I bought a B18b swap and a B17a1 long block to do an LS/VTEC in my EK. On further examination the cam bearings on the B17a1 head are shot. As some of you may know, Hondas dont have shell cam bearings, the journals are machined directly into the head. So bad cam bearings means you have to get a new head. It is possible to have the bearings bored out and shell bearings installed, but Im having problems finding a machine shop to do it.

Has anyone had any experience with the problem?

And what are my chances of finding another B17a1 head casting for cheap?

 

they are cam bearings, they are cam journals. Cam bearings refer to an actual bearing that is pressed in to the cam housing bore. Your head may be able to be honed but it may be junk. You could try to line bore it but not sure if thats an option for honda heads.

 

how do you know they are shot? havent seen many cam journals go bad...
plastigauge the cam.
If its minor you can get the head line bored as sayd above.

 

Thanks for clarifying that they are called cam journals.

I called several machine shops, and none them have the right machine to fix it.

I did do some reasearch though. A B17a1 head is a PR3. B16 heads should work. Most B series heads should work except a GSR head which is a P72?

Im a professional mechanic though Im not an auto mechanic. I think 1/8" deep gouges in the journal surface is probably bad.

Im pretty sure I need a new head casting. And Ive seen a few for sale for not too much. The next question is whether the cam is bad. It also has a few very shallow grooves in it in the journal area.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mighty &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I did do some reasearch though. A B17a1 head is a PR3. B16 heads should work. Most B series heads should work except a GSR head which is a P72?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Any vtec head will work, if you use a p72 you gonna have to get the intake manifold too, since the bolt patters is different than the pr3's.
Also using a p72 head will yield .2 more compression.

As far as the cam, how does it look?If it looks bad, just change it....you can get gsr cams for like 40 bucks here