Hi all!

The exhaust camshaft broke on my YB cosworth 2wd engine. I have heard that an inlet camshaft could be used in place of an exhaust one. Is that true ?
I have been offered a 2nd hand inlet camshaft and wanted to know if I could use that.
Alternatively, has anyone got a 2nd hand exhaust camshaft (stock) for a 2wd YB cosworth ?

Many thanks,

Nico

 

I don't know an awful lot on the YB motor but that does not sound ideal unless the lift and duration are very close to the ex cam.
I will be interested to find out the answer to this one.

 

Not sure it's a good idea even I do seem to remember there is a difference between them.

Martin

 

my mate used an inlet cam on the exhaust (could be other way round) on a 2.0 16v VW engine, it was turboed, it made an extra 15bhp, and pinked before we re-mapped it (was leaning out so must of had a higher VE) so it can be done, just not sure if it works for the YB

 

using an inlet cam will be fine - but bear in mind that the woodruff key is 180 degrees out, so when timing up the engine, both markers on the pulleys should point to the left (when looking at the front of the engine) instead of pointing towards each other.

 

yeh u can use the inlet, but u have to turn it round.....i ran mine for years like that

 

The only difference apart from the key is the scroll on the inlet journals, I'm sure they are the same timing figure wise on the std ones.
tabetha

 

As said above you can use inlet in the exhaust side, but not the other way around! Inlet has the groove in the journals so it gets lubricated properly so not a problem using inlet in exhaust but obviously exhaust side doesn't have the groove so it wouldn’t get lubricated properly in the inlet side.

Inlet and exhaust are the same profile as std (BD8). If you do use 2 inlet cams, the woodruff key in the exhaust side will point towards 7 o’clock–ish, it will not be 180 degrees away from the inlet cam, I have done a very simple drawing to illustrate this point: (the cam on the left is the same picture as the cam on the right but rotated 115 degrees clockwise)



You really would need to use a timing disk and a DTI gauge to guarantee it was timed correctly.

Just seen this on ebay, new std ford exhaust cam for £100! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Exhaust-Ca...item230b38a887

 

So inlet on exhaust is fine, but I need to be careful with the timing. good.
Thank you all very very much for your help!

 

I,m having my exhaust cam timed in with guages this week, i never realised the cam timing is affected if any skimming has been done since factory . Thats most cases on a 20 +yr old yb no doubt . My engine runs ok but is very laggy with late boost/rpm .

I take it vernier pulleys allows easy spot on timing without going into the cam carrier ?

 

Is it 2wd or 4x4 cam as I am sure I have a spare exhaust cam kicking around somewhere? Daft question but a lot of 2wd cars have 4x4 engines/heads fitted!

 

Thanks everyone. I have now got an inlet cam on its way.
Pete mcrash, can you confirm that it was turned 115deg clockwise on yours?
I just want to make 100% sure how much the cam needs rotating...
Cheers!

 

i thought this would be impossible cause i thought the can profiles would be well different. You learn something new everyday. Is it a bit dodgey not using the rudwuff key. I sopose as long as the cam pulley bolt is ft it wont matter.

 

The woodruff key IS used, it's just not in the correct position, so the timing mark can't be set as normal.

.

 

to be fair i have 110deg in my head, but 115 sounds about right,

 

The pulley has got 38 teeth. So it's probably 12 teeth = 113.68 degree.
Thanks!

 

there is a lot of if but maybe going on here and a yb motor at stake just get the right cam and do it right first time