You may remember, I posted awhile back stating that my cams and rockers were getting eaten up in a matter of a couple weeks of hard drving since I put this new head with new vavles, springs, ret and port job. Well I took the head back to the guy who built it and he said he went through the whole thing and couldn't find ANYTHING wrong but yet he but the stock vavle springs back in. If nothng is wrong, why go back to stock vavle springs???hmmm...he said it was because I was losing power with stiffer springs and since I was eventually going turbo its not worth it. Well I paid for those springs and if the head is fine don't take them out!! Anyway, he tells me I may have forgotten an o-ring that sits on the head above that oil orifice that distributes the oil. I find out from Honda there is only one inside that orifice not on top. The guy built it tells me I should put one on there or put some liquid gasket under the cam cap to ensure all oil goes through the orifice. I dunno what to do, I could keep trying different things, all the while paying for new rockers and cams but then again, nobody knows what to do!!! I'm getting oil pressure, i have yet to try running the head now with these springs but the aftermarket ones in there should've been fine.

I have 2 questions tho:

1. Its a 97 head on a 00 block, that shouldn't cause any problems right???...in particular oiling differences.

2.If I was to mix up cam caps, which I'm 99% sure the correct ones are on there, what would happen?

Please help me!!!!!!!!!!

 

Cam caps are not interchangeable, you must use the ones that COME with the head. I remember your post from before, and you mentioned you swapped your head out for the 97, correct? I honestly think that is your problem. Either the head you got was assembled incorrectly or your builder swapped out camcaps. If you do choose to mix caps, they are supposed to be machined to the proper tolerances.

 

The Honda tech told me it would be harder to turn the motor over and I'd eventually break the cams if the cam caps were incorrect.

Is there a way tto get these caps checked, or lets just say they are incorrect can you get them machined to match this head??!!?!??!

 

ohh and if it was an oiling problem, then why is it only eating the exhaust side and the intake cam looks just fine??? I would think oil would go the path of least resistance and not try to go spill out sides of cam caps....i dunno....i'm about to blow the ******* car up!!!!!!!!!!! I hate H22's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Dude, what kind of retainers are you using? i think i know what the problem is..

crower titanium right?

 

gude is 100% correct. i used to work at a machine shop about a year ago and we get this sort of thing all the time. if u use different ones u have to have them machined to the specs. kinda like a line bore..

 

They are aftermarket titanium retainers.

So who could I go to to get the caps machined to correect spec?!?!?

 

if you have the crower titanium retainers check out this thread and read the last response https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=314901

NOTE: i have read of 3 other people having a problem with clearance issues with the crower titanium retainers, only on the exhaust side...


[Modified by DarkJedi, 2:32 PM 11/2/2002]

 

DAmn...interesting...guess I'll check it out after I get off work this afternoon.

 

You did not describe the wear exactly, but here are my thoughts:

The caps must be in the correct order as well. They have numbers and arrows. There are 3 oil control orifices. One under the middle cam cap, and one each under the caps on the end. One is for the intake side, and one is for the exhaust side. Be sure these are in right and clean. Also, check all the oil paths for debris. You can take off the vtec solenoid and check the screen for crud too. Also, there should NOT be an oil control orifice between the head and the block. H23's had this and I've heard of people putting them in here by accident. Do you have VTEC? There is a pressure sensor on the VTEC solenoid that won't activate unless there is enough pressure. If you don't have VTEC then that supports the bad oiling theory.

As for the caps, you can take out the rockers, put in the cams and bolt down the caps. You should be able to turn the cam by hand using the cam gear. If it is binding up, then you have some clearance issues with the cams and caps.