Help required in identifying a camshaft

[gouldsborough7]

Some of you might have seen a long-running series of messages about my Weber carburettor saga. Having fitted a new 32/36 to my 2 litre Pinto, it was not behaving as well as liked, having a huge flat-spot on revving up to take off from a standstill. The previous Weber was a jumbo Grannie version, which pumped in loads of full and possibly masked this problem.

The carburettor supplier is happy to help daignose the fault, but wants me to identify the camshaft first, in case it is not original Ford spec. It might be a Piper or Kent cam of a fast road type.

According to my bit of research into this, a Piper cam is likely to have markings: BP255 mild road use, BP270 fast road use in an unmodified engine, BP 285 for really fast road use in a tuned engine and so on.

Kent cams would merely have KC followed by a number. They will advise me of the type, once I had provided this number.

On my camshaft, the only digits are LYD1, 20, F8 & FR18, in various places along the shaft.

Can anyone advise me on this puzzle, please?

Cheers
Mike

[gaddbrose]

Re: Help required in identifying a camshaft

Hi Mike, Camshafts, you may have read of my problems with camshafts, I've changed 4or 5 over the past 10 years due to wear on one or more lobes. However, the Kent cam widely recognised as a bit vunerable, is usually the F.R 30 or 31. There are others , but they are a bit wild for a bog standard Pinto, and they are marked by stamp on the end of the shaft at the thrust collar end. It will be very close to the bulkhead and you may need a small mirror. That will identify the Kent cam, alas , I am unable to advise on the Piper. If you want more , please get in touch. regards Brian.

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Help required in identifying a camshaft

Hi Mike
I have a Genuine unused Ford pinto cam still in box, the only markings apart from 'Ford' stamped into it are 'H48' behind the second cam lobe

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Help required in identifying a camshaft

Hi guys
Just had a look at the thrust collar end of the camshaft. The markings are 270 and M2, and I think D1. Having spoken to both Kent & Piper cams, the latter company has 270 as part of its cam range. Don't know what M2 and D1 refer to, but assuming mine is a Piper 270, according to them this is a fast road cam for an engine which is otherwise unmodified.

Apart from the jumbo Grannie carb, with which it started its Berli life, and the traditional 4-branch exhaust, there are no other signs of tune-ups. It is anyone's guess whether the pistons and head are non-standard, but I'll work on the basis of 'non'.

I'll tell the man at Fast Road cars about the cam possibly being a Piper 270, and see what his reaction is about jetting. According to a Weber set-up leaflet I obtained via the Internet, I will need a smaller primary jet to get the Mixture screw to end up being '1-2 turns out' from the fully screwed-in position.

Cheers
Mike

[gouldsborough7]

Re: Help required in identifying a camshaft

Not quite in conclusion of this series of messages, but I have now established that my car has a 270 Piper camshaft. The guy at Piper was very helpful, and confirmed that this cam is for a 'fast road car', which has not been modified very much. However, what it gains on speed at the higher end it loses on tractability, ability to pull away at low revs, general pottering around etc. Below 1500rpm, the engine is not expected to performall all that energetically, which is a bit of a disappointment.

The reason that this was not noticed much before was due to the big Grannie carb, which poured petrol into the inlet manifold. Now I have the carb designed for a 2litre Pinto, which runs a bit on the lean side, the quirks of the camshaft have come to light.

Going back to the Weber supplier: Fast Road Cars, their rep suggested that I swap over the pilot jets as an experiment. The jet from the second choke will provide more fuel than that of the first. This should make it possible to turn the mixture screw back to 1.5 to 2 turns from the home setting as it should be, and it may help to camouflage the carb problem. Depending on the success, Fast Road Cars will supply me with alternative jets. Bit of a softly softly catchee monkey approach!

I'll let you know how I get on.
Cheers
Mike