just was about to make the swap (cams, valvetrain etc..) and didn`t like
what I saw.

For some weeks my R didn`t redline anymore.. The compression got lost at
7300rpm.. I thought of a broken retainer or valvespring but now it got worse:

The vtec lobes are 4mm ground in. Rockers are damaged, brightly polished at the edges. Tons of metal-particles in the oil.

valves and everything the head sits on is fine so it seems....
But damn... I feel really down.

Spent more than 5k in performance parts just to make it double now.

One year ago my stock cams were regrounded I must have been
drunk and insane.

 

you reground your stock cams?

 

welcome to the game. almost never does things go according to plan. its all apart of the game. I have had my fair of troubles

 

Yes I did...

There was no aftermarket in Germany... Type R`s are rare and if there`s no sho or ht, there`s nobody to ask what to do...
I knew it better as time went by but I let them reground when I had the R new.
I drove Mazda and Toyota and Opel with regrounded cams... never a problem with it.

 

might not have had problems with those, but did those cars have cams with different profiles and a variable valve timing valvetrain?

edit: sorry to come off sounding like im ragging on you for your choices...i can understand that not many people are into honda performance over there, but...regrinding my stock cams just wouldnt be something id even consider as an option to do to my car....such a vital thing to toy with like that...i guess its just not something i would have ever done nor thought to do.


[Modified by junglistgsr, 1:22 PM 1/10/2002]

 

Sorry to hear about your misadventure...

.....toda can replace much of what is now damaged.

.....ferrea and portflow can replace the rest.

Sounds you need a vacation here for some aftermarket goodies!

 

Just as I said ==> drunk and insane... No use in cutting my head off now.
I haven`t known better...

The question now is: What comes next ? Any ideas ?

 

well, thanks.

I still got my crower stuff... I have a complete set of valvesprings and retainers and a brand new set of cams. I know that many people don`t like crower but now I`m glad to own them.

What I need are rockers or a complete head.

 

I think the Crower cams are a poor choice. If you thought your damage was bad from reground cams, wait til those Crowers decide to split in to 4 cams on the exhaust side, dropping valves, hitting them against the head/pistons, and splitting your cylinder walls. That's my experience, hope yours are better

 

crower supposedly fixed this problem. and remember, its not only the crowers that have done that...

 

sounds like improper installation. crower cams are made of honda castings just like JUN`s.

 

Good luck getting everything back together.

 

very kind. Thank you

 

No, actually they are not. Crower made their own billets. Call up Crower, or look on their website. It was not improper installation, I followed OEM recommendations for torque specs on the cam plates, cam gears, and timing tension, and the water pump and tensioner were brand new, as was the head. Don't tell me about improper installation

 

To quote Brian Crower "yeah, we've had some problems with that happening, we can send you a new set to try out". Crower admitted this problem to me. Yes, I've heard of other cams breaking, but Crower had an epidemic.

As I said, I hope your experience is better than mine. Just giving you fair warning...

 

I asked Jim Helbing and was surprised about the answer:

Quote:
It is funny that you mention this... the truth is that Crower cams and
JUN cams both start out as a stock rough HONDA casting with very large
lobes... and are ground down to the specs given at JUN or Crower. Then
the cams are treated to harden them. The only roughness I have ever
seen on a Crower cam is along the edge of each lobe... but this is not a
critical area anyway, so it doesn't matter. The SOHC cams from Honda
look the very same. Apparently, the rough castings from Honda do not
have this extra "casting flash" cleaned off... and neither does Crower.
JUN may spend the extra time to clean them up, however, this will not
affect the performance of the product anyway. Remember that the
followers touch only the top flat surface of the cam


So, what`s the truth ?

 

michael delaney (a member on this board, thats his username)...contacted brian crower and spoke with him about that problem...brian said that the problem area had been fixed in the newer cams and he only had on file a handful of records where the cams broke before the problem was fixed.....Skunk2 had problems, and i also recall someone with Jun 3's breaking theirs into pieces (this case is most likely due to incorrect install though)....anyways, contact michael delaney if you want more info on that.

 

I'm not going to waste a lot of time I don't have to argue with you. But I owned a set of these cams. I saw them with my own two eyes, and they aren't made from a Honda casting. I'd direct you to their website, but it's not currently available. But it did list that they came from "a brand new chilled cast billet from Crower" or something along those lines.

In any case, I was just sharing. I hope that your experiences with your cams are far better than mine. If you don't like what I said, that's one thing, I was just trying to help you avoid any potential problems. Good luck

 

dude, I`m not mad at you, don`t get me wrong.

I`m just reading an listening what I am told... Believe me, there are thousands
of different opinions.... some months ago I saw a broken intake OEM cam in an ATR.... the one which was replaces for the first one which caused the same problem...

I get tons of opinions and experiences but one day I had to make a decision.. Everything can be fine or suck totally....

Thanks for sharing your experiences....