Need Thumper .401 / .405 Street camshafts OWNERS Opinions
 

If you are running or have run either of these two camshafts please chime in as to what you have and
How do you like it?
Where does the torque band seem to be?
Did it kill your mpg, slight drop, or no diff if you keep your foot out of it?
Anybody running high revs with stock rocker arms and his cams?
Given that I "think" his cams run smaller base circles any issues with that? I.E. premature lobe wear, etc?

If you are gonna be a Thumper hater please don't waste your time here and head on over to R53 addicts and hang out with all the wonderfully crass/crude Thumper Trolls. I'm not trying to invite all the drama seen there any time he gets mentioned. I'm just trying to decide if I want his, or some other camshaft. I'm interested in his because I think he has smaller base circles to avoid dinging the spark plug tubes. But that's got to extend the lifters in the rocker arms. Most of the Mini aftermarket vendors don't provide anything close to a full spec sheet on cams so trying to compare is like herding cats.

I run a Stock MCS tune with 17% pulley, DDM CAI, WMW Strat cat back, 380cc injectors on a fresh head with +1mm exhaust valves. I have a fully refreshed suspension with an Alta rear red swaybay(19mm?) and R56 calipers and rotors. I'm not looking to build a Track monster, this is my DD, and it goes to the mountains a couple times a year.

Frankly, I like Thumper cause he lives close, he's a Vet, and I'm pretty sure he's got about 30-40 years of hands on time machining, wrenching and driving high HP cars. All things being equal that's where I'd like to spend my money. He puts up with a lotta s$it, very gracefully, from a bunch of folks who seem to think the internet makes them superior human beings. All I see are a bunch children. Sorry for the rant... LOL.

Thanks
Bruce

I have, what I'm guessing you're calling the .401 Cam, it's what Thmpr calls the smaller of his two Cams with .434" intake/.383 exhaust specs. and I'm very happy with it.

I went from stock to this Cam when I still had the Sprintex, and it greatly improved my higher RPM pull.
(full disclosure I also have the Adjusted Cam Gear as well) I only lost maybe 500-700 RPM in the low end range but picked up power and pull all the way to 7500, with no noticeable drop or leveling out in noticeable power up top at all, it pulled all the way through. (I say pulled, because the comparison wouldn't be fair with my current turbo setup.) I did also have someone else ride with me and comment on how the car never seemed to stop pulling, even above 7200.

I really couldn't say about millage change, if there was some, it was not blatantly obvious. And I haven't had the cover off to see if there was any abnormal wear, but I really don't think there is any issue at all.

It does require the use of Lash Caps (which he supplied), but the rockers are completely stock.

​​​​​​Hope this helps some.

BlwnAway, thanks! Thumper now has a few more cams. The .401 is a .401/.374 and the .405 is a.405/.371.
But trying to eval a cam from just the valve lift spec is pretty tough. Duration and overlap would be great to know but I can't find those for the stock MCS cam either.
Whats driving this look at cams is curiosity and when I had my head recently rebuilt I ended up with +1mm exhaust valves. My butt dyno says this dropped a bit of torque at lower rpms(2000-3000). So I'm looking to get that back.
I also think im kinda close to the point of any more mods and its prudent to start learning how to assess fuel/air ratio and a few other variables or drop a bunch of cash on a tune. I live in south Georgia. Internet is spotty. The tune thing doesn't excite me as there's no where local and laying out the xtra to do it remotely..... Blah, blah. Anyway, thanks again
Bruce

When I asked him about overlap, this was the answer:

the cam you have has the wide LSA - 115° actual over lap at the measured .050 is actually None ( -9 degrees) so there is none.

This has my interest, so I am happy to listen to you guys. Bruce What part of Georgia are you in? I am located in Savannah. Did you have your head rebuilt locally, I may be in need of a rebuild and have started doing research of what is around.

If you're thinking about Cam or Head Work, contact Thumper, he's only a small road trip away in Jacksonville FL.

Oh WOW, I didn't know he was that close. Thank you. Still listening.

I live in Leesburg Ga. 2 stoplight town outside of Albany Ga. I had two heads rebuilt by Sauls Cylinder Head Inc. located in Albany Ga. Clean, Pressure Test, inspect, resurface, and valve job was $200. Bear in mind bad guides, new valves are extra. While they can get parts, i.e. valves, valve guides, but odds are you can find them cheaper.
Notes:
1. If your head is declared junk by the machine shop a R50 head can also be used on R53. Size wise everything is the same. But the R50 exhaust valves will have to replaced. Same size but different material.
2. Buy new head bolts. Old ones are one time use only.
3. While you have the head off replace the oil filter housing gasket and the oil cooler seal as well. Also inspect/replace as many cooling hoses as needed. Too easy and cheap not to do.
4. I also replaced front main seal, timing belt tensioner, belt, and damper.
5. I did number 4 cause I pulled timing chain cover just to make sure everything was lined up between cam and crank.
6. Great time to inpsect timing chain and gears for wear. It will show on the gears. If one side of the teeth have a different profile than the other they are worn. Replace.
7. I also replaced timing chain tensioner and seal, and cam and crank seals.

Couple links:
Sauls
https://www.facebook.com/saulscylinderhead/
My adventure
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00001853738124
Good Luck
Bruce

Mini invictus, if you are interested still have a 2nd Rebuilt head sitting on my bench.

Anyone had a car with one of these Thumper cams in it on the dyno in order to see what kind of actual gains you get vs. the stock cam....and where the torque/rpm is gained/lost?

I've thought about a cam....but it just doesn't seem like there is a lot of good info out there on the actual power increases.......just a bunch of "butt dyno" info, which everyone knows is pretty subjective :lol:

Didn't know that about the head that the R50 and R53 were that near identical.

Bruce, when you said you have larger exhaust valves done on your rebuilt head did that mean larger than the R53's head design or the R50's design?

As an FYI, the valve sizes are the same between the S and non-S heads. That only difference is the material that the exhaust valves are made of, this is to handle the extra heat of the supercharged air.

I'll be adding the tpr405 here shortly once i finish my ported head. Gonna keep the stock S valves for now.

cam is the 2nd bet power adder, it's a big difference and really changes how the car will rev to redline. Only thing that beats it for $/hp is a pulley

I did not do pre-post but my S did 200whp with a 17% and ph2 on a dynojet setup for NASA TT classing

So are we looking for what just bolting in a cam is going to bring/add or can we do cam and a tune at the same time? My car doesn’t have a tune now so seems a little unfair. But I don’t have the cam or tune yet so I can post either combo or both.

I would never add a cam without also doing injectors/tune at the same time, it's not safe

alright then as it stands I’ve got a dyno date with Chad at Detroit Tuned. Once I add the cam and tune I’ll do another dyno and will post. Gimme 3 weeks though haha

who are you having tune the car?