Current Location in Santa Rosa, CA.
Dimitri "Dema" Elgin began working in the area of automotive technology in 1957 (over six decades ago) and opened Elgin's Machine Shop in 1960. In 1985, he sold the shop to his employees so that he could devote his attention to his camshaft business, now called Elgin Cams. The company with its current name has been in business for over three decades!
Originally located on the San Francisco Bay Areas Peninsula, in Redwood City, California the business relocated to just North of San Francisco to the heart of the wine country in Santa Rosa, California. If you are in the area, come by and say hello!
With the aid of computers, Dema makes his own camshaft designs and this includes pretty much everything you can think of. If you do not see it in the catalog, just call. Chances are we can make it or at least guide you in the right direction. Some of his best customers include:
- General Motors
- Ford Motor Company
- Nissan Corporation
- Zakspeed International
- Porsche Motor Sports
- "Winston Cup" Engine Builders
Elgin Cams has the largest percentage of cams used at "Mid-Ohio" from GT-1 to Formula-V. In his spare time, Dema travels the country giving speeches on cams and camshafts as well as doing extensive traveling for fun. He also recently retired from teaching at DeAnza and Skyline Colleges, Automotive Technology Classes after several decades.
Our Business Philosophy:
Our primary concern is to grind the optimal camshaft for your engine. We do not mass produce a series of camshafts and have you pick one that is about right. Our intention is to grind a camshaft that is exactly right. With this in mind, it is almost against our philosophy to produce a catalog. We have cataloged here only some of what we have done for foreign car engines because the range of modifications and applications is not as great as with most American V8 engines. All of the performance profiles in this catalog work. They are proven performers!
Experimental profiles are also available. In some cases, it will be possible to pick a profile from the catalog because you are doing a commonly known engine modification and that is exactly what that profile in the catalog was designed for and in other cases, it will be necessary to design a profile from scratch on our computer.
SERVICES WE OFFER:
If your camshaft is pitted, chipped, or worn, send it to us and we will grind it to either stock specifications or to a performance grind that meets your requirements. In some cases it will be impossible to put a performance grind on your used cam either because it has been re-ground before or the factory didn't leave us enough material to work with. If the factory didn't leave us enough material to re-grind your cam a designation of "NEW BILLET REQUIRED" or "WELDING REQUIRED" will be placed with the information for that grind in the catalog. Also if the bearing journals are excessively worn we can build them up with chrome plating and then finish grind them back to their original size. We can save virtually any rare camshaft. We think that after looking at our price sheet that you will find it much cheaper to have your worn cam reground than to buy a new one.
RACE CAMS:
We have made racing cams for virtually every type of racing; Bonneville, SCCA, Road Racing, Drag, and Oval Dirt Track. We are continually developing new profiles to gain the most from various motor modifications. If you don't find a performance profile that you would like, call us with your needs. Development work is always welcome. For developing full race profiles we will need the following information:
- Cylinder head flow data, engine size
- Intake and exhaust system used (sizes)
- Cylinder bore
- Crankshaft stroke
- Connecting rod length (center to center distance)
- Compression ratio
- Power range desired
To place an order for a camshaft, please download the order form:
- For the Online Fillable PDF Version click here. You can fill this out with your computer and print (mail or fax) or save it and email the completed PDF to us.
- For the Traditional PDF version click here. You can print this and fill it out. Then mail, fax or scan, and email to us.
