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Lotus in the Peak
26th - 28th June 2026

Vvc Head Conversion With Solid Cam


fentuz

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Posted

Hi all,

 

I'm considering a VVC head swap with a solid cam conversion. I initially thought that it would be rather simple: VVC head, blanking plates and drop the 270h piper from my std head in the assembly...

 

But it does not seem that simple... I did a little more reading and it appears that the inlet cam bearing is much bigger in a vvc head than it is in a std head. Piper designed a kit which incorporates inlet camshaft with bigger bearings as illustrated:

 

for vvc head

elise-s1-111s-s2-parts-piper-vvc-conversion-kit-competition.jpg

 

for std head

elise-s1-s2-piper-285-camshaft-kit-k-series.jpg

 

Since i got the 270h camshafts about 6 months ago, I'd like if possible to retain them and save a few pennies. Is there some sort of kit that allows std head camshaft to be used, some sort of bearing that could be added, press-fit or rolling fit?

I had a look at usual suspects (elise car eshops, qed, frontline etc..) but I couldn't find anything...

 

I'm trying to gauge whether a vvc solid cam conversion is technically and also financially more effective than std head porting considering i already have "fast road" camshaft... (only want about 150/160)...

 

Cheers

Bill

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Posted

Pretty sure DVA could supply a kit minus cams, or even Piper themselves. Their website probably only shows the "usual" kits - for non-standard stuff I'd give them a call and ask.

Posted

Hi all,

 

I'm considering a VVC head swap with a solid cam conversion. I initially thought that it would be rather simple: VVC head, blanking plates and drop the 270h piper from my std head in the assembly...

 

But it does not seem that simple... I did a little more reading and it appears that the inlet cam bearing is much bigger in a vvc head than it is in a std head. Piper designed a kit which incorporates inlet camshaft with bigger bearings as illustrated:

 

for vvc head

elise-s1-111s-s2-parts-piper-vvc-conversion-kit-competition.jpg

 

for std head

elise-s1-s2-piper-285-camshaft-kit-k-series.jpg

 

Since i got the 270h camshafts about 6 months ago, I'd like if possible to retain them and save a few pennies. Is there some sort of kit that allows std head camshaft to be used, some sort of bearing that could be added, press-fit or rolling fit?

I had a look at usual suspects (elise car eshops, qed, frontline etc..) but I couldn't find anything...

 

I'm trying to gauge whether a vvc solid cam conversion is technically and also financially more effective than std head porting considering i already have "fast road" camshaft... (only want about 150/160)...

 

Cheers

Bill

 

 

Yes there is a bearing solution - I did it for 4 engines to run pier cams in vvc heads, Judd also used a similar solution in their BTCC engine which was a base vvc casting, which they ran with cams and standard journals, their conversion will be expensive though. Am pretty sure no one else will do such a solution - hence the profile being available in both journals from piper.

Posted

Pretty sure DVA could supply a kit minus cams, or even Piper themselves. Their website probably only shows the "usual" kits - for non-standard stuff I'd give them a call and ask.

 

Issue is that the std camshaft aren't fittable in vvc head due to this bearing. I might be ables to get them exchanged...

Posted

Issue is that the std camshaft aren't fittable in vvc head due to this bearing. I might be ables to get them exchanged...

 

if the bags are not opened they will exchange but the vvc journal cam is much more expensive - they make far fewer castings.

Posted

As your previous comment, if possible see if you can get them swapped, or sell one of them and buy a VVC inlet cam, perhaps advertise on seloc see if anyone is ordering some soon who would get the vvc ons and you could swap for some ££

 

i had pondered how to fit solid cams in, basically i came up with the idea of a split aluminium or bronze bush that would fit into the head and have a dowel to stop rotation and match up the oil drillings etc. wouldn't be too hard to do but could end up costly as it needs to be made to fairly tight tolerences and it's got to be concentric on the o/d to i/d also the bush length would control cam end-float,

 

other things i found mike satur has the the blanking kits quite cheap according to his web-site.

 

the head is deeper so if you keep the distributor then you may need longer plug leads. also cam belt back-plate and cover aparantly different

Posted

other things i found mike satur has the the blanking kits quite cheap according to his web-site.

the head is deeper so if you keep the distributor then you may need longer plug leads. also cam belt back-plate and cover aparantly different

 

I had a look at Mike Satur Website and it is the same as most of shops... They all sell the blanking plates which I found a little miss-leading; nobody mentioned that standard camshaft won't fit. Reading DVA website, I noticed this bush issue and thought that was bizarre.

 

vvc solid cam convertion is... head+ plates+ specific cams+ etc... Due to the specific cam, head porting might be more cost effective although it requires valves and springs

Posted

I had a look at Mike Satur Website and it is the same as most of shops... They all sell the blanking plates which I found a little miss-leading; nobody mentioned that standard camshaft won't fit. Reading DVA website, I noticed this bush issue and thought that was bizarre.

 

vvc solid cam convertion is... head+ plates+ specific cams+ etc... Due to the specific cam, head porting might be more cost effective although it requires valves and springs

 

 

here is a VVC head with the Piper blanking kit, it masks for VVC mechanisms

 

L1070739.jpg

 

here is the journal arrangement I made to run standard cams in place of the VVC inlet, large journal cam

 

P1000832.jpg

 

 

it invloves aluminium half journals and dowels, careful machining/final line honing is required and needs competent machinists - which are rare as my thread on SE demonstrates I believe.

 

hence most will simply buy a vvc cam for a vvc head.

Posted

Sounds interesting, have you got the dimension?

 

If you do, i could possibly get a dwg sorted and get some quotes.

Posted

Sounds interesting, have you got the dimension?

 

If you do, i could possibly get a dwg sorted and get some quotes.

 

 

I am not sure about making drawings available but would consider getting it done at cost for you if you really want it done, however there is a simpler option - insert your K16 head for bigger valves, that saves you the cost of VVC cam/journals to fit VVC head, blanking plates etc from piper, the cost of a VVC head and some extra weight.

Posted

I'm currently waiting for a quote but at the moment, it seems that having a VVC head, plates and inlet camshaft would be the cheaper option as porting my 123kmiles head is about same price and i would have to add the cost of valves and springs. Also, there would be a risk that my old head is not good enough.

 

Piper seems to sell the VVC solid camshaft for £220... I hope I could sell my current inlet for half that price. So, it all depends of cost. One of the other thing I need to consider is reliability which I would image is greater if "off shelves" bits are fitted...

 

Always the same, quality/reliabity Vs cost.

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