Camshaft Identification

[heysad]

Hi all!

Engine is being rebuilt at the moment and have cams with the following numbers on, how do I tell exactly what they are?

4791 - Exhaust
1890 - Inlet

Also, on a complete whim (!!) bought the following camshaft on eBay (description at bottom of post)...on reflection the description confused me somewhat, i.e. it mentions it's a Schrick 296 (11.2 lift, I think) when I thought they did a 292?

Keyss questions are: -

- Would I need to pocket the pistons to use this cam? The engine is being re-built with Evo 2 pistons.
- Stock or uprated valve springs?
- Will it work with cams I have or am I going to have to purchase another? I'm sure (sort of!!) that I've read a 292 on inlet would go well with a 284 on the exhaust? (The head on the car is going to be flowed plus at the moment I only have a standard exhaust manifold on there with a modified system, manifold will get changed pretty soon though! I'm running an Emerald ECU and Uprated Injectors (some shade of green I think!))

I have read lots of the posts on cams and I know that it's all very subjective, just want to understand if what I've got will work or if I need to spend some more to get a better solution...

Thx,

- Andy


Ebay advert description in German: -

"Biete eine Motorsport-Nockenwelle " NEU " für einen BMW M3 E30 2,3 -2,5ltr. und 320is Motor Typ S14, mit 296 Grad, 11,2mm Hub, 102 Grad Spreizung, auf der Nocke sind noch die Zahlen 745 und 1099 eine 4 und die Buchstaben BMW und ein Dreieck abgebildet."


And a rough translation via Babel Fish: -
"
Offer an engine haven cam shaft "NEW" for a BMW M3 E30 2.3 -2,5ltr. and 320is engine type S14, with 296 degrees, 11,2mm stroke, 102 degrees of spreading, on the cam are still the numbers of 745 and 1099 4 and the letters a BMW and a triangle shown.
"

[hardtailer]

the S14 camshafts by BMW can only be identified by the letter stamped on the face where the cam gear sits. B is stock 248 deg.



the one auctioned looks like a regrind of a standard BMW cam based on the description as the data for lift and duration is not of a BMW cam but the triangle, date and the rest sounds like a BMW cam.

[UK215M3]

It's subjective depending on how the duration was measured, i.e at what lift did the measurment start. 102 is the timing point for max lift.

Are you sure this is an intake cam? Sounds to me from the discription like a Motorsport exhaust cam (but i doubt it) Also this cam if a MS cam you should see a very 'fat' profile as opposed to std/ Schrick. If so, you really need the matching intake and Deep pocket high compression pistons AND shim under buckets as thats what they are designed to work with, you need all the parts to match. ££££££££££££

A 292 Schrick won't work with Evo2 pistons unless you machine the pockets to accept the greater lift, or you change the cam timing to suit (but lose power!) 276/284 could well be very tight with evo2 pistons! Also the base circle is important, 276/284 and bmw cams are all the same (or thereabouts) 292 is smaller.

As for indentifing the cams you removed, the numbers sounds like casting numbers only. Measure the lobes and base circle.

Think these were from Jake many moons ago

[Base circle/lobe/total lift]

BMW 248 (intake/exhaust)
33.5/43.68/10.18

BMW 264 (E2 intake)
33.44/44/10.56

Schrick 276
33.46/44.64/11.18

Schrick 284
33.46/44.84/11.38

EVO III
Cam ( base circle / lobe /total lift )
Evo 3 248 exhaust ( 33.40 / 43.70 / 10.3 mm )
Evo 3 272 intake ( 33.45 / 44.45 / 11.0 mm )

[heysad]

Thanks Gents, I'll gather some more information and pop it back up here

- Andy

[heysad]

As an aside, it's not the end of the world if this cam purchase doesn't pan out....so in that vane, if I wanted to purchase a Shrick cam\cam kit in the UK who should I be speaking to?

Thx,

- Andy

[UK215M3]

Have you bought your pistons yet?

Prices vary on Schricks, but generally around £300 each, try www.c3bmw.co.uk

Remember you'll need E3 valve springs at least (late 215hp are the same )

[heysad]

Eventually got the letters off the camshafts, they are...

4791 - Exhaust - has the letter B on it
1890 - Inlet - has the letter C on it

Can anyone advise as to what these are?

Thx,

- Andrew

[Jake]

B is a standard 248 cam. C is an Evo 2 inlet cam (264).

HTH,
Jake

[heysad]

Morning Jake!

Can the 264 be used with a 284 in combination or does that not make sense to do that? Or would I just be better off going with 284\284 or 292\284 combi?

Thx,
- Andrew

[hardtailer]

Were the four digit numbers taken from the same face as the letters? That would be the production week and year (week 18 of 1990).
The numbers for lift and duration you posted indeed seem to indicate it’s a regrind of a stock intake/exhaust cam (the 248deg one) and of a evo intake cam (264 deg). Can you actually confirm this or could it be they’re still stock?
Putting the 264 on the exhaust side and a 284 on the intake should work. I don’t have any experience on it, though.
Perhaps Jake will chime in with the details on and experiences with his setup.

[Jake]

I keep meaning to get back to this...

Gotta keep it brief, about to run off to work.

I haven't tried any of the combos mentioned. But if you're still running stock compression I'm not sure there is a lot in it for the 292/284 set up. Wish I had actually tried it though. I have driven a 2.5 with KK290 cams and it revs beautifully to 8k. So maybe it would be fine.

I'm running E3/E2 (272/264) on my S14B20, and the power seems to fall off around 7500 ish. With the stock limiter @ 7250 it wouldn't even begin to taper off before hitting it. Thanks to a very good friend () the limit has been increased to 7800 and I can just feel it begin to taper just before it hits it.

Either way you go, I would at least consider raising your rev limit. All of these choices will feel pretty good, but unless you change your compression ratio I don't think there is a big enough difference to say definitely go with one over the other. On stock pistons, I'd probably stay away from the 292 cam for safety reasons. 284/276 is most common, at least around here. But personally, I'd be more interested in trying out 284/284.

Hope this helps somewhat. It's a hugely subjective subject though, so take it with a grain of salt.

Jake

[UK215M3]

As a reference I use 272/284 on a 2.5 E3 engine.

[heysad]

Much to my amazement the camshaft I bought from eBay has turned up!

It has '96' stamped on the end plus '296 Degress' and 'M,2' etched on the end.

The numbers '745' and '1099' appear cast into the shaft.

This information mean anything to anyone?!

Thanks,

- Andrew

[heysad]

Oh, and thanks to all have replied so far!

[mm1854]

Digging up this old thread to confirm my findings.

The feed-back above taught me that since I have a B at the cam gear end of both my cams that they are stock 248s.

I just wanted to confirm that the remaining numbers don't mean anything?

I have:
Intake: Shaft: 400 BMW 2318 , Cam Gear End : 5187 B
Exhaust: Shaft: 400 BMW 2416 , Cam Gear End : 0890 B

So of all the markings, it is just the B that counts, and tells me it is stock 248s?