Are there any cam experts or otherwise out there that can explain to me how these 2 cams differ in performance according to their specs and the M8 specifically? Preferably in relatively simple terms. Thanks.

 

The SE8-462 is suppose to be the moco's mid to upper rpm cam. I guess by m8 standards it is.
The cvo is a grunt cam.

 

neither will perform as well as a Redshift 468. if your going in go in right.
m

 

Don't disagree at all however there are other factors at play in this case. Don't need the top performer.

 

The 462 is more of a midrange cam that would be better for more aggressive touring with 3000 plus RPM's. Carry out a bit more. The cvo is low grunt and better suited if cruising 2800 and you don't like downshifting.

 

There is way to much missing to tell you what's going to happen from the specifications. Let's look at this purely from what it does say and what it does NOT. You have some specifications that state something called OPEN and CLOSE on both valves along with peak valve lift. ALL of which are not really where the valve opens or closes and the real valve lift is something different as well! So with that in mind, draw a simple set of lines on a piece of paper so you can see what it really is. You will need to draw three lines parallel to each other across the paper horizontally. from your lowest line on the paper place the second line 1/4" higher on the paper then the third line 3/4" above the second line. You would label the bottom line as Base Circle, the second line as open/close measurement and the top line as valve lift. Now lets start by placing just the Intake valve onto these lines. Since the cam card tells you the centerline of the lobe that would be one dot place on the top line in about the center of the line itself. Then if you come down to the second line and come one inch to the left of the centerline and place a dot on the second line. Then move to the right of the one inch from the centerline and place another dot on second line.

You now have all the information a cam card gives to you! With those three dots, you need to draw a line that starts from the bottom line and comes up to hit the first dot on the second line then continues upward to intersect the dot on the third line. Once your there, you have to continue back downward to the second line and intersect that dot, then downward again to the first line. Make it look anyway you want within reason, and tell me how many different lines and shapes you can draw when starting from the bottom and hitting all three dots and returning to the bottom. Now one must understand that when grinding a camshaft, all possible drawings you can make, cannot be ground but there are several hundred that CAN! Each and everyone that can be made will have the exact same specifications but they can and will perform very differently!

So what I am trying to teach you all, is that a cam card doesn't give enough information to tell you if it's going to be a noisey cam or a quite one, or how it will perform versus another one that the specifcations are very similar!

 

Steve,
Good information but an illustration would make the information more useful.