J-spec intake/Mazdaspeed exhaust camshafts idle?

Well, I finally got the Mazdaspeed exhaust cam installed too. Now my idle is bumpy. Not so much and exhaust sound, but the feel at idle is bumpy. Everything is installed very precisely, so I know that is not an issue though I am taking it back down tomorrow to double check. I was suprised to gain power everywhere so if I am off a tooth, then it helped power at least. BTW, the exhaust is a re-pinned Shaneracing intake cam (i think that is where it came from, I bought it off Blitzd on here) if that is an issue. I notice power everywhere, but have a bad idle. I wonder if it could be the plug wires? I have had them on and off the car so much with changing plugs that they could have been pulled on and moved around too much (that is actually not good to do to plug wires too much). I am getting new wires today.

Anyone else have this with the J-Spec intake and Mazdaspeed exhaust camshafts installed?

I can't really comment because when I installed these I also installed front and rear AWR mounts at the same time...and they are the hard MT pair...not the AT...so yeah, it was bad at idle...but I love it...

just a bump i guess...how bad is it? really really noticable? my idle even with those cams and mounts was no where near as bad as I thought it would be...the only real thing I noticed was the engine noise that now comes into the cabin at full throttle...

I installed performance cams and I got rough idle! OMG!!!! WHY!?!?!?

Installshield 2 said:

I can't really comment because when I installed these I also installed front and rear AWR mounts at the same time...and they are the hard MT pair...not the AT...so yeah, it was bad at idle...but I love it...

just a bump i guess...how bad is it? really really noticable? my idle even with those cams and mounts was no where near as bad as I thought it would be...the only real thing I noticed was the engine noise that now comes into the cabin at full throttle...

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Well, it is just a little bumpy. It is noticible. There isn't much to these cams as far as specs go, so I was figuring they wouldn't idle much differently than stock. They ARE stock cams after all! I am double checking everything again just to be sure. It is worse when cold, then when warm it just has an irradic bump. Not at all like a lopey V-8 cam or anything. Maybe I was expecting these production cams to be smoother than they really are. The power is definetly there though. I was suprised. You can tell that these cams were designed to work together.

In response to that jerk "The Man," I know something about bumpy idles and performance cams. How does a solid roller cam with 258 in and 260 ex duration at .050 and .621/.627 lift solid roller in a 347 stoker small-block that lopes up to 2500rpm (it is in my Mustang) sound?

yeah double check your cam alignments. that's about all i can suggest...

Well I fixed it. First off, I know what I am doing. I have built engines for years, and although I may ask for advice from time to time it is because I am a chronic second-guesser and I figure why not ask someone else what they did; just in case. So yea, this stuff is not rocket science. I know what a cam lope is, and this problem was not a lope. I called it a bump because I was hesitant to call it a miss, but that is really what it felt like just without the exhaust sound most misses make.
Now, I went back and checked every thing: TDC-yes; Marks lined up-yes; new timing belt and tensioner spring-yes.
So since I have changed spark plugs numerous times in order to find just the right ones, my wires have been bent and twisted a lot. Not a good thing for ignition wires. So I went to Advance and ordered some Magstar wires in red for it ($29). Guess what? Problem fixed. Kind of what I suspected, but I wanted to ask you guys to be sure. Now you can feel that these are bigger cams at idle, but it is a consistent feel not an irratic bump/miss.
The power is better everywhere, not just over 4500rpm. I guess I have a good combo (though I would like to try a 626 manifold eventually). Of course my butt-o-meter is very finely tuned.

Also, here is some wire info I found on a DSM forum:

The following is the resistance measured in ohms/ft by each major ignition wire distributer.
(low = good, high = bad)
MSD Ignition 8.5mm Super Conductor (40-50 ohms/ft)
Accel Thundersport (150 ohms/ft)
Taylor 8mm Spiro Pro (350 ohm/ft)
Aurora ignition wire set (400 ohms/ft)
Vitek Performance Cables (their web site does not mention resistance, but John Monnin measured them at about 800 ohms/ft; the label under Vitek's braiding says "Magstar Gold 8mm High Performance S-4 Stainless Steel Mag Wire" - thanks John!; Magstar wires are manufactured by Wiretec)
Wiretec Magstar Gold (800 ohms/ft as measured by John Monnin)
NGK Resistor Spark Plug Wire Set (2600 ohms/ft)
Mitsubishi factory wire sets (3000++ ohms/ft)
Car Quest brand wire sets (3000++ ohms/ft - Thanks to Bret for measuring these wires.)
Magnecor KV85 (6000++ ohms/ft)

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nice...I may be in the same boat with my "unbuilt" engine...which is the one with the ZE intake/MS exhaust cams...I have nearly 80k on the original wires...but only removed them twice...once to put the cams in...once to replace the plugs...all my other time was on the other engine...I guess I will try it an see if it smooths out...I figured if anything it was just the mounts that were making the little vibrations...but since you brought this up I noticed it not being a "smooth" vibration...

Installshield 2 said:

nice...I may be in the same boat with my "unbuilt" engine...which is the one with the ZE intake/MS exhaust cams...I have nearly 80k on the original wires...but only removed them twice...once to put the cams in...once to replace the plugs...all my other time was on the other engine...I guess I will try it an see if it smooths out...I figured if anything it was just the mounts that were making the little vibrations...but since you brought this up I noticed it not being a "smooth" vibration...

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It still has a little bump, but more stable and consistent. I think that is the cams. If the car had a higher idle speed, that would not be such a problem. BTW, the wire info was just show that those Advance wires aren't so bad. With the set up we have, any good wire should do. Do some reading on ignition wires and you will see that they are pretty fragile (don't like to be handled too much. Spiral core or pure racing wires hold up better though).