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Reveiw of VX Cam, IPD 2.25" exhaust (N/A)

G

GTBrik

New member
Joined
Nov 20, 2003
Location
Portland
Just got the VX cam and IPD 2.25" exhaust installed on my 242 GT. I already had a K&N filter. I want to give my honest thoughts on these upgrades for anyone who is considering increasing the power of a b21f. While this trio does not provide a neck-snapping increase in power, there are many significant benefits to the upgrades. First, the camshaft. The most noticebale difference is how efffortlessly the engine revs up to 5,000 RPM. I'd say that most of the power gained from the VX cam is between 3k to 5k rpm. There is no noticeable decrease in power below 3k rpm. 1st gear power is improved significantly. 2nd gear is a bit flatter than I expected, but it is still an improvment. 3rd gear is where I notice the biggest difference, especially when downshifting out of 4th gear at about 2750 rpm, the car really pulls along nicely in 3rd. Freeway driving is improved greatly. Passing is no longer a struggle because there is plenty of torque available when you disengage the electronic overdrive at about 60 mph. The downside of the cam is the cost. I paid $170 for the cam from IPD (it's price went back up to $189 this week), and instalation cost around $240. Next, the exhuast. I was dissapointed that there was a section of the 2.25" pipe that was flattened out for proper fit, but I must say, the sound the system makes is sweet! It's an understated, deep rumble, kind of like a pissed of dog would make. Since I had the exhaust installed at the same time as the cam I can't really give an informed opinion of the exhausts stand-alone power enhancement. The exhaust makes the car feel like its able to breathe a lot better, and wants to be driven hard (the only way to drive in my book). I would recomend this product just for the sound alone though - it's really great.

On a 1 to 5 scale:
Actual performance enhancement: 4
Cost: 2
Fun factor: 4
Total: 10/15

P.S. If anyone in the greater Portland OR area would like to drive the car, drop me a message. Peace and Love.
 
socalsean said:
holy! $240 for installation for a cam shaft?
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Shop labor costs money, y'know.

It is still the cam that makes the most difference, and in this case, it's prolly upgrading from a B-cam (unless your's is a California car - then you might have gotten the smog cam). The difference is even greater when upgrading from a M-cam.

-- Kane
 
That sounds about right. Mine showed over 100lb-ft torque at the wheels from below 2000rpm until 4000rpm (should probably be longer, think there was a problem with my car at high rpm).

3rd and 5th showed the biggest difference for me when going from the M cam to VX. 3rd is tall, so it just pulled better once the revs got up, and 5th allowed me to pass and accelerate more easily without downshifting.
 
$240 for the cam + installation or $240 install only?

Geez, that takes quit a bit of money for the vx and 2.25" exhaust alltogether. You could have gotten a complete +t kit for that much money. But yea, I'm still worried about the hassle of +t and passing smog compared to going the n/a power route with just cam and exhaust.
 
You really won't get much power from an exhaust ant cam compared to a turbo. I've ridden in a 744GLE with VX cam, adj. gear, exhaust, intake and lots of other little tweaks, extremely good maintainance and well tuned and its slower than a very poorly tuned, sorta kinda running (more or less on 3 cylinders and with an exhaust gasket missing also) 244 w/ B23F+Ti on a blown turbo pushing ~1psi. Turbo VS N/A turbo wins NO CONTEST.

-Andy
 
Dear_vs_Coyote said:
You could have gotten a complete +t kit for that much money.
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And then what? Pay a couple days worth of labor to install, which would be nearly impossible, since most shops wouldn't touch something like that.

The cam+exhaust makes a nice difference, and makes the car bearable to drive. In stock form, it's really awful.
 
towerymt said:
And then what? Pay a couple days worth of labor to install, which would be nearly impossible, since most shops wouldn't touch something like that.
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who would even attempt to have someone at a shop +t their car? There are plenty of articles on this board to give him a pretty comprehensive walk through.
 
Dear_vs_Coyote said:
who would even attempt to have someone at a shop +t their car? There are plenty of articles on this board to give him a pretty comprehensive walk through.
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If he paid to have a cam installed, what makes you think he's going to tackle a MUCH more involved project.

I've been down this path before. I've paid to have a cam installed. I didn't feel comfortable doing it with the tools and knowledge I had at the time. To suggest adding a turbo system as an alternative, and a DIY project, would be crazy.

Sometimes the suggestions here just make no sense.
 
