Delta Camshafts in Washington makes a cam for the 2.2L
SOHC, NA

It is called build #220
Costs $65 per cam, 2 cams per car, total is $130 for the regrind

Phone 800-562-5500
I was told it gives torque and hp gains in the low-midband

Oops it is $130 per cam,
2 cams per car. total $260

Not too shabby. How'd you find out about this place?


Mick

Matt Monson had a post about that reccars made cams and I contacted reccars who redirected me to delta cams

G.Subramaniam - I would highly suggest checking out which method those cams are re-ground. If they're welded first before being re-ground, then I would suggest to stay away; since it will affect the original metallurgy of the camshaft and may be a cause of failure down the road.

I've used Delta cams in my 2.2, good company. The cams are just ground, not welded.

John*G - So Delta regrinds the base circle on the stock cams to get the profile? IIRC Webb camshafts weld material on before they start grinding away to make the new profile.

Yes they regrind the base, thats why they are inexpensive. I thought I payed $65.00 each for mine in the spring. There are drawbacks to this method also.

Is that Washington state, or Washington DC? And if the state, which city? Thanks

Washington State

John.G
What drawbacks ?

they are in Tacoma, Washington
http://www.deltacam.com/

G.Subramaniam - One of the drawbacks IIRC for the reduction in base circle to change the cam profile (for non-roller rocker design heads) is more maintainence [lash adjustments etc] to maintain proper valvetrain geometry. That's why the newer phase 2 SOHC heads are much better then the phase 1 SOHC heads (as they've changed over to a roller rocker design - ie self adjusting)

ive had good results with Delta cams in my EA82T.

Im looking to get some cams for a future EJ22E NA build.

One of the drawbacks IIRC for the reduction in base circle to change the cam profile (for non-roller rocker design heads) is more maintainence [lash adjustments etc] to maintain proper valvetrain geometry
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In plain english is this too big a problem
Should I get my cams regrinded by Delta Cams ?
How often does this maintenance have to be done ?

WJM - Was your EA82T OHC or OHV (ie: pushrods)?

G.Subramaniam - This means poping off the valvecovers more often to adjust valvelash. If you look on your factory service manual; it'll have the mileage at which you need to adjust for valvelash. This interval will just have to be more frequent then what it states in the factory guidelines.

Sohc 8v.

G.Subramaniam - This means poping off the valvecovers more often to adjust valvelash. If you look on your factory service manual; it'll have the mileage at which you need to adjust for valvelash. This interval will just have to be more frequent then what it states in the factory guidelines
--
What is the normal factory guidelines for adjusting valvelash
in terms of mileage and how much more often must valvelash be adjusted for this SOHC-1 camwork ?
--
One of the drawbacks IIRC for the reduction in base circle to change the cam profile (for non-roller rocker design heads)

G.Subramaniam- The intervals vary. The faster the cam accelerates and decelerates the valve incidences (open/close) the faster the valvetrain will wear. This is one of the dis-advantages of the non-roller rocker design of the phase 1 heads. Maintainence intervals for lash adjustment become closer together compared to the regular intervals as listed by the factory service manual. It's also dependant on how hard you drive. IIRC, the Honda heads with VTEC required valve lash adjustments every 18,000kms or 24,000kms to keep them in spec.

Depending on how "radical" the cam profile is, I would venture to guess the intervals between servicing the heads would be at least between 50-80% of the normal mileage compared to just the stock camshaft.

The Subaru service guidelines for 7.5k, 15k. 30k and 60k miles have no mention of valve lash adjustment ?
My valve lash have never beeen adjusted for 90k miles
For low-mid rpm driving this should not be a big issue ??
Your description of the problem seems to be mostly high rpm driving ?
How does one know that the time has come for valve lash adjustment

G.Subramaniam - The valve lash adjustment may not be listed in your service guidelines. It's most likely in the factory service manual. I have yet to need to do this on the '98L as there's only 15k miles on the car. When I spoke to the Subaru tech about my '99GT he did mention about valvelash adjustment being part of one of the major services.

Valves open the same range of motion regardless of the rpm it's operating (unless ofcourse you've got VTEC). In anycase, only the time duration in between valve events that shortens as rpm increases.

If you're just driving around the city you may not want cams then. Depending on the profile they may or maynot provide the power in the range you're looking for.

Another correction
I called Delta cams again
It is $65 per cam for #220 build
or $130 per car

What drawbacks ?


I am not sure which EJ2.2 you have but...
EJ18 and the 2 port EJ2.2 have HLA's and don't normally need adjusting. The later single port 2.2 have mechanical valve adjusters. If you use a non- welded, ground cam and have HLA's you need to figuire out a way to make up for the increase in lash as the HLA can't.
You can make up for the increased lash with the mechanical adjusters. You will have a change in rocker arm geometry by doing that way.

I have a 1995 2.2L and a 1997 2.2L
Will I see the problems you described ?

