The problem is that without going into great detail, he's just another guy selling his own cams.
No matter how honorable his intentions, the fact that he stands to make money off of telling people other cams can cause issues calls into question his character. It's one thing to claim your cam makes more power or better drivability or whatever. It's another thing to make claims that competing products *will* cause issues.
Obviously a thing like a cam needs to be installed *properly* or it can/will cause the valves to hit the pistons. But I've met some of the guys at Hitech, have done work for them, and have a real hard time thinking they are ignorant of issues, much less careless.
So unless Nick at Modular Headshop is willing to go into detail, it's just underhanded tactics to sell his own cams. I'm not saying he is a bad guy, just he isn't giving people a chance to see anything but him knocking the competition. He's being unfair to himself.
I was just thinking this threads underscores a need for a comprehensive cam sticky to lay out the issues and proper way to degree a cam to avoid bad scenes like this thread is starting to get in my eyes.
I have no reason to think VT cams, Hitech cams, Modular headshop cams, and all others are not *ALL* worth the money. This isn't a zero-sum game. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and more than enough market to go around. One doesn't need to enter the market trashing the competition. How would you feel if you designed a cam for one of the other companies, and some guy at some shop you never heard of started telling people on the internet that your cam wil trash your head?
Most of us should know that a cam needs to be degreed to get the most out of it and to maximize the benefits. I'd have an easier time buying a cam from a shop that shares their knowledge about how to properly install it than one that says "All others will ruin your engine!"
I will still have a shop put it in, but a shop that will tell you how they do what they do will easily sway me to their side and convince me they have the knowledge worthy of my money. Vague warnings tell me the shop doesn't really understand what they do. Fair or not, it's their words and they should pick them more carefully.
Selling fear drives my dollars elsewhere. That said, I am NOT saying this Nick at Modular Headshop is a hack. I'm sure he knows his stuff and is more than willing to share it in person. Just let's stop with the vagueness and just say all but the mildest of cams need careful installation. I'm down with the whole "lift != power," but can we get beyond "all other cams will make you cry" BS?
My first post here so be gentle please!
I wrote that FAQ pretty quickly and whenever I get a new question I add it in, I haven't had one in a while so it has remained stagnant. If you all want to help me write some more I can get some ideas from this thread as its going pretty technical.
I don't diss other companies cams other than the issue that they don't tell you what their clearance value is even when you ask them. I had one person bend valves with the early Hitech Stage 2 spec, another bent with VT Stage 2, and another with Comp 270. When I tested for myself finally as I could not find the expected clearance value anywhere I found some pretty horrible numbers. On my end I was only doing the cylinder head work and those cams were the ones I recommended as that was what I was under the impression of really worked good. Well after paying out of pocket for some repairs I decided to get some in and test for myself.
Comp 270 were changed in about 6 months after their initial release to give more clearance. One of my first sets of ported heads had bent valves and broken guides from the initial Comp 270 cam spec.
Hitech Stage 2 are awesome cams installed at a 110 intake install centerline but you need to cut the intake valve lip. I could not get them to clear at 110 on my stock PI test motor. They changed from 110 to 112 somewhere along the way which does clear.
VT Stage 2 still hold most of the NA records, they give about 0.005" installed at the 108 intake centerline on a stock PI head motor. Back in the day most of the fast cars were installing these cams with modified PI heads not realizing they had gained an extra 0.040" of piston to valve clearance with the aftermarket valve. Starkie, Tony Whetstone, and Kurt (Kurt02GT) all went mid to high 11's NA with this cam and modified heads. Kurt had stock ports but Manley valves on his combo. Starkie and Tony both had FoxLake style headwork done with aftermarket valves.
I have yet to hear "valvetrain" tick after a new cam install on the many motors I have done. IMHO - if its making ticks right away the stock valves are cutting new spots into the pistons. Thankfully the stock PI intake valve with that thick lip is so stiff it can do this if the interference is only a few thousandths - about as self clearancing as you can get
And as for selling cams, well lets just say that the amount of money I make selling cams doesn't even pay the grocery bill. There is very little money in cams sales for these motors once you take into account freight, credit card/Paypal charges, and the fact that the 2V cam market is so saturated already and with TFS and Lunati is now ultra saturated.
It doesn't matter really who you get the cam from as long as you understand that the Achilles heel of the PI 4.6 is the piston to valve clearance issue. If you are willing to fix that problem first then the door is wide open for many different cam profiles. Also since the stock plastic intake manifold is the dictator of the powerband in the end, most of the cams perform close to the same once you tweek the entire combo. Case in point Johnny Langton has still one of the fastest NA 2V @ 112MPH with a 3800lb automatic IRS car with bone stock Comp 270 cams in NPI heads. After talking with him a bit we realized that the installation point he did on his cams could not be repeated in a PI unless it had valves and piston notches, well that is when my eyes saw the light. If you install his motor in a lighter Mustang its probably going to do ~116MPH. However I can't think of a single Comp270 PI head Mustang that is near 112MPH much less 116MPH.
IMHO - VT hit something perfect with part of their Stage 2 spec and Hitech did the same with part of their Stage 2 spec. If you look at both those cams you see the Hitech are monster big intake and tiny exhaust compared to the VT Stage 2 but the VT Stage 2 still hold most of the NA records. Bullet probably went too conservative with 0.040" of clearance, I have good evidence that 0.015" seems to be enough to rev these motors to 6500 safely even on the stock springs.
I will say that 222 intake duration with a stock PI valve and 228 intake duration with an aftermarket valve gives about 0.040" clearance on the 4.6 PI installed at a 110 intake centerline. 225 at 108 gives 0.005" with stock valves and 0.045" with aftermarket valves. 234 at 110 hits solid. These have all been measured on a test motor. Any more duration and/or earlier intake centerline (number getting smaller) lowers this spec and it doesn't matter who makes the cam or what name it is sold under. They all have to play by the same rules.
