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Technical Advice
Lift: This can be cam lift or valve lift. The latter being the cam lift
multiplied by the rocker ratio. All lift figures in this catalogue refer
to valve lift.
Duration: This is the length of time, measured in crankshaft
degrees that the valve is off its seat. In the catalogue pages, Piper
give you this figure as well as the timing figures. To calculate the
duration, add the timing numbers together and add 180.
EXAMPLE: a cam with timing figures of 23/67 added, totals 90,
plus 180, gives 270 deg duration.
Overlap: The number of crankshaft degrees were both the inlet
and exhaust valve are open at the same time. To calculate
overlap: Add the opening number of the inlet cam to the closing
number of the exhaust cam, ie the first and last numbers of the
cam timing. Using our same example of the 23/67 inlet and 67/23
exhaust (usually referred to as 23/67 - 67/23), add together the
first and last numbers (23 and 23) and the total (46) is the
overlap. In general terms the larger this number or the greater the
overlap, the hotter the cam.
Cam Timing: The position of the camshaft relative to the
crankshaft. This is expressed as the number of degrees that full
lift occurs after top dead centre (tdc) in the case of the inlet, and
before tdc for the exhaust. This figure is included in
the product pages, but to calculate this, take the duration figure
and divide by 2. EXAMPLE: With an inlet cam of 23/76, the
duration is the addition of these two numbers, plus 180, equals
270. Then divide by 2 resulting in 135. Deduct the number of
degrees before tdc that the valve started to open, ie 23 degrees -
the result 112. The valve is correctly timed with full lift 112
degrees after tdc.
Valve Timing: The opening and closing position of inlet and
exhaust valves relative to the crankshaft as figures before and
after TDC and BDC
Lobe Angle: The angle between the inlet and exhaust lobe,
measure in degrees.
Ramp: The ramp is the part of the profile that takes up the valve
clearance and slack in the valve train gradually, before the valve
is actually lifted from the seat. It also rests the valve gently back
to the seat after the closing flank. Mechanical profiles use a much
larger ramp than hydraulic ones, as the hydraulic cam follower
should be in contact with the lobe at all times. The height of the
ramp dictates what measurement the valve clearances should be
set to.
Flank: This is the part of the profile between the ramp and nose.
It is the most important part of the whole design. The flank
controls the velocity and acceleration of the valve train. The
acceleration / deceleration rate must be within the working limits
of the valve spring, too much and valve float with occur. Generally
high acceleration & velocity figures are beneficial to engine
performance.
Nose Radius: The larger the nose radius the better. Our profiles
are designed to utilise the biggest nose radius possible to keep
the stresses to a minimum.
Dwell: As the valve reaches full lift it will stop moving for a few
degrees before starting to drop back towards the seat, this period
is known as the dwell. When checking the cam timing using the
full lift figure method the mid-point of the dwell should be taken as
exact full lift.
Rocker Ratio: The ratio between valve motion vs cam follower
motion. Push rod engines typically use a ratio of between 1.1:1 &
2.0:1. Over head cam, direct operating engines obviously have no
rocker ratio as the cam follower motion is exactly the same as the
valve motion.
Overall Height: The measurement from the nose of the lobe to
the bottom of the base circle, in a straight line through the centre
of the lobe.
Base Circle Diameter: The measurement across the lobe,
calculated by measuring the overall height and subtracting the
cam lift.