I'm borrowing the April 2002 import tuner issue. They did more mods on top of the intake, exhaust, and header we all lamented about previously.

Now, I know I've complained about chassis dynos, but for everyone's info they tested a 50 shot of nirtous and aem cam gears (with some tuning). The nirtous made +37 hp and +37 lbs ft of torque (that would be exactly as expected, to the wheels)

The cam gears made +7hp and +5 lbs ft of torque, from 2600 rpms up the power was higher, no decrease in the power curve

The problem is they don't tell WHAT they set the cam gears to! But if I remember correctly someone already did the tuning (I think it was Murix, but I don't remember)

They actually had an article about a 2gnt? Wow!

I've had about 40 dyno pulls on my car so far. We did 2 to 3 pulls at every possible combination setting. The best was either intake and exhaust both advanced 2 degrees, or intake advance 2 exhaust retard 2. This was with an AEM CAI and GS-T exhaust, and that's about it. Murix also got good dyno results with intake advance 2 exhaust retard 2. So I think that may be one of the best combos. He got more gain then me probably cus I am auto. I had a max of 5 hp, he had a max gain of 10 hp.

that's great news

We'd better write that down or something, it looks like intake advance 2 degrees and exhaust retard 2 degrees is the way to go for tuning the cams

10 HP will easily shave off 2/10ths from our cars' 1/4 mile times

Have you (or has anyone else) had any problems with the AEM cam gears at all?

Hehe funny you should ask that. My bolts flew off of my cam gear, and I bent my valves. I can't say for sure what caused it, maybe I didn't have them tight enough (but I hadn't adjusted them for 2 weeks prior to it happening). Since then, AEM has released new style hex bolts that I think should be better. They are also a lot easier to adjust than the older allen bolts. If you're doing the timing belt, I would recommend the cam gears since they actually give you a gain, as opposed to other mods that don't seem to do much on the dyno (like headers, or exhaust etc).

BTW, does anyone have a copy of a dynojet viewer? I have the demo version, but now it won't seem to work properly with winXP.

It's good to know that AEM is using a better setup to prevent the cam gears from loosening up. I guess alot of people were having the same problem as you did, and maybe that prompted the re-design.

Although, Howell Automotive has a different brand of cam gears with 5 bolts to hold the center of the gear in place better, but I don't know if the tooth cut in those cam gears are as good as AEM's.

AEM is laser cut and really good quality. I would highly recommend them. Also keep in mind that 5 bolts would be more annoying to adjust. I think that with the newer bolts, you should be safe as long as you keep them tight. I personally would not get anything but AEM, especially with horror stories going around about the Fidanza gears. I think the problem with the allen bolts was that it was hard to apply enough torque by just using a small allen wrench.

tell me..exactly...what is the process you go through to adjust cam gears...TIA :P

That dyno pull is so far off. My car with 50,000 miles pulled 122 HP, with 120 lbs/ft. of torque with a AEM short ram intake and a custom PVC extension to make it a cold air intake. With those #'s I really doubt they simulated air flow with a fan.

Each car will be different on the dyno, since some are older etc.

To adjust the cam gears, you just loosen the bolt, then turn the face of the gear by using an 18 mm (I think, or 17 mm) wrench in the center. It's really easy to adjust, takes less than 5 minutes to do both gears.