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First, the claims made by various aftermarket suppliers are rarely, if ever, backed up by reasonable proof that I can see.
Has anyone seen or can provide a certified dyno test comparing several highly touted camshafts with a Toyota 20/22 stock camshaft?
Over the past 20 years or so, it’s interesting to me how times I have read about someone hacking up an air intake box, or for this particular topic, selling a new camshaft profile that increases the “power” in a factory stock engine…. which by the way, arguably have been engineered by the most brilliant automotive minds on the planet - in the most technologically advanced “work shop” anyone could imagine.
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Gnarls.
Totally agree with you on claims made by aftermarket parts suppliers. Would be nice to see some documented testing.
As to your comment about Toyota engineers - keep in mind they were constrained by many things that are often not relevant, or at least not as important to enthusiasts building these engines 30 years later. If you want significantly more power than stock you pretty much *have* to go with aftermarket parts, especially headers, cams, and carbs.
Emissions were a huge deal for them, along with cold starting, low speed drivability, durability, economy, and manufacturing costs. I know guys in Cali. have to worry about emissions, but a lot of folks in other places, like here in WA, don't. I can put whatever I want in my truck and the gubmint doesn't care. I also don't care a whole lot about cold starting, I know how to get a performance engine started and how to deal with it for the 5 minutes it takes to warm up. I'm also not expecting this engine to last another 220K miles like the stock one did, nor am I concerned with saving $0.50 on each valvespring because I'm not installing millions of them.
That said, it seem like any time you start dealing with aftermarket parts and deviating from stock things often don't fit or work right without some serious dicking around...