i dont know squat about engines. what does a cam do and what do pulleys do?

thankx

besides a turbo or a supercharger, headers, exhaust, what else can you do to make the engine produce more power?

while you're at it, what exactly is the difference between a supercharger and a turbo. i figured that the turbo takes exhaust and repumps it back to the engine and the charge forces a higher air fuel mix, but what is the real difference?

thankx thankx

 

The camshaft is long piece of metal with smooth egg shaped lobes positioned along its length. As it spins (by the timing belt) the lobes appear to up and down - and they are followed by rocker arms connected to the valves in the engine. You have intake and exhaust. At the right time the cam lobes force open the proper valve at the right times to complete the four stroke engine cycle: intake, compression, power, and exhaust.

The pulleys are spun by the fan belts or serpentine belt. Since the power made by your engine is at the crankshalft, the pulley at the end of it drives the belt that then goes to your accessories that need to turn- alternator, Air conditioner compressor, power steering and so on.

Youu mentioned every power adder there is except nitrous, or adding cubic inches.

A supercharger forces more air and fuel into an engine but is driven by a belt....which takes power to do anyway. A turbo uses hot still expanding exhaust gases to drive a turbine wheel that is connected to another turbine in the intake tract that compresses the incoming air, then along with more fuel adds power when ignited....a great uses of otherwise lost heat energy. Both are air compressors, the difference is in how they are driven. Hope this has helped.

 

thank you very much for the help.

since pulleys are part of powering the accessories, why would changing them make more power like some people are saying?

and how does changing the cams give more power like people are saying?

 

Well, with the pulleys, you can use a kit of 'underdrive pulleys' which basically, uses a bigger diameter pulley, with the larger diameter pulley, the engine doesn't have to work as hard to spin them, BUT they spin at a slower rate. this had been known to cause some problems, especially with the alternator pulley, when you come to a red light, the RPM's drop, and you suffer from voltage loss bc the alternator pulley isn't spinning at high enough RPM's this usually results in dimming of your lights.

With the cams, when people upgrade them the change the LIFT of the cam lobe, and the DURATION of the cam lobe, the lift is the height that the cam 'lifts' the valve, and the duration is the amount of time (degrees) that the valve is actually open. i really wouldn't suggest a cam upgrade until you have some other upgrades under your belt. upgrading the cams (depending on how extreme the change) will result in a rough idle, but you'll kick ass in the upper RPM range. but like i said it allows the cam to open further, and stay open longer.. along with cam upgrades people usually upgrade their valve springs too. usually titanium which are lighter but stronger. hope this helps a bit good luck.