I'm looking at picking up a set of the Brian Crower Stage 2 camshafts after reading on the forums and reviews they give fairly good gains for the price which I know for the S2000 is uncommon considering how well engineered it is. However I have my doubts and am looking for some personal insight from owners who actually have them installed and experienced them first hand. Are the gains as good as they claim to be and is it worth it?

I have an 02 AP1 with a stock engine except for an FIPK intake. I'm looking for some more power on my daily driver and boost is simply out of the question right now, mostly because I live in California which is home of the CARB Nazis and I really don't want to deal with that right now. I plan on getting these cams with some new springs and retainers as suggested on the forums as well as a SOS Big Bore TB. I want to maintain my stock injectors and ECU for now and get the car tuned. My other question is will I have any problems with passing smog with this set-up? I'm hoping with a good tune these cams will run smooth and remain undetected during a smog test. I figure since the SOS TB is originally a factory TB that's been bored out I don't have to worry about that.

Any advice or suggestion is more than welcomed, just tired I can't do anything to my car in this damn state because of CARB!

 

Yes, they will pass smog just fine. I've passed with flying colors.

Peak horsepower gains are better with the cams than they would be if you got a high-flow 70mm exhaust instead (obviously both is even better). An exhaust will give you slightly better mid-range power compared to the cams, which are really focused on high-RPM power. So the cams are similar money (once installed and tuned) to an exhaust, have better top-end gains, and have very little extra noise or roughness compared to stock cams. Win-win. These are based on dyno-tunes with Flashpro.

I wanted to go back to stock exhaust for noise reasons, and the cams were a great way to keep the performance without the drone and negative attention.

Keep in mind there are no NA mods that will transform the car. You'll only be adding a little extra oomph.

Also, I have no idea if the BC cams affect long-term engine reliability other than the retainer issue.

 

so cams wont push the stock injectors past their duty cycle?

 

I already have a 70mm exhaust from T1R and the only reason I'm considering getting these cams is because of the widespread claims of good gains with these cams, especially with a tune. I'm very glad to hear that they won't affect smog.

 

True but my research showed that the majority of those issues happened back in 2008 and have since been revised. Are there any current issues I should be aware of?

 

Not Even close. The base supercharger kits retain stock injectors at 300whp. A few hours gained by cams won't be an issue

 

RIGHT ON!!! Good stuff time to start checking out valve train upgrades

 

I have the BC valve springs/retainers/stage 2 cams and I could tell a difference the first time i drove the car with them. I would definitely recommend them