Thread: Cams for Ve-t

Ok this is the run down on Gio's car.

SR20VE
DET pistons and rods
VE-T head gasket
Stock Head studs
2.0 VE cams set at zero
Log manifold (made by him)
3 inch down pipe
60-1 Turbo with a .63 rear wheel
3" inch exhaust

Pretty much the most basic set up that could be put together. That car has ran a best of 11.5 at 128 mph so we know the car is running on point. This all tuned on a ECU he tuned. I will say the car has a lot of time invested into it as far as tuning.

The car has made 445 whp at 19 psi.

So again I stick to my guns in saying that a log manifold works well on a VE-T. Ofcourse there are better options but, for a budget build the log will work fine.

Not a fan of log manifolds on any car would rather run a stock vet manifold than a log. Still its nice to see someone making good power on a simple setup.

I agree I am not a fan of the logs, I have always massaged the inside
of the manifolds, alot of blending and smoothing around the wastegate ,port flange and the t-3 flange required some work, then I match port the t3 flange to the exhaust housing. All three log manifolds I have had I have alwYs invested time into them
example
1. My boy with a nx, de- t 57 trim turbo.63 rear stage three wheel. 16 psi 374 whp(one of my old manifold)
2.danilo (r.I.p) 21 psi 436 whp stock motor also bc cams stage2 lof manifold ( another one I massaged) he wanted 500 whp so we got 502 whp with a 50 shot of nos . 57 trim turbo stage three wheel, .48 back housing.
Both turbo setups and mines recieved the same attention to smooth out the flow. I would love a equal lenth manifold but no$$$$$$.
When my car with the same setup had 1.6 cams it made power to redline with no drop off at all at 8000 rpm's .I took the cams out because I felt it to peaky. I put the 2.0 in there and it made A bit more in the mid range over the 1.6.
I wish I would have kept the 1.6 cams now because after tuning my car, I was able to gain 45-50 more whp alone on timing in the mid range, so now I see the lack of mid range was not the cams but the Ecu I was using at the time.

Good info gio. So you are not exactly running a stock log. Sounds like you have put a lot of time and effort into your setup.

Well they are the common log manifolds, I just have never been the type
to just drop things in and hope they work, I alwaYs look at those things that many times may get over looked, if you look at the different brand of tees that are used to make logs they are similar ouside but different on the inside.
Some brands have a smooth rounded Radius inside walls making a smooth rounded 90 Some other brands are straight cut 90 and No radius in the walls they are sharp at the edge and not round. Not all t3 flanges are the same, so I just gasket match them to the rear housing, it's work ,but if I cannot invest money into my setup the least I can do is invest my time. On my old de motor I gasket ported my exhaust port and manifold and the seat Dyno said it was a ++++++ of time invested, rob saw how my car on pump gas third gear would torque the car, at 17 psi the car was doing 360 whp 7000 rpm's and 321 tq at 4800 rpm's
it was at a Dyno day with the fl sr20 guys, so witnesses I had

so overall to me the 1.6 cams netted me more peak power on my setup but the 2.0 cams felt better in the mid range and had a bit of drop off up top on my setup, the 2.0 makes the car feel more responsive and with a wider powerband on the street. with the 1.6 I made peak torque at 6,500 to 7,000 rpms, where my 2.0 cams made more from vvl activation till about 7,000 rpms.
when I switched ecu setups I was able to get much more power in the mid range out of the 2.0s, so now I wonder if the 1.6 cams would be better for me now that can give it timimg in the mid to up the tq and keep the topend of the sr16 cams, that would be nice.

It's all about taking the time to do things right and not get to over technical.

Gio for one works best with what he has. He does not get over technical he just tries different things to see what works best. His SE-R has always been impressive.

Its a stock GTi-R manifold thats been portmatched to the ve head. Still has a T2 flanged turbo w/ internal wastegate and still using factory GTi-R downpipe elbow. Very restrictive setup but makes over 450whp.

Thanks for clarifying that Mario. Makes it even more impressive.

thanks for that info guys.....so also short runner manifolds can make power on stock 20VE cams....good info

I'm running the same setup as this. GTI-R manifold with external wastegate and sr16's. I don't have a dyno with the stock cams, but i will with the sr16's. And the car def. pulls very nice with the gtbb37 turbo.