Hello Everybody


I was just wondering if anyone here has had any first hand experience with Tighe Cams. I just read through their website and I must say I'm very impressed with what info they provide and also the specific questions they ask on their "Selection Sheet"....

I was mainly interested in knowing if anyone could comment of the accuracy of their machining (does the product actually match the spec sheet) and the quality of their machining.

Many thanks

TheMiniMan would know more, however I've heard his cams are well made.
Ivan Tighe used to work for Wade Cams way back when, you will notice a similarity in his grinds and numbering.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Ivan Tighe also worked on the Repco-Brabham F1 engines. His stuff is good.

My boss used to get him to grind all of his cams, and working on new grinds etc back in the day. I believe his son runs it now who my boss says isnt as good as his father, but still top quality.

Thanks Doc

I actually have a couple of wade cams in my collection (as it turns out... didn't know what they were till I was reading the info I logged on them while I was browsing through the wade site and I was going... "hang on... I've seen those numbers... wait a minute ")... and I can say with full confidence that their grinding is very near spot on. And the quality of their finishes are very good.

You might find this one interesting ....







This ugly duckling was ground by a very well known grinder... (I use the term "ground" very loosely.. its been cut, not ground). The intake was out by 4 degrees and the exhaust was out by... wait for it... you're not going to believe this... 17 DEGREES!!!

Pays to check hey

<edit>

Are you serious Morris????? If thats the case I'm sold, no further questions here folks.....

Thanks Mini_Mad_Matt good to hear

My Nb car had a Tighe billet cam.... ( 285CO )
and when I bent it and gouged it - GR still thought it better to straighten and regrind than replace..

.

Quite a few well known engineers were behind the scenes at Repco-Brabham Engines besides Ivan Tighe. George Wade did the camshafts and Peter Hollinger was a machinist.

It's pretty impressive. Thanks for letting me know.

And thanks MINIMAL effort, thats very interesting to hear and well worth noting.

Hi Phat Kat
The cam that you have shown there is one of deans first cam blanks they were made from 4140 and after they were ground and treated the lines in the cam that you can see was the grain structure in the 4140 all cams are finished ground not cut by any other means he made very few out of this material.
the steel he uses to day is a spring steel and the hardness of these cams when finished ground is far better than any cam on the market to day, his cams are all up around the 50 to 56 rockwell c the ones i have been getting from over seas on the base circle and up on the flanks get down to low 20s which is rubbish thats why i heat treat them my self to try and get them up to around 60 RC to get some life out of them in the race engines,the one that MINImal has shown is the latest material and you can see the difference in the material.
Graham Russell

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"It's better to be not informed than ill-informed"

i think it was my great grandfather who actually designed the brabham F1 car

Sorry i forgot to mention the reason none of my cams are heat treated after they are ground is because the lobes move in relation to each other when they are heated up again, thats why you will see all roller cams made from steel have a shiney finish to them.
Graham Russell

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"It's better to be not informed than ill-informed"

Oh no Graham, that is not a Tighe cam in my photo... Not at all. If you want to know who's that was PM me.

4140 is a pretty popular material for camshafts (or at least was). I hear what you are saying loud and clear, and it makes sense and certainly looks that way... however, you can actually feel those lines when you run your finger nail over them, I wouldn't imagine that would normally be the case after it had been ground... which is what led me to believe that it may have been roughed out by some other means (other than grinding).

Thanks for the rest of the info too.

Alex

<edit> Actually Graham, having a closer look at the rest of the camshaft (not just the lobes) what you are saying makes perfect sense..

If you look at the lobe for the fuel pump in this photo...



...you can see that the lines are not parrallel as you'd expect if it were "cut".

Alex, what were the cam followers like on the bottom.
When I worked at Rev-Master [Don Frazer's] we found that the biggest problem was getting the correct hardness between the cam and the follower. When we did John Mc Cormack's first formula 5000 engine [a alloy P76 V8] and set up the cam and lifters the engine destroyed the cam and followers during the first pactice session.
The problem was that both metals were very similar in hardness and it was obvious that with the lubrication it was getting the film of oil was breaking down under pressure and the center of the follower went hollow and the edges started to cut into the cam lubes leaving chatter marks.
We tried roller followers with out much success due to the revs this thing was pulling [ the needle rollers hammered into the pins].
We went back to solid followers but the ends had around .005" radius and then cut a bigger radius on the edges. The followers were then sprayed lubricated via a set-up to cool the pistons and after that never had a single problem.
The problem is to get enough oil between the two faces to get the proper lubrication. The cam will throw off the oil due to centrifical force and just a splash/ vapour oil supply is not good.
Have a look at your honda cbr head and the lubrication system they have.
With the best "you beaut" cam hardness it amounts to zip without proper lubrication.

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Is Ron Tauranac your great grandfather?

Thanks David,

Yeah, the followers were absolutely fine. Normal wear for the amount of km's the engine had done..

I took those photo's with me to work (mostly just for something to chat about over morning tea) and the other guys I work with feel that it was just a rubish billet.

I have seen that effect before but on ground plates, infact a few plates I did for the screen printer next door had a similar visible grain... the difference was that you couldn't "feel" it after it was ground.

I'm really not overly concerned about that cam... it was disapointing, and certainly interesting to see.. and to be honest, given the lack of damage/wear to the followers, i'd have been happy to reuse the cam if it was actually on spec. This is the second dodgy cam I've bought from these guys and the last. So now I'm looking out for something different.

Cheers