I was curious as well and wanted to spec all cams I carried in stock from the A8 to the A14. So I sat down one very long evening with my degree wheel and dial indicator and carefully speced out each cam specing each one twice for good measure. Once I had all the specs I fed them into a program I foung from a cam grinding shop which than would spit out the real numbers. Man was I proud for now I would not list my cams as A8, A9 ect. but list them with actual specs. which I figured would give me an advantage in a tight market. I would remove all exhisting markings which referanced the A # with an actual spec card. Well as I was discussing this with a close friend over the phone my bubble was burst, it sounded like a continuous half hour of thunder. I was discussing with my good friend as to the specs of the A12 cam having a neg.7deg. overlap and he said " man you messed up on your specs cause I am looking at my A12 (which he purchased from the same supplier as I) and I can tell you without a doubt that it has a positive overlap". That evening he speced his cam and come up with different numbers for lift and duration, not that much but yet different but he come up with a pos. 3deg overlap. The next day we talked and I told him I was certain I had the correct numbers, so we swapped cams and speced each others cam out. Well he was just as surprised as I. We each got the same reading as the other had. I than pulled two other cams off the shelf from a different supplier an A10 and A8 and lo and behold they also speced differently. These cams are mass produced by many different factories in China and quality control is not on the top of the list. The only thing certain is that the lower the number the more top end, the higher the number the more lower low end. Now you know why they don't spec their cams. By the end of the run the specs will change, not by much but enough to make a speced out cam insignificant from the next. I guess it would take some one to give them the specs while checking evey so many cams for accuracy, but this would drive the price up significantly. I had a cam cround for my 150 and if I were to put it on the market it would have to retail for around $200.00. Another thing you have to realize about the Chinese is that they don't throw anything out. If they make say heads for hammerhead and they are rejected for bad casting they will sell it to some supplier for a discounted price. Your best parts come out of Taiwon since they have better quality control, but the sad part of it is many parts today marked Taiwon are not Taiwonese made since Taiwon is now part of China. Its just a shame that all the government regulations in this country keep products from being made here. TOM
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