Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

Going to purchase new cam soon, what is more reliable for a strictly street car and will not need valve spring replacing every 6 months? Which is the best and will make most power? any of them have clearance problems? what else will i need to support this other than intake and exhaust?

Re: Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

those questions have no actual answer...there is no black/white when it comes to cams.

what are your other mods? what are you goals? what is your idea of driveable?

the magic stick is a pretty big cam for what most people think of as "daily driveable"

i suggest something in the lines of the TSP torquer, Furtral F13 or 14

any cam with .600" lift should give you no issues on clearance...within reason on the duration.

Re: Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

Our MS3 and MS4 camshafts are not too different from each other. Both cam specs are listed below:

MS3: 237/242, .603"/.609", 113 LSA
MS4: 239/242, .649"/.609", 111 LSA

As you can see, we changed a few things with the MS4. The most notable is the intake lobe, which uses a Comp LSK-style lobe with an added two degrees of duration vs. the MS3. The exhaust lobe remains the same, but we did tighten up the LSA for a more usable powerband and better dynamic compression. With either camshaft, we definitely recommend using the Precision Race Components dual valve spring kit w/ titanium retainers. FYI, they're rated up to .660" lift. Considering the size of both camshafts, you have to be careful w/ p-to-v clearance if you are running aftermarket cylinder heads. If your heads have larger valves than stock and/or have been milled, then you will most likely need to cut valve reliefs in your pistons. It just depends on how much they've been milled, what size valves you're running, how much the valves were sunk in the heads, etc.

The MS4 camshaft is going to be slightly more aggressive than the MS3 camshaft with respect to idle and driveability. The added two degrees of intake duration and tighter LSA will make it thump a little bit harder, but it usually is not as much of a difference as people expect. The MS3 camshaft will certainly be easier on valve springs with the smaller lift. Our general manager, Brian, has been running the original MS3 camshaft with PRC dual valve springs for two years now! He's put right at 30,000 miles on the valve springs, and they're still taking all of the abuse he can throw at them. :) The valve springs won't have to be changed every six months with the MS4 camshaft, but I would certainly pull a spring or two once a year or every 10,000 miles or so to make sure the springs are still within spec.

With any camshaft, you want the engine breathing as well as it possibly can. Basic induction mods, along with a good set of long tube headers, are a minimum to see the full benefits of a camshaft. The smaller supporting mods such as ported throttle body, underdrive crank pulley, etc. will all help that much more.

Feel free to give us a call, and one of our sales guys will be more than happy to answer any other questions or concerns that you may have. :)

Trevor
Texas Speed & Performance

Re: Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

good info

Re: Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

thanks for the info, maybe you can help me decide which cam to get, my goals are to get into the mid to high 11's at the track. dyno numbers mean nothing to me since A4's dyno so low, whats important to me is knowing how fast i can get down the 1/4 mile strip. the mods i will have will be Lt's, catted Y, lid, and a stall converter? the car will be stricly street but ran at the track once a year. i want the cam to have storng low end torque, with a rough idle that wont stall the car on me, and that needs no flycutting.which cam do you guys have tha suits my excpectations?

Re: Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

What size converter did you plan on going with? There are lots of cams that we carry that would do well for you. I DD the MS3 with a TCI4400 stall and have no problems doing it. I have not been to the track in probably two years. Getting the remaining bolt-ons is definitely going to help out. We also have the Torquer v2 and now the Torq. v3 that would work as well.

Brian

Re: Magic Stick 3 or 4?
 

you have to think about what u r going to shift at for rpm range and find a cam that would give the best power in ur range not just the max horsepower gain over all...what do u shift at?