Franco used to sell a centrifugal cam advance for VW's years ago. See this link:
Franco Industries: Manufacturing and Sales of Automotive Performance Products.
This seems like a great idea for FE. VWVortex poster G60Jetta2dr says:
I am currently running the Franco cam gear.
I have the before and after dyno pulls on the wall next to my monitor. Yup I gained no horsepower.
I did however go from 184.2 ft/lbs peak to 204.6 ft/lbs.
Before the cam gear my motor had a torque bulge above 175 ft/lbs from 3400 rpm to 4700 peaking at 184.2 ft/lbs.
After the cam gear the torque bulge above 175 ft/lbs is from 2300 rpm to 5200 rpm peaking at 204.6 ft lbs.
Before the cam gear my motor made 150 ft/lbs from 2500 rpm to 3400 rpm then ramped up above 175 ft at 3500 rpm. Now my graph is above 150 ft/lbs when the dyno starts plotting at 1700 rpm.
I very pleased with it.
Llew.
...So it doesn't make much horsepower, but the low speed advance gives a big boost in torque - and right in the FE driving sweet spot. For all us that want to optimize the engine for higher torque in the low speed range but not sacrifice top end power for the occasional high loads, this seems like the perfect solution.
Has anyone tried one of these and measured FE gains? I want one, may need to be custom, for my Ranger.