Camshaft design today is an extremely complex process employing the use of computers in every phase of design analysis and testing not to mention the years of experience required to make these phases become reality. As complex as it is however, camshaft design, in its simplest form, may be broken down into two segments.

The first segment involves lobe placement on the camshaft. This establishes the very critical valve train event timing in relation to piston and crankshaft positions. It also establishes the displacement or separation of the intake lobe in relation to the exhaust. This placement is very critical and must be exactly the same for each cylinder. Lobe placement is one segment of the camshaft design experience that relies heavily on the designer's experience. As you already know, you may advance or retard the camshaft in the engine, but altering the displacement requires a new camshaft.

The second segment involves designing the lobe and clearance ramp profiles. By far, this is the most critical and difficult segment of camshaft design. In today's race engines you must develop a lobe profile that is aggressive enough to produce the desired rate of lift yet smooth enough to avoid new valve train problems. You must walk a very thin line here to take advantage of the attainable high R.P.M. power available with today's cylinder head designs, yet not lose it all to stress, deflection and failure of the valve train. More recently, significant power gains have been found through several new approaches to clearance ramp profiles.

Obviously the computer has become a most valuable tool in all design applications from economy camshafts to the most sophisticated of race designs. But the computers and all the programs would be useless without the experience to back up a total design effort. It's the optimum blending of engineering, years of design experience, technology and communication that offers the Cam Techniques competitive edge.