ok so i have had this gsr head down in my garage for the last couple of years and i was wondering if there is any hope of saving it. there are grooves (really bad in one particular spoyt) where my cam actually rotates on the casting of the head. can either myself or a machine shop do anything to fix these problems?

bad groove:



other grooved spot:


cam from that spot:

 

the ones that arent close up are to show you where at on the head they are. i doubt that will make a difference tho

 

Take it to a machine shop and ask them.

 

I’m not so sure that you can repair it but its good giving it a try, but that will be a lot of work.

 

Yeah that first one is pretty deep. Even if you could get it true round again are their cam bearings that are that far oversized?

Post pictures of the cam bearings that came out of this head, please!!! I love carnage.

 

The cams do not have bearings..... Most VTEC dohc heads have some sort of scratches etc.... and most are still usable. However yours are pretty serious. I would ask a machine shop and take from there

 

Wait, so the cam just rides directly in the journals in the head, with nothing in between...?

 

ummm yep.
in all honesty, I can't think of any dohc head that uses bearings for cams. keep in mind, they only spin half as fast as the crank (half the rotations).

 

Bearings in the cams rotflmao this will end up in someones signature im calling it first.

 

good news everybody! i took it to the machine shop today and they told me to take emery cloth and knock down the ridges and that i would be fine. so i'm a happy camper for now.

 

if you hide the scratches it does't mean that it's been fixed.Not to be a smart ***, but I would like to see the first deep groove disappear after emery cloth! My suggestion is not to pay the money to that machine shop.if they will weld the groove and resurface the spot to the original specs thats something else but emery cloth? back me up mech's!

 

I think the machine shop was saying to polish it so it won't groove the next cam, not polish it till the groove is gone. I don't know if you could weld it and get it line bored maybe.

 

well i offered to pay the shop to fix it. however he told me there was no need and to use emery cloth to knock the edges down on the groove. the point isnt to get the groove out. the point is to sand the sharp ridges on the sides of the grooves down so that the cam will ride smoothly again....

 

another thing to worry about is the oil pressure. if the groove isnt fixed properly you will not get the right oil pressure.anyway, I wish you good luck!keep it updated!

 

hmmm i say just get the emery cloth and smooth it out and then just give it a try. Surely the mechanic would think of it affecting oil pressure or any other problem this might have.

 

ya i smoothed everything out and we will see what happens when i get the motor built. i mean if the head is already ruined its not like i can mess it up any more. if there are any problems its surely going to show up turning at 8k

 

I would think its more important to get the high spots out. A little groove shouldn't hurt oil pressure if the rest of the journal is within spec.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

on an oem build i would just sand and use them...but i would not put a 600 dollar set of cams on that head...and only old v8s had cam bearings...thats the result of people leaving out the 0-ring and dowel pin on cam cap #3..

 

really? cause im looking around at new cams. i dont think it should hurt the new cams if there isn't a ridge to grinding into it

 

that engine sertainly was starving oil.how is the rest of the block?you can't see it right? by loosing the oil pressure,you loose pressure everywere not only in the head.so if the oil pressure isn't right you have a good chance of destroying the block olso.plus you might have a metal shaving or two in the system.better take that in account before reassembling everything.back me up mech's.just trying to make it safe(for your wallet also)!

 

well i bought the head from a guy and i didnt pull it apart till afterwards (stupid on my part) so i have no clue what the block looked like that it came off of. i am getting the head resurfaced and hot tanked and then it is going on my ls bottom end that i am currently in the middle of balancing. so it the entire motor will be fresh when it is cranked over

 

Keep us posted!