Comp Cams passes off 50 year old technology, as "New" cutting edge tech.

[CamKing]

Marketing 101: When your competition has a better product, copy it, and call it something new.
This is something Comp is good at.
Take their latest marketing line "Low Shock Technology".
Here's what Comp says about it.

"The real difference is that by loading the system a bit more softly in the very, very early stages, we can push it harder, later in the opening." — Billy Godbold, COMP Cams

COMP’s Low Shock Technology is a way we design a camshaft profile to load the system slightly before we accelerate the valve off the seat,” Godbold starts out. “The idea behind that is to not shock the spring and not create bad harmonics, to allow us to do more throughout the range of valve motion.”

Now where have I heard this before....Oh yea, that's right, "Our Inverse Radius designs produce a slow initial opening of the valve, then increases the lift rate as needed per engine specifications"-- from the Jones Cam Designs website, describing our Inverse Radius profiles we've been designing since 1979.

If you look at these new Comp profiles, you will see that they're just mild Inverse radius designs.
That's the reason they're only offered for applications with with 55mm cam journals. The larger journals allow for larger base circles, and the larger base circles allow for the inverse to be ground with a larger grinding wheel diameter. Comp sure as heck, doesn't want to invest in new grinders with 5" grinding wheels.

Are Comp's "Low Shock" profiles better then the older profiles ? Yes they are, and that's what we've been saying since 1979.
Are they as good as the latest Inverse radius profiles from Jones Cam Designs ? No, but we've had a 40+ year head start, and have the ability to grind inverse radius cams with a negative radius as small as 2.5".

It's not by accident that Comp goes out of their way, not to describe their new designs as Inverse Radius, even though they clearly have a mild inverse radius. This would give credibility to their competition, who is decades ahead of them with this technology.
Comp even goes so far as to say that they came up with the idea for these profiles, by accidentally grinding their standard profiles backwards and unknowingly running them that way, and surprising finding that they worked better. If you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Iowa to sell you.

[Little Mouse]

I thought your ocean front property was in Nevada, with lots of casinos along the shore line.

[CamKing]

I thought your ocean front property was in Nevada, with lots of casinos along the shore line.

That's not for sale

[JC565Ford]

How long do you think they have been testing your lobes ? ... The Rat bastards ..... Lol

[Little Mouse]

Well that sucks I was going to talk to a loan officer at my bank see if I can get a loan for the Iowa land.

[6.50camaro]

If running the lobe backwards, does that mean at half speed to you get secret messages out the exhaust?

[Little Mouse]

Comp cams has superior alien intell from outer space telling them how to make cams.

[CamKing]

How long do you think they have been testing your lobes ? ... The Rat bastards ..... Lol

We all study each other's lobe designs.
I have data of Ed Winfield lobe designs that were made before I was born. Not to mention current designs from all across the industry.
Harold Brookshire would come by my booth at the PRI show, each year, and he would tell me things about some of my lobe designs, that I didn't even remember.
I came up with my Asymmetrical Inverse lobe designs, by studying how engines reacted differently to the Ultradyne lobe profiles that didn't have lash ramps on the opening side. I just took it one step farther.

Everyone has known for decades, that a slow initial opening, followed by a higher acceleration to get the area needed, was easier on the valvetrain, and could preduce more reliable power. They've also known that that acceleration causes a negative radius, that couldn't be made with conventional cam grinders with 20" diameter grinding wheels. That's why, they all bad-mouthed the heck out of Inverse Radius cams for decades. Because they weren't set up to make them.

The thing is, for a given acceleration rate, the larger the base circle is that you're accelerating from, the large diameter the inverse is, and the larger the grinding wheel can be to grind it. For example a profile with a given acceleration rate that requires a 6" diameter grinding wheel to machine it on a .980" Base Circle, may only require a 16" diameter wheel to grind it on a 1.280" Base Circle.
So with the large journal sizes on the LSx, LT1-Gen 5, and Gen-3 Hemi, you have a much larger base circle for a given lift, them what we could fit on a SB or BB Chevy. This means, with these larger base circles, you can grind a profile with a slower initial opening, and a higher acceleration rate without having to use a smaller diameter grinding wheel.
The only problem is, how do you sell a product, that you've been bad-mouthing for decades ? Simple, just call it something else, and tell everybody you found it by mistake, when you accidentally ran one of your old profiles backwards.

[lefty o]

heck, why not sell 50yr old tech. you can see it right here on this board how many guys still want to run 30,40, and50+ years old cam designs. its beyond futile to run ancient tech, but if you can sell it, why not?? hard to blame a company for selling old junk when you cant bring folks out of the 60's, and 70's.

[panic]

Cams were used to control looms in Brussels 200 years ago.
Nothing new under the sun.

[modok]

I doubt there is anything new in cam profiles at all, in 50 years, but understanding which profile is best for what you are doing is still not totally figured out.
Not all cam designers are brilliant engine designers too.

[BOOT]

Well yah marketing NEW Tech sells parts! Lopey sounding cams, 3" collectors, etc... and Bigger is Better!

Funny how much NEW stuff has been around or reinvented. Still some stuff is actually before it's time and then later refined, not that that's the case here I'd bet. Still I'm no cam expert n prob will never be close to one.

What ever happened to the Four Pattern cams? https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/1304- ... -profiles/

[bob460]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness..........Camking for the win!!!

[Tom68]

Louis was onto it, just needed to smooth it out a bit to go over 100 rpm.

Louis.jpg

[travis]

Never underestimate the power of buzzwords