After I received my B16 Cyllinder head in the mail, I noticed that one of its intake cam retainers is cracked pretty badly. Honda will not supply the cam retainers only, they only want to supply me with a completly new head. Could I possibly salvage one off a B18B, or does anybody know where I could buy either a single or whole set replacement? Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,

Nabeeh Hasan

 

Are you talking about a valve spring retainer or one of the caps that hold the cam in place in the head? If it is a cap, they go along with the individual head and should not be interchanged. You might try a precision welder to stop the crack.

 

I'm talking about the cap. The crack went completely through it and the outside part came off of the rest of the cap. Am I in need of scrapping the whole head then? You said that they are individually specific for each head. I'd hate to think that part wouldn't be able to be replaced.

 

take it to a good machine shop.

heh I've got friends who would say "just jb weld it!" haha

 

Thanks I appreciate it. I would've thought that a replacement part could be found though, but no harm in trying the machine shops out.

Thank you,

Nabeeh Hasan

 

Can't you send it back to who mailed it to you and have them replace it? Or try the shipping the company if it was insured that is....

 

Basically, at the factory, all the webs are installed on the head and then align bored thru the webs so they all match. Heads are basically junk if they are missing one cap. Maybe some good machinists would be able to fix yours however. Give it a shot before you give up. Honda just does not sell new caps because they would not necessarily work with every head.
Did you buy this head from someone? Maybe it was broke before the guy shipped it?

 

lemme know which cap is cracked I'll see if I have an extra then you can take that to a machinist along with the head and have him line-bore it, brign him the camshaft too so he can torque it down with plastigage and check the bore clearance for you.

greg

 

It is the one that is closest to the cam gear on the intake camshaft. Actually I'm feeling a little foolish now. Where it is cracked is the part with the bolt that goes through the valve cover for it to be bolted down. It isn't as critical as I thought, I'm sure the local machine shop can handle that job. But I'm incredibly grateful for the help I've received.

Thank you,

Nabeeh Hasan