"...identical grind at least aside from the mounting differences, I wonder..."

I wonder, too. I'd bet not. I suspect Volvo used a very pragmatic scheme: Start with the very mild, call it "A", and move on up toward the hotter and more radical cams. The "K" was a good street grind, and the "R" was a definite sport grind—lopey, rough idle, and didn't really come on 'til around 3500-4000.

We have no reason to expect the same progression in the OHC engines such that "K" means the same thing. Furthermore, the different geometries of valve trains and combustion chambers would lead to entirely different breathing and performance.

I think the A cam was a single-carb cam for a B18 used only on Sundays. I used three of 'em on various rebuilds—mom, dad, and wife—and they all were smooth, quiet, easy-starting, 60 mph cams. I kept the K for myself. And I even have a new K cam and a new R cam in my parts pile.

Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)