I just paid someone to install my turbo cam but I also just got done intercooling the car in my spare time in the driveway. If you want a cam installed correctly (well, I did also have new valves installed) you might as well pay someone who's done it a thousand times. The shop labor on my head cam to 350 but that included cleaning, magnafluxing, three angle valve job, checking springs, installing valves and shimming the cam. And you should hear it run. There is just an almost no noise coming from the motor. I hear more noise coming from the fuel distributor than from my head.

Sometimes it does make more sense to have someone help you than always insiting on doing everything yourself.

Just my .02
 
towerymt said:
If he paid to have a cam installed, what makes you think he's going to tackle a MUCH more involved project.

I've been down this path before. I've paid to have a cam installed. I didn't feel comfortable doing it with the tools and knowledge I had at the time. To suggest adding a turbo system as an alternative, and a DIY project, would be crazy.

Sometimes the suggestions here just make no sense.
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I dont want to get into a stupid argument here but to +t your car you dont have to mess with the internal parts of a car . The only hard part about +t is installing the oil return, and I think that is alot simpler than installing a cam.
 
Glad you had fun getting some more power out of you car, and that your happy with the results. Thats a very safe, driveable, abusable and enjoyable combo you have there, while i would have tried the ipd turbo cam in an NA application for the price difference, but its still an awesome setup for a fun daily driver or a weekend car that you can actually drive instead of being stuck working on it all weekend long...

ENJOY!
 
Dear_vs_Coyote said:
I think that is alot simpler than installing a cam.
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Hmmm...Took me about 10 minutes to install the last cam I did. Like you, I'm not looking to start any arguments but c'mon, let's be realistic here. Turbocharging a car is easier than installing a cam? I really don't think so....
 
245gti said:
Hmmm...Took me about 10 minutes to install the last cam I did. Like you, I'm not looking to start any arguments but c'mon, let's be realistic here. Turbocharging a car is easier than installing a cam? I really don't think so....
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yeah... you can swap a cam at the track with plenty of time left to run.. i'd like to see someone boost a car in the staging lanes without causing a big scene...
 
Dear_vs_Coyote said:
$240 for the cam + installation or $240 install only?

Geez, that takes quit a bit of money for the vx and 2.25" exhaust alltogether. You could have gotten a complete +t kit for that much money. But yea, I'm still worried about the hassle of +t and passing smog compared to going the n/a power route with just cam and exhaust.
Click to expand...


I'm not trying to build a gas chugging beast, just something that's got reasonable power. If I was going to go the Turbo route, I'd just transplant a B230FT because of the fuel injection. And, yeah, youre right Turbo's are a pain to get through a smog test. I had an AUDI 200T before the 242 GT and it took five attempts and a new catalytic converter before it passed. Mabey when I'm rich I'll build up a 242 that aproaches Group A specs, but right now, I've got to think about reliability and longevity.
 
GTBrik said:
P.S. If anyone in the greater Portland OR area would like to drive the car, drop me a message. Peace and Love.
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OOH PICK ME PICK ME! Lol. Are you going to the "gathering" on the 28th??? I wanna drive it! I'll drive any car for fun... Hope to see you there! Do you have any pictures of your car??? Awesome hearing that you're making some mods on your car... :-D NA w00t!
 
mAydAy said:
You really won't get much power from an exhaust ant cam compared to a turbo. I've ridden in a 744GLE with VX cam, adj. gear, exhaust, intake and lots of other little tweaks, extremely good maintainance and well tuned and its slower than a very poorly tuned, sorta kinda running (more or less on 3 cylinders and with an exhaust gasket missing also) 244 w/ B23F+Ti on a blown turbo pushing ~1psi. Turbo VS N/A turbo wins NO CONTEST.

-Andy
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hehe andy you bastard :-P

it was my 744 that he's talking about, and i bet im only throwing down about 85-95rwhp as it stands now (given that towery's numbers and mods are very similar to mine), i like the way the cam and exhaust make the car sound and pull, but i cant wait for the turbo swap for some real power. plus, when i dont drive like a moron in OD, i can manage 32mpg at 70mph, which is definetly a benefit of the more efficient breathing of the engine

oh well, nice writeup GTBrik ;-)
 
Well,
We have two of them -- a 945 with the B230F engine with the V-cam and a 945 with the B230FT with the V-cam and a few extras.
Both are great cars, i prefer the turbo, whereas other family members prefer the NA, particularily on wet or icy roads.
installing a new cam usually takes me around 2 hours -- a good reason to change the cambelt as well, check the distributor, leads etc.
Greetings from ireland, Hans
 
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