[myeverlovinsir]

I got tired of the whole A3 cam situation. My honest opinion is that they will prove to be only slightly better overall, possibly 10-15 more top end hp. The drawback is that because the exhaust rockers are a solid unit, any huge lift would hinder idle to begin with. I think the best design for a cam option on the A3 head would be a comparable vtec setup for the exhaust cam side that is currently on the intake side. The exhaust rocker shaft and rocker arms would need to be swapped. This way you could ride both intake and exhaust sides with suitable idle properties (lower cam lobes) and have the x-over occur in the higher rpm. Either way I think the dual lobes on both sides is what needs to be done first, after that a proper lobe profile and tune would need to be developed. Just my .02 cents;)

[bgsteve523]

I would love to see a video of your car in action with the A2 head. Could you post one please.
Thanks,
Steve O

[myeverlovinsir]

Steve O! You don't read/search much do you?.:rolleyes:

[Rey]

Hey where in AZ are you? I am in south Phoenix.

[bgsteve523]

I do but I still seem to have questions sorry I am new to this but I was just wondering what an si with a2 head would perform like especially in a video.
Thanks,
Steve O

[SiRman]

Steve O! You don't read/search much do you?. :banana:


I do but I still seem to have questions sorry I am new to this but I was just wondering what an si with a2 head would perform like especially in a video.

Try reading this thread from start to finish:
http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24759
Yes I know it's 13 pages.

But incase you missed it:
on page 8:http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24759&perpage=15&pagenumber=8

vid 1 (http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197824660)
vid2
(http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197824662) vid3 (http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197824658)
vid4 (http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197793618)
vid5 (http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197793278)
vid6 (http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197792429)
vid7 (http://www.imagestation.com/video/play.html?id=4197792426)

There....that wasn't so hard was it.:shadesm:

[02HatchSI]

here is a brain popper for you all... Been on my mind all day... What if I were to get an a2 head and wanted to upgrade the cams to lets just say toda... will it work on the a3 block or not???

[myeverlovinsir]

Originally posted by 02HatchSI
here is a brain popper for you all... Been on my mind all day... What if I were to get an a2 head and wanted to upgrade the cams to lets just say toda... will it work on the a3 block or not???

Definitely has proven to be a complication. No brain popper at all. Read up on the head swap in my sig. I covered how problematic that was for another who did the swap. Limited valve clearance due to added lift. One mis-shift or over rev and boom!:D

[2.0L Monster]

Wouldn't there be additional valve cleareance because of the lower comp pistons?

[myeverlovinsir]

Wouldn't there be additional valve cleareance because of the lower comp pistons?


You know, I should have seen this earlier, the valve clearances are the same in the helms manual for both the A2 and A3 heads. The guy who bent a bunch of valves did it on toda cams but there are a bunch of guys on clubrsx using them and no problems. He may have over-reved or mis-shifted and simply denied doing that part. I'm gonna pry a little more on that one, something doesn't add up with that for sure.:confused:

[bgsteve523]

ok I know I am totaly new to this kind of thing so bear with me. Why do the A2 head swap if you can't do cams? Why would doing cams on the a2 head be any different than doing them on a A2 engine block and all? Is there anyway to get more clearance?
Thank you,
Steve O

[KickerSi]

Originally posted by myeverlovinsir
...The drawback is that because the exhaust rockers are a solid unit, any huge lift would hinder idle to begin with. I think the best design for a cam option on the A3 head would be a comparable vtec setup for the exhaust cam side that is currently on the intake side. The exhaust rocker shaft and rocker arms would need to be swapped. This way you could ride both intake and exhaust sides with suitable idle properties (lower cam lobes) and have the x-over occur in the higher rpm. Either way I think the dual lobes on both sides is what needs to be done first, after that a proper lobe profile and tune would need to be developed. Just my .02 cents;)

So what you're saying is that if I take the the whole exhast cam setup for an A2 I would be able to run VTEC with both Intake/Exhaust cam or am I reading this wrong? This seems like a cheap solution to doing a head swap, especially if one is going to go with Toda cams. What all would be needed to do this?

[02SilverSiHB]

Originally posted by myeverlovinsir
Steve O! You don't read/search much do you?.:rolleyes:
LOL, no one ever reads your posts :D