Progress Marches On – Motivated By Industry Challenges

[CPG Marketing]

Fuel prices seem to be the “talk of the town” They are the newest challenge affecting the performance industry these days – just the most recent in the long line of outside pressures that have set in motion the minds of engineers in quest of promising solutions. Over the past 30 years, some of these challenges have been self-inflicted, such as the need for increased engine performance in NASCAR “Cup Cars” while retaining the flat tappet camshaft framework. Others are due to less controllable changes, such as new vehicle computer controlled engine systems, emissions requirements and of course, now, fuel prices. Regardless of the reason, the solutions have always arrived, more often than not, in a fairly timely fashion.

Take, for example, the new Ford Modular 3V engines equipped with a state-of-the-art computer controlled fuel management system. Not only is the computer one of the most sophisticated in the business, it includes a camshaft phaser system that adjusts the timing relative to rpm and engine requirements. If you’ve ever had the chance to look over one of these new phasers close up, you know the Ford engineers didn’t dream this up overnight. For a performance camshaft company, these kinds of parts present challenges like no other and require gallons of pricey midnight oil to figure just how to adapt for performance improvement.

Without question we knew that ignoring or locking the phaser so that no camshaft timing adjustment would occur was a bad idea. In initial testing, just locking the phaser on a stock GT dropped peak power by 50 hp. The fact is a number of aftermarket camshaft companies attempted this zero phasing technique and found that the new-found performance gains generated by their new camshaft lobe profiles quickly evaporated like so much spilled 104 octane fuel – obviously not the way to go. Frankly, these camshaft phaser systems are an ingenious way to reduce part throttle parasitic losses.

The only correct performance solution was to see the phaser as a performance-enhancing tool that would to work with our camshafts. After much careful analysis, we created some exciting new camshafts and an impressive component that fits into the phaser and allows limited timing adjustment to increase performance and avoid piston to valve contact. This phaser limiter is really an impressive piece of engineering – and really works well as anyone who has driven a new Mustang equipped with one can tell you.

A similar kind of rethinking was involved in the development of aftermarket diesel camshafts. Although this project involved a more traditional form of camshaft engineering, due to the great influx of interest in diesel engine performance from Powerstroke, Duramax and Cummins fans, demand increased in a big way. Diesel engines use very different lobe profiles and timing than gasoline fueled engines – basically fuel throttled rather than air throttled. Further complicating the process was determining just how to make power and still work with the computer management systems that make these engines so powerful and efficient. Stir in the fact that some of these engines included performance-limiting software to protect the drive train from excessive torque and you have unique challenges to be sure.

The solution came from many different areas within R & D, all working together for a common purpose. Understanding that because of the high price of these diesel vehicles, no one was going to dump the factory computer wholesale (short of a pure racing effort), the key was to create cams that didn’t kill the host and that generated performance and drivability benefits that people wanted. The new line of camshafts from COMP delivers and has been extremely popular, not only with folks looking for increased torque, but better fuel mileage and complete computer system compatibility.

Today’s fuel mileage problem is just the latest in a long line of industry challenges. While I’ve never experienced anything like these increases in the past, it has once again set in motion the mental cogs of the engineers looking for a way to build engine components that help improve mileage and engine efficiency without compromising the rest of the vehicle features. Having witnessed their track record of the past, and some of the mileage improvement valve train pieces developed back in the 1970s, I’m sure there are plenty of “solutions” being tested in R & D right now. – Cam Benty


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