Saving Weight

You're confusing spark timing and cam timing.

The adjustaable cam gear allows you to advance or retard the cam a few degrees. The idea is that you can open the intake valves a little earlier and get more air into the engine. The downsides are: idle quality, low end torque, emissions, driveability, etc.

Turning the distributer changes when the plugs are fired. A little more advance allows for more cylinder pressure before the piston gets to top-dead-center, at the risk of detonation.

Yeah. Well thats why I asked on first post about adj the cam timing.I have never degreed a cam for that purpose because of what u r talking about-driveability issues.BJ

as the old saying goes every little bit helps, so the weight savings has its advantages although with what little weight you will save with this, it will be a very slight / modest gain.
they are nice to have if you're running some kind of forced air or nitrous....so you can precisely dial in the timing both on the cam
& dist too & optimize (not necessiarly maximize) your engines out put.....

OK.I got the concept.I will blow up the pic of the Mazda cam gear,pull the gear off Hocdawg this week end and pay a visit to our friendly lazer shop on Monday.The guy that cut the blockoff plate is a gear head who drives a TransAm with a 150 nitrous bottle so he may be able to do what we want done.More to come so stay tuned.BJ

Bump.Where is the harmonic balancer on that Miata gear-behind the red outer piece or does it even have one?BJ

no balancer on the cam shaft gear, one built into the crank pulley though......

most lightened crank pulleys don't use a harmonic balancer. I've heard from some people this can be bad,and others say it doesn't really make a difference. However,the purpose ofit there is to stop harsh vibrations which could lead to something failing and causing catastrophic damage to your engine.

ok so youve spent about 2k lighening your trucks...saved mabe 500 pounds..and shaved a whopping 5/10ths of of your 1/4 mile et. sorry guys i just think theres a better way to blow 2 grand.... the casino the local neibourhood dope man, A 350 crate motor...DONT GET ME WRONG im not hateing and i love innovation i just dont get it..b series trucks are really light in stock trim a mazda miata weighs 2900 pounds i belive and a regular cab b series has got to weigh les than that..correct me if im wrong

Hmm. Well,your point sounds good until u open the door on ur truck and look at the sticker which tells you GVW per axle.My truck weighs more than a Miata I am sure. Also,I dont smoke dope and I have never been to a casino so booze and women are about all thats left.I have been married to the same woman for 45 years and My drinking is confined to wine with dinner and several beers that NYTRD and I owe each other.That only leaves me with one vice left-Hocsdawg.It aint the prize,its the race,at least for me.Most of the guys on this forum want to go low,I want to see how fast I can go with the 2200 engine and my own wits.To each his own and thanks for your comments.This thread has gone on for a long time with a simple question about saving weight so apparently it is on a lot of folks mind..BJ.

my bagged 92 reg cab weighed in at around 3250 last time i went to the local trash dump. who knows if that's accurate or not lol


but i read some things on this thread about aluminum driveshafts twisting, breaking, etc.

it all depends on the driveshaft LOL. you obviously can't make an aluminum driveshaft that is the same diameter and wall thickness as your steel shaft and expect it to hold up, even with 95hp. it obviously needs to be a little bigger, and yes it'll be heavier but not nearly as heavy as a stock steel driveshaft.

my 2001 ford ranger with the 207 crank hp has i think a 5inch OD aluminum driveshaft. it's lighter than my mazda's driveshaft by the long shot. and that's a 3700lb truck with 207hp.


and guys, there are always better ways to spend our money. why spend 1500 to cut your truck? to another being that's a year's worth of cigarettes or what have you. i mean really, what's not to get? it's as simple as wanting to lighten the truck. your results will be more power to the wheels, less rolling mass which results in better braking, increase in gas mileage since you have the same gas input but is now getting more output, etc. as a package, it results in a more efficient vehicle. obviously doing one at a time isn't going to give you any different feeling. but you'd be surprised on what that 2grand will feel like afterwards...hell i felt the decrease in performance when I added a good 200lbs of metal to my bed...i'd love to have 500lbs less than factory with a beefier motor.