Fuel Economy and the 20020vtq and cam setup

[ben swann]

Speaking of Fuel economy.  When I was fooling around with the
adjustable cam sprocket on the now out of commission 5ktq avant, I got
some incredible fuel mileage when I retarded the CAM 4 degrees on the
first cam I installed a 270i/260e ELGIN grind.

I was getting close to 40 MPG cruising at highway speeds.  I mean that
was a highway average, not instantaneous which can be over 100MPG(off
the digital readout).

Of course the setting was not that great for low speed operation(not
too bad either).  Too bad these engines don't have the variable cam
timing some of the newer ones do.

Which brings to mind another question.  Does the 20V motor use the same
or similar cam sprocket?  Diagrams show a belt configuration similar to
the 10V which in turn drives the cam gears with a timing chain.  So
could one benefit from an adjustable cam sprocket.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself by asking these questions, but are
there some nice cam upgrades which can be done to the engine?  I was
quite pleased with my ELGIN cam on the 10V motor as it definately
helped power without screwing up drivability, so perhaps there might be
a similar upgrade in the future for this engine.

For now I am leaving well enough alone. I have to keep telling myself
this, or before you know it I'll be yanking the engnie for something
silly.

Cheers!

Ben