6 replies to this topic

[Bramham89]

After spending hours finding the cam that I would like to use on my project I came across this advert on eBay which claims that the APT Cams are even better. I have searched the mini forum site and APT isn't mentioned once (unless I did it wrong) and even Google didn't give me much. Apparently one of these Cams was developed with David Vizard. It seems odd that something that claims to be so good is so rare. Has anyone had any experience or even heard of them? Should I stick to Kent to be safe?

Edited by Bramham89, 20 November 2010 - 12:09 AM.

[fastcarl]

After spending hours finding the cam that I would like to use on my project I came across this advert on eBay which claims that the APT Cams are even better. I have searched the mini forum site and APT isn't mentioned once (unless I did it wrong) and even Google didn't give me much. Apparently one of these Cams was developed with David Vizard. It seems odd that something that claims to be so good is so rare. Has anyone had any experience or even heard of them? Should I stick to Kent to be safe?

Yes APT were linked to David Vizard years ago, the owner is David Anton and are serious/respected engine tuners stateside .

some VP range of cams have some very aggressive opening ramps on then and can cause valve spring bind up if you do not know what you are donig .

i had my origional Nitrous cam ground by APT way back in 1999, and it has some serious lift on both the inlet and exhaust , was spectacularly effective which is why my user name ifs what it is,lol.

dont expect the VP race cams to last a long time , the aggressive opening profiles create some very high pressures on the valvetrain and the lobes simply wear on the opening ramps .

either piper of Kent cams can grind most of the APT range but i have heard they are not as accuratly ground as APT .

carl

[Bramham89]

That's some great info Carl. APT do a cam to the same spec as the Kent 266. In your opinion is this likely to be better quality than the Kent?
Thank you for your reply
Phil

[Bramham89]

I have decided not to bother with the APT cam as I cannot justify the extra cost. I had not realised that most of the prices were for reground cams whereas the Kent cams are ground from a blank billet. Also since I am only going to be using it for fast road rather than racing there's just no point. I dare say that the APT cams are better quality though, after reading the info. in Vizard's book.

On a side note when searching 3 letter words on the forum use google with "site:www.theminiforum.co.uk" in the search box
(without the "")

[frog998]

On a side note when searching 3 letter words on the forum use google with "site:www.theminiforum.co.uk" in the search box
(without the "")

Cheers that certainly helps and one of the reasons most people ask the question again as the search function isn't exactly user friendly

[weswes]

It’s hard for you to speculate how a camshaft behaves without having any friends, acquaintances, anyone nearby. About the valve springs binding, every reputable valve grinder knows how to prevent that, additionally valve spring bind can occurs from any number of camshaft makes when buying any radical bump stick off the shelf because your buddy (not a cam grinder) says it’s all the rage.

I have a 1380 with an VP276-BK and 1.5 rocker-arms in my blacked-out, matte painted, mini beast, and I’ve been running the hell out of it since May 2013. It’s smooth enough to tune and upsets all the tuner car kids. I perform regular maintenance intervals with one extra step of adding a half a bottle of Lucas ZDDP per oil change. Also, I run my valve lash at IN/EX 0.018/0.020”. I don’t have any problem with valve spring bind, as mentioned before. One more note, APT Fast is located in Riverside, California.

[Spider]

A bit of an old thread this one.

 

I've tried a lot of UK ground cams, they all seem to come out one of 3 or 4 major grinding shops and well,,, they all seem to have the same issues. I'm not fussed on any of them. I found the original BMC / Leyland cams to be very good in the way they were made, ground and finished, but the profiles are extremely dated now.

 

APT Cams I'd say, don't have the wider appeal as they are more expensive that those from the UK, but, when going for new Cams, these are the only ones I'll use. For one thing, they last and last (as wes wes found ^) as they are designed, made and ground correctly.