Installing cams - difficult?

i own a 1991 106 1.0xn. Think its supposed to make around 45bhp. which is probably more like 30 bhp.

I've been driving it for almost 4 years now. Its the slowest thing in the world, and back when i first got it all I thought about was how to up the power. Until I realised it really is pointless. unless you are spending a lot of money you are not going to see any worthwhile gains.

I've just resigned to the fact that i've got a slow car, but hey at least I have a car to see me through university.
 
Maccy said:
I didn't ask for people's opinions, I asked about the job in hand. Thought the motors forum was good for advice :(
Click to expand...


Read between the lines, and you'll see you have been given good advice. ;)

The job in hand is one that, frankly,imo if you have to ask about, you should not really attempt regardless of the "performance gain" you may or may not see. I don't know how old you are mate, but I've lost count of the times that I've attempted to DIY a car job only to get it wrong / break something and evaporate any potential saving by eventually going to a mechanic to fix my wrong moves! :o

These days, I'm a lot more adept with spanners - 12 years as a truck driver -, yet I would not dream of doing a cam swap myself.

As has already been said over & over, if you want an improvement on your 54BHP Micra, then sell it and buy something faster.

Maccy said:
Why would I sell the car when it's in good nick, only just done 50k and is a great runaround and a great first car? I enjoy driving it and like it, that's all that matters to me.
I ask a question and all I get is replies telling me it's pointless, disappointed :(
Click to expand...

Stop being disappointed, and enjoy the car that you think is so great, apart from the obviously defficient performance which is something that does matter to you! - Saying "I enjoy driving it and like it, that's all that matters to me" is patently untrue as you want to make it faster.

Make your mind up. ;)
 
Last edited:
My first car had 34bhp (850 mini), but it didn't make it any less fun to drive, in fact it made making decent progress much more involving as you had to look well ahead to not lose precious speed and plan overtakes well in advance.

The 1.3 cams might gain you 5bhp peak power, but there will undoubtedly be some loss of torque at lower RPM, and when you don't start with much anyway it's quite noticeable. You should ideally replace the followers at the same time since the cam lobe and the follower wear together, but if the 1.3 cam and the 1.0 followers are showing no signs of wear you might get away without changing them (use a micrometer to measure the variation in nose-heel height on inlets and exhausts, they should all be very close, within 0.1mm). If either part is worn the whole assembly will be trashed very quickly. You will very likely have to re-shim the followers to to get the correct valve clearances (use the valve clearances from the 1.3 if they are different).

As an exercise in learning about engines this could be quite instructive, but if you simply want more power I think you will be disappointed at the return for the effort.
 
I would suspect the 'cams' have the same profile as those already in your engine and the 1.3 just has a longer stroke to generate more power and torque.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom