Is this head useless?

[Whorse]

I have lots of pictures here. The cam I know is junk. The head was recently redone and has a nice plane on it, recent valve job, and seems to be in good shape except for the cam journals. Pictures:

[Whorse]

More pictures, these of the journals etc...

[Frank]

I believe you can get the cam journals milled and then put in actual bearings.

[turbovanman²]

Thats normal, I wouldn't worry about it, probably all that bearing material going thru. In fact, I just bid on some 8 valve cam bearings, :nod:

[Whorse]

Hmm...Simon, you've seen this head (and put a little ding in the edge of it hahaha). I can very easily catch and pull a nail on the journals on the head. What would you do if you had 3 cars with 2 heads and this? I have an offer of an 85 turbo G head from a buddy. I would need to have some machine work done possibly, and I want a Swirl on the omni. Could put a G head on the turbo lebaron I want to sell.

[Frank]

Thats normal, I wouldn't worry about it, probably all that bearing material going thru. In fact, I just bid on some 8 valve cam bearings, :nod:


That much is NOT normal and is not recommended to go unchecked. Also based on the amount of debrie on the cam stuck to it, I would make sure you change the oil, change the filter, and change the pickup.


Frank

[Whorse]

The latter has all been done. This head is off the van I have at Simon's. It's not going back on that van. I have a turbo G head converted to roller on my Omni that I'm going to put on the van, and wanted to put this on my GLH to raise the compression and hopefully get some better mileage. If I can use this cam without pouring money into it, then I'm happy with it. Doesn't need to be planed, or need the valves done. I have a 16 lifters and rockers to choose from, so I can get a good set. Just those darn cam journals.

Any estimate on the cost of machining that, and getting bearings to match?

[Frank]

No clue.

[turbovanman²]

The latter has all been done. This head is off the van I have at Simon's. It's not going back on that van. I have a turbo G head converted to roller on my Omni that I'm going to put on the van, and wanted to put this on my GLH to raise the compression and hopefully get some better mileage. If I can use this cam without pouring money into it, then I'm happy with it. Doesn't need to be planed, or need the valves done. I have a 16 lifters and rockers to choose from, so I can get a good set. Just those darn cam journals.

Any estimate on the cost of machining that, and getting bearings to match?


Phone Rob on Monday. The cam is definately junk. You'll have to bring the head around so I can have a better look.



That much is NOT normal and is not recommended to go unchecked. Also based on the amount of debrie on the cam stuck to it, I would make sure you change the oil, change the filter, and change the pickup.


Frank

Done, done and done. We did the bearings a few weeks ago and the top end was dead nuts quiet.

[Whorse]

I'll be coming by after work tomorrow with the head. It's already in my car with everything stripped off of it except the 2 studs. What does a set of cam journal bearings cost, and how difficult are they to come by?

Here are some more photos I took after taking parts off the head and cleaning some of it up a bit.

[Whorse]

Rest of the pictures.

[tryingbe]

What happened?

[Whorse]

Not sure what you're asking exactly.

I have a van and it runs. I redid the bottom end. As a precaution, since I will race it, I decided to do the head gasket. Also wanted a different head on there (going to use a G head I have on my omni. I want to put this head, or a working swirl on my omni instead). So, I took the head off, and inspected it at Simon's shop. We saw the cam was F'd, so I took it home to replace the cam with a TBI cam I have from a 92 Acclaim. Took the cam off, and noticed the journals were all scratced up, and I wanted to find out if it's fixable, and what the cost will be.

[cordes]

My roomate's TBI shadow journals looked at least that bad when I put his motor back together, and it has been going strong for a year and a half now. That is not to say that it was the right way to do it, but that it can be done if you absolutely have to.

[Whorse]

I don't absolutely have to, but I would like to do it with some reassurance. It's going on a HO 2.2 motor, so it probably won't see the same abuse a turbo motor sees. It is, however, a daily driver, seeing 75km a day.

[22mopar]

I have lots of pictures here. The cam I know is junk. The head was recently redone and has a nice plane on it, recent valve job, and seems to be in good shape except for the cam journals. Pictures:

that is one awfully dirty head for just "recently redone". yikes. the scratches are normal but the real test is to check bore concentricity and bore alignment along with clearance.

[mpgmike]

With all the damage to the visable areas, I'd be concerned with the guides. Dirty oil that is capable of destroying the cam area like that most likely did a number on the valve guides as well.

Mike

[Whorse]

It's going on a low HP carb motor, so I'm having the machine shop do a quick check of it. I've been advised to just clean up any rough spots on the cam journals and I'm getting the head hot tanked, and I'll put in new valve seats, and just run it. This head was dead quiet running, so I was really suprised to see this.

[TurboJerry]

Hot tank it, and Use a good cam, and it should be fine. I've ran them like that many times for the long haul. Just make sure it's clean.......

[turbovanman²]

All that debris was from the bearings when they went out. I had a look last night, doesn't look that bad, I'll get the bores checked, hot tanked and replace the seals. its going on a beater car so it doesn't need to be perfect. Actually, that head was very quiet on the van before Jason removed it, :D