I am investigating the practicality of getting Crower stage 2 cams, and cannot find the answers to the following questions:

1. Valve float: given the fact that I have 120k miles, would I have to upgrade my valve springs? I see some people have said damn the float and installed the cams without new springs, but in each case they had half the miles I do.

2. Cam Sprockets/Gears: again, I know people have installed the cams w/o the gears, but there is no intelligent commentary on the desirability of this set-up. Nevermind the performance aspect; would I need to have some amount of tunability here just to get the cams to operate correctly, or are the gears only a way of wringing out every last ounce of power?

3. Low vacuum: again, there is a lot of conjecture on this point. Most people have a AFC or standalone and say "i think it would work without it". I don't have any fuel management, and don't want it: the cams seem to be the best upgrade without going turbo, and I want to keep it as KISS and cheap as possible. Does anyone know FOR SURE if adjusting the throttle plate will solve the idle/low vacuum problems that occur as a result of the Crower Stage 2 cams?

4. Inspection: will the cams effect the emissions or general inspectability (lope at idle) of the car? Should I wait until my car gets inspected this year before I install new cams?

Thanks for any help.

Originally posted by silverarrow
1. Valve float: given the fact that I have 120k miles, would I have to upgrade my valve springs? I see some people have said damn the float and installed the cams without new springs, but in each case they had half the miles I do.

Get them. The crower springs are only like $100 and they are very good. Worth the peace of mind.

Originally posted by silverarrow
2. Cam Sprockets/Gears: again, I know people have installed the cams w/o the gears, but there is no intelligent commentary on the desirability of this set-up. Nevermind the performance aspect; would I need to have some amount of tunability here just to get the cams to operate correctly, or are the gears only a way of wringing out every last ounce of power?

Yes. In my opinion you need them just to fine tune them. You'll line up the marks but occassionally things will still be a little off. You can get them set better (and easier this way). Also you do have some more room for making adjustments to gain more power.

Originally posted by silverarrow
3. Low vacuum: again, there is a lot of conjecture on this point. Most people have a AFC or standalone and say "i think it would work without it". I don't have any fuel management, and don't want it: the cams seem to be the best upgrade without going turbo, and I want to keep it as KISS and cheap as possible. Does anyone know FOR SURE if adjusting the throttle plate will solve the idle/low vacuum problems that occur as a result of the Crower Stage 2 cams?

You WILL run rich at idle with the crower 2s with everything else stock. I had them in my car when I was NT and now as a turbo. At idle you will see HALF the vacuum you're used to seeing and the ECU doesn't know what that is about. It will dump more fuel than really required causing your idle to be rough. Adjusting the TP doesn't really help except pushing the RPM you idle at up. It will help some but you will get a very strange erratic idle (I did).

I used a SAFC to get around this. Only having correction at idle I was able to "trick" the ECU into thinking it had more vacuum at idle. It made the car run smoother at idle.

Originally posted by silverarrow
4. Inspection: will the cams effect the emissions or general inspectability (lope at idle) of the car? Should I wait until my car gets inspected this year before I install new cams? Thanks for any help.

Depends on your state and emissions requirements. I was able to pass one year with the cams. They don't do a sniffer on 96+ cars. Just an obd2 check.

points to you, thats what I needed to know! Thank you.

1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes