I was doing my usual window shopping and came across these cams. At about $500 shipped these seem like a pretty good deal. And from what I can tell SPS motorsports makes good parts so i'm confident that these will work, but the question is if they will make power.
These are the specs.



I have a mild engine build, NA8 head with new HLAs, VS885 springs, but no port work, 84mm pistons with 9.5:1 compression. I plan on keeping the car N/A for the next 1-2 racing seasons, so having a bit of extra kick for that time would be nice, especially if it makes power up to redline instead of falling off at 6500rpm like the stock cams do. Would these make enough power to be worth the $500 or would other parts get me more hp per $?

 

They will make a few more hp and move the powerband up slightly. It will likely lose a little power below 3500 rpm but that's not where race cars need it. $500 for both cams is a good number.

I would spend on a turbo first, but if that's a couple of years off then I would consider the cams.

 

Probably makes more sense to look for a domestic shop ?
Those 500$ are without vat and import taxes I'd assume or can you import stuff in the US for free ?
*edit* Oh I see, the new budget stage 1 option are reground oem cams.

http://www.catcams.co.uk/acatalog/3700619.pdf
These were the previous stage 1 naturally aspirated cams, got them installed by SPS in 2018.

 

I don't think US customs bothers charging import fees for small/cheap personal stuff, i've bought a lot of stuff from bofi racing and I never paid any taxes or import fees for it. A lot of time it kinda ends up being significantly cheaper to buy from across the pond as long as shipping isn't to expensive, SPS only wants to charge me $43 for shipping which makes these too good of a price to ignore, especially since it's about $700 at the cheapest to get cams from anyone else, last I checked.

 

As much as I would love turbo power, I just can't afford to both turbo it and track it. I got a built motor so im planning on a 2867 at the smallest, so my next limiting factor is trans and diff, and that's not including who knows how much i'll have to spend to keep it from overheating and heat soaking (gotta love arizona). It just makes more sense to spend like 2-3k max on some basic hp mods so the car isn't completely gutless while setting up basic infrastructure for boost like an oil drain, forged internals, and clutch for when I eventually get the point that I can boost it properly.

 

Florida track guy here. I run a modified (custom width, custom inlet and outlet diameter) triple pass stock car radiator, an oil cooler with large hoses and dedicated ducting, and I completely sealed the bumper mouth to the radiator. It has hood vents and an undertray past the steering rack.

I'm using the GTX2867R (1st gen). At 20psi it makes 325whp. Stock torsen diff but using the KPower BMW 6 speed swap kit and ZF trans from a 530i. Love the trans immensely.

With a higher kpa MAP sensor and bigger injectors I could increase the boost if I wanted now. The sky's the limit with this trans. I'm using European 3.63 gears in the diff, which is good for just over 150mph on a 7200 redline. It's fast enough for me.

It requires a lot of braking capacity and ducting to keep up with the additional power and speed. 10.75 Wilwood rotors and ducts are a must. There are several good calipers and kits available now.

Good luck.

 

I completely forgot mention brakes. My current setup is rx7 4 pistons up front with 294mm rotors off a mini cooper, and a bracket in the rear to use sport rotors, I also have an R package style brake duct setup. As far as I can tell, i'll never have brake fade with this setup as long as I keep it N/A, and it would probably be perfectly fine for a street oriented turbo build, but I have no idea how well it would fare when it has to deal 300+ hp. I have coolant reroute and a crossflow radiator, so i'm not really worried about overheating in the tradition sense, more just heat soak in general. And the BMW 6spd swap is my dream trans swap, but i'll probably end up with a NB 6spd as a stopgap and/or "temporary" solution. God I wish mazda just made the driveline just a bit tougher from the factory.

 

How would this SPS cam compare performance-wise to the Maruha which is 252in/264ex duration and 10mm lift on a naturally aspirated engine? It's interesting that the SPS has the same duration for intake and exhaust where the Maruha has quite a bit more on the exhaust side.