I have a 05 Z400 with air filter, 1 tooth bigger front sprocket, full exhaust, and jets. I want to get a little more speed. Would cams affect the reliability a lot? Would it put more wear and tear on the engine and cause more rebuilds. And also which kind should i get? Hotcams stage 2 intake and exhaust? Thanks!

 

To start off, as far as wear and tear on the engine, any higher lift cam will eventually sag the stock LTZ valve springs. It is highly suggested that you also install the DRZ (dual rate) valve springs. These are stiff enough to hold up to a high lift cam and are able to turn up to 11k rpms.

Just an intake cam will yeild good gains without losing too much bottom end.

I have to old style Hot Cams that are without the auto-decompression. These are working great for me. They did shift the powerband up into the higher RPMs a bit. To compensate I added the DRZ base gasket (~12.2-1 compression) to restore some of the low end grunt and added a rev-box to utilize the higher RPM power. This has worked out perfect.

The new style hot cams come in two grinds (stages) and both have the auto-decompression feature. Stage1 is more of a low-end/mid-range grind. Stage2 is more of a mid/top race grind. Choose by what riding style you have.

I have also heard great things about Web Cams and Megacycle cams. Do some research on these if you want.