197 cam option

[Yiannis197]

Hi Chris, I had catcams fitted on a stock engine (apart from matched inlets which tbh it doesn't make such a difference anyway). The gains were 20bhp, from 182 to 202. This is definitely an improvement, the car revs more freely and it feels like a beefed up Clio. Cams don't transform the car though. I went for it because I was on the 5th annual service and at the time it made sense.

Now bear in mind that this upgrade enhances the character of the engine (power high up) and also below 3k rpm it is slightly worse than stock (quite expected). Furthermore such increase in power is something that you get used to very quickly so you start thinking if there had been possibly other better routes for you to have ''invested'' instead.

So my personal advice to you is;

Assuming that you can find a set of used cheap cams (either cat cams or schrick), then if you have confidence to yourself (no offense to your skills intended of course) that you can time the engine correctly and carry out the work by yourself, go for it. It will definitely worth the effort. But otherwise cams is a mod I wouldn't do. Even if you do the job by yourself, if you are paying full price we are still talking around a grand here. This is a no from me.

Hope that helps mate.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Thanks Yiannis, excellent info!

Basically if a second hand set come up, I'll do it. If not, I won't!

Cheers,

Chris