What affects power more in a camshaft....high lift or longer duration?

Cuda416 said

Ok, just a question for the uninitiated...

Doesn't more lift inherently result in slightly more duration for a given base circle?

I get faster ramps but comparing old to old (slower ramps), or modern to modern (faster ramps), doesn't a measurable amount of duration come along for the ride as the lift increases? My ASSumption is the higher lift will require the ramps to widen slightly to accommodate the additional lift.

??

Click to expand...

All depends on the slope of the ramp I think. A faster ramp should allow more duration and consequently, potential lift. Faster slope widens the width of the curve giving the designer the ability to optimize the lobe profile for duration, lift, or both. A slower ramp is going to limit both lift and duration that can reasonably be obtained for a given lobe. At least in my simplistic brain that's how it works. The faster ramp is also going to demand more consideration for components to control the valve at the higher velocity it sees.