m44 performance cam info

[tommymac75]

i am looking for cam options for my m44. i have a cold air intake long tube header and nology hot wires. i blew my head gasket so i am rebiulding the head with a full port and polish work and supertech valve train... so if the heads getting all this i want to do cams... other then vac and cat cams any other options for less then 1000$.

[spidertri]

metricmechanic.com

Not too many other options.

[dave45056]

Port and polish on that head will not improve performance.
Save your money.

+1 on Metric Mechanic

[Bluebimma]

Please explain why port and polish will not improve breathing. OP, you can have cams reground to specs from a reputaple shop.

[tommymac75]

dave- i am doing the head work my self- i have done it before on all my sbc's... so if it is off and disassembled why not
bluebimmer- i dont know any shops or specs to have a cam reground- if you know some one that would be great and spec would be even better

[dave45056]

Originally Posted by Bluebimma

Please explain why port and polish will not improve breathing.

The head already breathes great. You really have to know what you are doing to make any improvement at all. It's easier to make the flow worse on the M4x heads. Although it may make you feel better, it won't make any noticable difference unless you are doing larger valves or forced induction. I'd put my money/time elsewhere.
Small block Chevies are a different story. It's pretty easy to get an improvement with port/polish with those engines.

[familytruckster]

Metric regrinds the cams. I think VAC does too. I think metric has some specs on their site.

Longtube? Custom? Hopefully not the OBX one. The factory one is a great piece.

Metric has a good article on the work it takes to get 5% more flow on their heads. VAC gets similar performance, and also has a huge long list of work done.

Gasket matching the intake manifold wouldn't hurt. I noticed a little mismatch that could be cleaned up.

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

I would not do any polishing on the head. On a street car the polished surface will promote fuel droplets to enlarge. I would stick with a ruff surface. Also you need to know what you are doing on the porting or flow will suffer. I have a ported head from Metric and no polishing...Read on their website flow on the M44 head is increased by doing more then just porting.

Metric has Rally cams but I don't know how much they will help unless you want to crank up your rev limiter to see the power.

Degreeing your stock cams for performance will net you some good power since they are set from factory for a smooth idle not performance.

Best of luck

[tommymac75]

i am only doing port work because i am going to a supertech valve train... and i am not worried about fuel dropplets forming thats the cool thing about fuel injection... dropplets are an issue with carbs. no the header isnt an obx peice.

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

Originally Posted by tommymac75

i am only doing port work because i am going to a supertech valve train... and i am not worried about fuel dropplets forming thats the cool thing about fuel injection... dropplets are an issue with carbs. no the header isnt an obx peice.

I'm fully aware of carb -vs- fuel injection. Port and polish it up. I've been building race & street motors for 25+ years so port and polish away and enjoy your motor. Just trying to offer advice from what is proven superior on these specific street motors. You already think you know it all so my help is not needed here.

Best of luck, John S

[tommymac75]

John S- i am not putting down anything i have donea lot of looking in to heads and cams for my build- i have seem metric web page- my intake ports are pretty well matched and the exhaust can use a lil opening up. adn my intake and exhaust runners look like 80grit sand paper so i plan on cleaning them up. i am looking for more gains from the supertech valve trains under cut valve and ti locks and retainers and a cam- at this time i am looking at the vac 284/283 cam. i know these are not a set of double hump fuelie heads that have to be hogged out to get them to flow. but seeing how smooth factory bmw s54, s62, s65 runners i am using that as my guide

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

Hey no hard feeling on my part. Best of luck honest. I will just butt out on the head stuff and help if you have questions that need to be answered on other items. I don't know it all or half of it but I like to learn each day. Hell I run surface turbulance valves, Volvo valve, Busa motor cycle springs and all kinds of crazy stuff in my head. I'm always willing to see people try and do good or fail. My back ground is sbc and Mercury F1 drag motors (outboards). I'm just very confident that the M4x head needs special treatment orflow will suffer. Guides, valve stem size and the package only nets 5-6% additional flow. It is a very good head and I have seen many ruined... I have ported many heads but did not do my M4x head due to the lack of knowledge on exactly the slight amount and exactlywhere it needs to be cut, it is not what you think it is. I inspecte it when I got it back and was surprised and if I did the porting I would have focked my head up bad...

Best, John S