Review: Buddy Club Spec 3 K Series Camshafts and Valvetrain Package
Buddy Club Spec 3 K Series Camshafts and Valvetrain Package
This review is for all of you guys with K series motors out there wondering about the different types of camshafts available. I will elaborate on driver feel and how it feels to drive on the road, even though my setup is primarily used for the drag strip. This is because they are designed for street cars and the way the car feels at partial throttle and 3/4 throttle is also important.
SETUP
The motor is a JDM K20A
Intake Manifold: RBC Euro R
Throttle body: 70mm BDL
Intake: Custom length (Bell mouth for drag, K&N pod for street)
Headers: DTR copy
Exhaust: 3” straight through one muffler
Head: Stock K20A, no porting
Car
1985 AH HONDA CIVIC
Weighing around 730kg in street trim
The test drive was done with two people in the car, so total weight would be around 885 kg.
The best DYNO result with this setup before cams was 146.8KW at Mercury Motorsports Honda Dyno Day on Dyno Dynamics Dyno. This setup has seen the car go a best of 11.67 at 116.55 MPH.
The new setup consists of the above plus Buddy Club Spec 3 Camshafts, and Buddy Club valve springs and retainers. No headwork was done and the cams and valvetrain were installed with the head on the car using the special valve spring tool Buddy Club make. This review is based on the driver feel of the car.
DRIVER FEEL: Driving on the road the Spec 3 camshafts really bring the K20A alive with pickup at 1500 RPM being the same or even better than the standard cams. The power delivery is quite linear with a very noticeable difference in torque. Driving on the road with two people in the car, it feels noticeably quicker everywhere in the rev range than it did with stock cams and only the driver. Without the cams wheel spin was the order of the day in the first 2 gears with the wheel spin dying off in third. With the new cams the car the tyres are turning all through third although not violent, and continuing through fourth gear. The power while being linear really comes after 5500 – 6000 rpm all the way to 9000rpm. At 100km/h the car now picks up a lot better in sixth gear.
OVERALL: For everyone who owns a K20A or even K24 these cams will definitely liven up your engine as the power delivery is very linear with a noticeable jump in power everywhere in the rev range, but most noticeable from 5500 to redline. I cannot recommend them enough.
The cams have been dyno tuned and the dyno sheets will be posted once the final tune is done, as the map was only tuned for one hour by Dyno Dave. The car now makes 160 + kw at the wheels on a Dyno Dynamics Dyno, which is a jump of at least 13 kw at the wheels with a lot more midrange power. Saying that dynos are primarily a tuning tool and the focus here is on driver feel and power delivery. Once the car is taken to Willowbank, the results of how much it has improved in times and MPH will be posted.
