Not the actual cam shaft, the grind is what I'm talking about and the reason that one is "the best so far" is because all the others have been over shot and wrong. Trying a 6000 rpm cam on an engine that won't turn it. Its closer but not right.

But I don't know anything and don't currently have a boat so... I'll just patiently wait...

One more thing, until the springs are figured out 100%, doesn't matter what cam you put in it...

Banded hasn't figured the springs out yet?

I have no issues with mine. But I do believe the cam I'm running is not the best. The kawi cam has different LSA and duration numbers as well as different lobe heights for intake and exhaust. WHY? they must have done it like that for a reason. Also the rocker arm ratio is different. But the cam I'm currently running is the same on both lobes. Were not finish on the cam issue. Lee and I have been throwing around some ideas that we want to try, but neither of us have pulled the trigger yet.

Wow this thread has fallen way to far down the line...


My wait is finally over. The cam was just delivered back from Isky. Long wait...

Quick question that I don't remember seeing before. Those of you that removed the auto compression release, did you have any negative effects from leaving it out?

I have some plans for mine but it's running fine at the moment soon as oil feild gets more stable I will do heads and cam and possibly Pistons but until then I'll fish and enjoy it with mikuni only hell 30 with a fishing load ain't bad for an 18/54 with carb only

Do away with the compression release.

What I needed to know Owen. Thanks.

Assembly starts in the morning.


Jeremiah, Did you ever get more of the Mikuni adapters made up? I am about ready...

When you got the cam back from a Isky it should have been removed

Good deal SpecialK! I know it's pretty work and it'll be worth the wait whatever it was! Another one of mine just went that direction for a rebuild
CB, I'm running a Dyno .308 +6* advanced right now and it's not a bad cam at all. However I've found it to be somewhat soft on the bottom, good mid range and solid on top. I think some fine tuning may be accomplished but most of the tried and true grinds are solid performers across the board. I don't believe there's any real undiscovered power to be had just tweeks to adjust the way it performs.
This one's gonna open the exhaust a tad later than the normal grinds (hold the combustion longer) and it'll have a slightly tighter LSA than most which will make higher peak HP and torque #'s. If my numbers turn out correct it should make peak torque around 4900 and be snappy on the low end. We'll find out shortly
I'm planning on at least opening the intake up somewhat here soon also as I'm convinced it's too restrictive. If that has positive effects then I think there's some real gains possible from straightening and shortening the runners.

Banded, Yeah it was removed. When I asked Isky about it, he said the removes it for the grinding process. He didn't know whether or not there would be any negative effects of leaving it off.

No it doesn't. I initially wanted to leave it on because with a compression release or break, it may have allowed you to pull it over. But that was a big ass maybe.

I wanna see you pull start that motherfucker!!! That be one BIG ASS Maybe!!

Sometimes ya jus' need mo' azz!

It actually doesn't take much to break the compression. Once it gets started to turn over, it will go. We were going to have a billet pulley made that would mount to the flywheel or modify one from an existing 16-18 hp engine. But when I decided to add the cam, we shit canned it.

As a side not, I curious to see what this next grind is gonna do

Kawi loves high compression details coming soon

Testing one with 200 + very strong waiting on proper jets to come in .

Just read this whole thread and I think when the time comes im going to go the same route as you fellas did. I would like to see a little more feedback though with the new 2:1 gear ratio and just a carb and exhaust installed to see what it is doing. Other than that, thank y'all for putting the time and R&D in to find something that works a lot better and is simpler to work on.

lol

You will see a lot more gains from the kawasaki on the 1:5:1 the kawasaki has way more low end than briggs so the 2:1 gear ratio is not needed .

Having that low end with that gear ratio should allow for more pitch AND more cup, which should allow for more low end shove and still get the speeds closer to where most people seem to like them, without as much sacrifice on either side as you would with the more standard setups (read: not kawasaki).

More pitch and more cup isn't proving itself on a surface prop as much as it does under water prop. I believe you'd be better off with the 1.5:1 as well. The Kawi is a torque monster for sure, it'll snap from idle to 4500 on a 1.5:1 now. On the other hand, maybe if there were a 4 or 5 blade prop available, it would change things.

There comes a point where the blade is no longer slicing and it starts chopping and slapping the surface with the extreme pitch. It doesn't have the same hydro positive and negative affect on the blade as it does completely submerged. Turns into a turd.

Good to know. Harder to play with prop diameter on the pd?

The barometric pressure is starting to drop just south of the Baton Rouge Bridge. That's all I'm saying.

Shit just got real!!! Made a Lil room for the cam.

20150519_182617.jpg

You did get those sand bags right?

Pretty work Banded! We've all been experimenting with the engines since quacker season ended and it seems we're getting the recipe refined. As of late tchauvin and jeremiahw have found that twice the decking on the heads produced somewhere around 195 psi static compression numbers which is optimal for pump gas and aluminum heads. They're getting great speed and performance with stock cams. Banded and several others are running .310" lift cams that are pushing the P2V clearances so to accomplish any higher compression the pistons have to be indexed and the pushrods trimmed to idealize the rocker arm geometry. Cam profiles are evolving and the latest grind is very impressive providing a strong hole shot and great top end. The GenIII Kawi in the herd is about to get some more decking with an enhanced duration/lift stock centerline camshaft that should be a great combo. Passing 200 hrs and haven't found anything negative as far as durability issues (going on 5 cam swaps). They're progressing very nicely IMO.

Well after a lot of time staring at my Kawi siting in my office, its finally mounted.
Planning to tack the exaust together next week and fire it up.
Hopefully my results are close to the others that have made the switch.

You're gonna like that thing right there!