Wasn't exactly sure where to post this, but I figured you engine guys would know the best..

A buddy of mine was replacing camshaft seals for me and we noticed that the camshaft, and camshaft holder(?) were pretty beaten up. It looks as though the camshaft had been scraping against them causing pretty deep scratches.. Is this normal? What can I do? How will it affect my head?

The head now assembled, and I couldn't find a decent picture online so I just drew on what, it basically looks like this. There's consistent marks on both sides of the camshaft and on the retainers.

 

Usually do to low oil pressure or debris getting in the oil. I've seen it a few times, if you're really concerned you can have the cam bearing surfaces polished and then measure them to see if they're still in spec.

 

SHOULD I be concerned??

 

Yes, having uneven surface rubbing against eachother can cause excess heat and you may have metal shavings in your oil that can damage other surfaces and bearings

 

well along with scratches on the camshaft (middle) there's some on the cam caps (top).it has some minor scratches on the head as well (right blow the camshaft), so does this mean I need a new head..?

Do you think new camshafts, new cam caps and having the head polished will fix this problem?

 

Doing all that doesn't necessarily get you to the root of the problem. You could replace everything and think its perfect, then 10,000 miles later you have the same problem again. Cams dont do that on their own, so replacing the cams and cam caps will proably ban-daid you problem for a while.

 

Id all depends on how deep the scratches are.
I usually see this problem with...
A. People who mix head parts (cam caps)
Or
B. Retards that allow dirt and debris into their engine as they work on it

Your best bet is drop it off to a machine shop and have them measure the caps and cams

 

so i tore into the head today, and im not sure ifit matters or not, but there's b16 camshafts in this gsr head.. i wonder if thats the problem.. ill take pictures of the damage in a bit

 

No, swapping cams won't do that.