I'm not sure what years have what heads. You may have to crawl under the car to find out for sure. If you havn't had to adjust your valves you probably have the older engines with HLA's.
If you don't have the proper valve lash your cams won't last long, also the valves won't lift all the way in the short time it runs.
There are ways around the valve lash problem on the HLA engines. Essentually you need to bring the rocker arms closer to the cams. I think the neatest way would be to mill the top of the heads, easily done at any auto machine shop, not to expensive. You could also grind the rocker shaft supports, I imagine this would be expensive.
I made shims to go in the rocker arms under the HLA's, cost about $3.00 for the shims. These need to be made of a heat treatable steel and hardened, so you need to understand heat treating etc. to do it. Mine have lasted about 1,000 miles, no problems yet. The Subaru manual says that you need to replace the HLA 0 rings anytime you take the rockers apart. I did. They are about $3.00 x 16. You then will need to bleed the HLA's, a PIA. Figuire that into the equation.
As I have written in other posts, next time I will go with 1.8 heads for the increased compression, roller style cams, and maintenance free HLA's. Then mill the tops abut .030 inches for valve lash. Better yet you could do it and post the results ;)

G.Subramaniam - One of the drawbacks IIRC for the reduction in base circle to change the cam profile (for non-roller rocker design heads) is more maintainence [lash adjustments etc] to maintain proper valvetrain geometry. That's why the newer phase 2 SOHC heads are much better then the phase 1 SOHC heads (as they've changed over to a roller rocker design - ie self adjusting)
roller rockers are definitely NOT self adjusting, Hydrualic lifters are self adjusting, the difference is that roller rockers one set rarely need any valve adjustment(figure every 45-60k just for proper maintenance. Hydraulic lifters will clog if the oil is not change frequently enough and will also deflate at high RPM causing a loss of valve lift. The best thing to do is get rid of the phase 1 heads.

jeremy

My tech charges 8 hours to pull out the old cams and put in the new cams
The Deltacams charges $130 for 2 cams
So this runs me $800 total, parts and labor

As opposed to this,
A swap to 2.5L NA will cost $1300 + 12 hours labor
If I swap the cams when the motor is out of the car, it will take another 2 hours
So this will in total cost me $1430 + 14 hours labor $2500

If I go the next step and do pistons when the motor is out of the car
Crawford sells hi CR pistons for $550 and I was quoted 12 hours of labor for piston swap

and this comes very close to a swap to STI-WRX

So it seems to run about $4500 total

Then do it yourself and save money.


Mick

So, are these cams any good? Are they a good bang-for-the-buck mod? I am interested in them.


Mick

If we are still talking about putting ground cams in 2.2L motors I think you are in the realm of DIY. I doubt it would be cost effective to pay someone. I think it would be hard to find anyone who would even do it.
If your doing a 2.5 swap with cams/pistons what ECU problems are you going to face using a 2.2 ECU?
Sounds like a turbo swap is what you need.

We have used Delta Cams for like 20+ years to grind cams for the Saab/Ford V4 engines for my stepdad business. Literally 50+ cams a year. Good quality, good company.

Chris H.

So, are these cams any good? Are they a good bang-for-the-buck mod? I am interested in them.


Mick
Since nobody answered my question I'll add some more info.

I have a full exhaust (Custom equal-length headers, catless, wrx midpipe, and borla axle-back) I have the stock air filter box with a K&N panel filter and a PDM intake tube running to the fender. That is all the power mods I have for now. How much hp/tq gains would I be looking at from these cams? Do I have to send them my stock cams and wait for them to regrind and ship them back to me? Or do they send me reground cams and I send them back my stock ones? $130 seems very cheap for a set of cams (compared to Cobb, at least).


Mick

For my 2.2L engine, they claimed improvement in low-mid band torque of 10%-12%
You take it out of the car, ship it to them, they regrind it and ship it back to you the same day and then you put it back in

DeltaCams are cheap (compared to Cobb) and provide good service. You may get a free Deltacam T-shirt as well. :D I'm not sure if they are still doing this.

I have a set on my XT6 with good results. The result would've been much better had I NOT had a too big of an exhaust diameter. I lost a lot of low end opening the exhaust too much but still had some gain on the high end. Hopefully, I'll get the car dyno'd again after having the exhaust reduced with further playing with timing and fuel.

http://www.xt6.net/forum/files/mini-overall.jpg

I heard from Delta Camshafts that the new regrinded cams slightly reduce valve-piston clearance from 0.180 to about 0.150
The minimum required clearance is 0.100
This may mean there could be a clearance problem if high CR pistons are used

It is a great bang for the buck mod providing you can put them in yourself.

By changing your cam shaft timing you can move the torque range were you want it. They Delta quotes mid/low assuming you are not going to change timing.
Turn around time is pretty quick, but it is much easier to get a set of used heads to work on, then swap in. Car is not down more than a day and there is no rush. Plus you can touch up those ports
John