I'm a little curious what expertise your mechanic has with "A" cams since they don't exist in the US market. Good of you to trust him and his judgement but you're leaving a lot on the table by not going that route.

Volvo put "A" cams in thousands of engines with lower compression and smaller displacement than your B230. (Compression and displacement are both things that make the A cam perform better) Not only that, they put this combination in thousands of wagons with automatic transmissions. I'd like your mechanic to explain why Volvo thought this was an acceptable combination yet he apparently doesn't. Additionally, I'd like him to explain why almost every B21F powered car in the US has a B cam (yes, even wagons with automatic transmissions!). The "B" cam is similar to the A cam and if his theory is more correct than Volvo's, has he removed all those useless "B" cams and replaced them with the far more desirable, and apparently superior, "M" cam?

Sorry to sound critical but I've run into very few Volvo mechanics who knew anything at all about what cams came in what engine and how any of them work in any other engines. This character has no idea how the A cam will work in a B230 engine and, in my opinion, is coming up with an excuse so he doesn't have to do a cam swap.

Talk to people with actual experience and make your own decision. Learn how to do the swap yourself and if you don't like the results, put the M cam back in.



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Dale