Hey Keith, you do any dune riding at all? I do both trails and dunes. Just curious if you would recomend the low end cam for dunes or tell me to go for WC high end cam with header?

sklustig, No all our riding is wooded trails and hills, most are kinda tight and rough so you can't get alot of speed to climb hills. That's why we went with this particular cam grind. I got with WC and explained what kinda riding we do and he cam up with the specs to match.
Although the cam did not take away from the top end it sure did help the bottom. I would suggest contacting WC, let him know what type of performance you need and where in the rpm range you need it and I feel sure he will come up with the correct grind for your needs. I have not had a chance to ride the dunes since I live in Alabama, but sure would like to some day.
Keith

Keith,
I am with you, most of my riding is woods. I am thinking about getting the cam reground by WC, and I think your's would fit my style as well.

Did it effect your top speed at all? WHat is your top speed with the regrind? I would like to keep it at around 60. Did you shave the head while you were at it? How much work is involve with changing the CAM? Do you need new gaskets etc?

I am thinking I will do a CAM this spring, headers this fall, and shaved head this winter.

WOndering if I should wait and do the CAM and Shaved head together if it is a big project.

CHris

Laymansm,
It did not affect the top speed, but what is did do is you can run down a dirt road or highway in forth gear at between 1500 and 2000 rpms and it not feel like the motor was in such a strain as before. Swapping the cam is pretty easy actually. The only trick is to make sure you get the timing belt back on exactly where you took it off. What I did was get the motor to TDC first, then mark both the crank pulley and the cam pulley, with the mark going over to the side of the engine. Also make sure you mark where the rotor button is before removing the Distributor housing and gear. As long as you mark everything at TDC you should be fine. Removing the old cam and replacing it was the easy part. I would recommend a value lash of .007 the book says .006 but though testing I got the best performance with .007. If you get starting on this and run into something just PM me. Let me know your email address and I will send you the 800 cc engine manual that WC sent me. It has alot of detailed info, Like how to set the value lash and such.
keith

Laymansm,
Whoop did not anwser your complete question, I did not shaved the head yet, but may do so later. I have a local tech who can do this, I was going to run it a while like this first. You will not need any new gasket since the value cover gasket is a o-ring type, I have set the value lash 3 times with no leaks.
I tried the headers and it did help the top end but hurt the bottom. So depending on what rpm range you are going to be running would determine whether or not a header will help you. I don't know if you have looked at the exhaust port on the manifold or not but it is really small. There is a steel insert in the 1 1/4 tail pipe where it connect to the manifold. Why they reduced here I do not know. I am most likely going to remove the manifold and pipe and bore this out to 1 1/4 from the what is is now, less then one inch. But the header pipe with the long runners (before the collector) and the 2 inch pipe actually hurt the low end torque. So If you want low end grunt then I would not get the header, but if you want more on the top side then I would.
keith

I assumed the headers were more for the top end, but thought the low end cam and a shaved head would compensate on the low end.

Not sure I want to mess with the timing belt just yet, may wait untill next winter to take the motor apart and do the head work and cam together.

Did you have to send your old Cam to WC, or did he just send you a new regound cam?

Thinking I might buy now while their available and put in later

Chris

laymansm,
Yea I had to do a swap, WC sent me the cam I installed the new cam then sent my old cam back to him.
Shaving the head and the cam may do that, or he may can do a slighly difference cam grind.
keith

Hey layman>> I use to be a mechanic for a long time. So speaking from exprience I would suggest just doing the cam. If you start shaving your head to compensate for what you lose by adding a header, thats counter productive and costly. The cam should be simple. The timing belt is a breeze, just make SURE you rotate the engine BY HAND a couple times to ensure the timing marks line up. If you haven't ever done anything like that before, read up on how to find TDC ignition vs TDC exhaust, really not that hard. Thats my two sense anyway.

keithspigener,
Do you have the lower geared transmission?

Thanks Mike

Gundog,
Yes I have the lower gear tranny.
We are just about ready to chop off the buggy just behind the Trailing arm Pivot point, Install a VW torsion, Tranny, and 1641cc motor we built the past month.