Murbella – Day 22 – Is a cam upgrade possible for original FI?

Since I am already going to be over budget to some degree on the 2020 Murbella Project I thought I would at least explore if there were some cam upgrades out there that could be put into her if I ultimately have to crack the case anyway.

Now the key requirements here are…

• It cannot in any way impact the functionality of the L-Jetronic Fuel Injection,
• It cannot in any way impact running the original slightly smaller valve heads,
• It cannot require any additional changes other than the cam itself and the bolt-on-cam gear.

On the whole, there’s very little descriptive info at most vendors about the cams themselves beyond the duration, lift, etc. information of the grind. And most vendors all sell generally the same Engle, SCAT, or EMPI products.

CB Performance sells their Eagle line and thankfully offers a bit more description.

I’ve called and let a message for their sales staff on trying to get additional info of the possible impact of 2 of their special cams on an original FI system.

I’m looking at:

2280 Eagle Racing Camshafts (Cheater Cam)

The key thing about this cam is their description:

Adds up to ten horsepower without effecting idle speed emissions! We developed this cam during our Fuel Injection R&D Program. It performed so well in it’s original application that we tried it with carburetors. The low speed torque produced by the Cheater Cam supplies a VW engine with greatly improved drive-ability, passing power, and top speed. The power increase is so noticeable that the Cheater Cam works great with a compliment of smog equipment.

Now this is the cam I probably should have just put in the 2019 New Build instead of the SCAT 20 that I went with. I was really rather ignorant about camshaft grinds and their various system-wide impacts when I bought that.

It is just mild enough to improve things slightly, but still allow all the smog items to function properly in those states that require it.

That’s what I’m kind of hoping makes it ok to run with Murbella’s engine without impacting any other system.

2228 Eagle Racing Camshafts – Gas Saver Special Grind Cam

This would obviously have to be a very mild change from stock, but unfortunately there’s no additional description about this other than the name.

2252 Grind (Hydraulic Series)

Now CBPerformance doesn’t seem to have it, but aircooled.net seems to have a 2252 Eagle cam they refer to as “Hydraulic Series” and their description is read…

This cam is great for engines with very mild carburetion, or using stock FI, keeping the lift mild for less friction. There are not a lot of grinds available for hydraulic engines, but this is one of them! This cam will work with stock springs, push rods, lifters, and carb/FI.

Now that implies this may be the ideal cam to swap out the stock one in Murbella. I’ll send them an email question on it as well.

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None of the planned work was remotely trying to improve the engine. It was all about restoring as much as possible and cleaning as much as possible, fixing leaks and replacing gaskets and seals.

However, I guess for $100 or so extra, if the Cheater Cam would have no negative impacts, I’d be willing to make the upgrade as it is not visible and, if it is true, could give a slightly better performance of the engine.

I’ve left a message. Hopefully they’ll get back to me soon, though I’m far from needing it if I decide to go that route.