5sfe Cams Options

[GuYun14]

Sup people,

This is probable a noob question but are the cams from the 5sfe the same for all the years of each car model like the Camry, Celica, MR2s and whatnot? Might be looking for an extra set to get upgraded since an enigne swap is out of the question for my daily with emissions and stuff.

[presure2]

yes. but no.
clearances on shims and caps will be slightly diffrent between every set.
you will need to re-shim about every time.

[GuYun14]

So let's say I was to buy a used set of cams off a Camry and send them to get regrinded by Colt Cam, how much reshimming would be needed?

[presure2]

you wont know till you put them in and measure clearances.

[slavie]

Usually you can re-arrange the shims around and many will work from the same head (the clearance spread is 2 thou), but you're almost guaranteed to need a handful in sizes you won't have and will need to be ordered. Even a local dealer is unlikely to have the sizes you need in stock, as these are older engines. So, if you were thinking of putting new cams and re-shimming them in a weekend, probably not gonna happen unless you have a few dozen spare shims around.
Even though I do have a few dozen spare shims around, the whole process of shimming and measuring takes very long. I did buy the tool for these heads that sort of allows you to replace shims without taking the cam off, but I found that tool doesn't work very well for some of the shims. If I had to change more than 2-3 shims, it was easier to pull the whole cam out rather than fiddle with the tool.

[presure2]

Yup, its definetly a case of measure 100x, order shims if needed, then realize a couple measurements wernt perfect, reorder, ect...lol

[GuYun14]

Sorry it’s been awhile with school getting in the way, so other than re-shimming, are there anything else I should worry about?

[GuYun14]

Question: if I do decide to get upgraded cams, would I need to get it tuned?

[presure2]

with mild cams, it will run ok without tuning, but ideally you'd use something to optimize fueling for the cams.

[GuYun14]

That makes sense, thanks! From my research, Webcam's 294 cams are popular but on their website they're going for at least $1000 for a set. So I got a quote from Coltcam:

Stage 1 256 degrees .330L for $385
Stage 2 262 degrees .345L for $425

Any thoughts, recommendations?

[GuYun14]

Bump!

[presure2]

with no tuning, milder is better.

[GuYun14]

Ok cool. So I’m guessing both the grinds from Colt Cams are more mild than the Webcam grind because of the lower degrees?

[presure2]

both #'s (lift and duration) tell more of a complete picture, but I'm pretty sure the webcams 294 grind is not the actual duration #. IIRC they are somewhere in the low to mid 250's