Recently I just got my car up and going after a year of hard work. The car started to make loud cranking noises after several tuning sessions. At first I thought it was a bad water pump because I had heating issues but it got louder and louder. It sounded like it was coming from the head. Like knocking noises. So I decided to take the valve cover off and I notice the bolt holding the exhaust cam gear was very loose. It was about to come off. I took the bolt off completely and this is what I saw.

Hope you can see the pictures. First time posting pictures on this forum.

What should I do? Do you think it is still okay if I tighten the cam gear bolt up more securely with loc tite? Or do I need to replace the camshaft? How about the cam gear? Is it still okay?

Please give some input to what you would do if you were in my situation. Thanks

 

replace it, it's just a matter of time before it goes and then your piston's will most likley come in contact with your valves & destory the whole motor.

let alone the slack that it has in there will definatly be effecting your valve timming a little right now.

 

replace both shaft and gear? I have AEM cam gear and I was going to pick up some gsr exhaust camshaft. Can I mix AEM and BDL cam gears? and CTR intake and GSR exhaust cams?

Thanks