Opinions

Alright guys, so my engine is being taken apart so that the head gaskets can be done by a friend of mine who works on cars, and is also an OCD freak like me, so it's in good hands. He's already found a bunch of things that needed to be fixed, so it's getting rather pricey, and we have one last major hurtle to clear. This is what he found when he took the head off (I don't know which cam this is - he only said right side.) He said it looks like that piece had broken off a while ago and was spinning inside the head with it and chewed the head up a tiny bit. He is going to see if it was something he could either JB weld back on, or he said we might be able to just put it back without the missing piece and it might run fine.

 

He's calling the local junkyards tomorrow to try to find a used camshaft, but he said it's hard to find a place willing to sell just the cam without the head, and both together will be $100 (he tells me the head itself really isn't that bad off and doesn't need to be replaced). Does anyone here know if that looks like something that we can safely ignore? I've never seen the insides of the engine myself, so I don't know how much of a load-bearing part that is. To me it looks like more of a guide ring, since the bearings would be the load bearing parts. If it's just spinning around and that's it, I'm inclined to think just sanding it off to smooth it over a bit and putting it back as-is might not do much harm (I know it throws the balance off on the part a hair) but I honestly have no idea. He's as much of an OCD freak as me, so he said if it was his car he'd replace it (as would I), but the problem is being able to find a part at the local junkyard. The car HAS to be done by next weekend and he doesn't have much time during the week, and the heads still have to be resurfaced after he finds one.

 

Thoughts from people more knowledgeable than I?

I don't have any engine-buiding expertise, but JB Weld sounds like a really bad idea to me. I'm not sure which of the other options would be best for you. Maybe the cams should be carefully examined for other hairline cracks that would cause more chips to break off like the one pictured here.

Yeah, JB weld was more of a joke than anything, lol. Everything else does seem ok. It does seem like a weird piece to break - I can't help but wonder if it was damaged beforehand.

Replace it all day. If that already broke off imagine how structualy sound the rest of it is. Your just asking for problums down the road if you put that back in thier

i'd replace the entire head.

i think at this point the cam shaft and the cam cap bearings? are a matched set.

 

besides,

the last time i tried to buy a cam shaft for a 96 ej22,

they charged me $100 and it came with a head.

 

http://www.car-part.com

 

sort by zip code.

I'd pay the $100 and get a used head with cam- doesn't sound like much $ in the grand scheme of things and then you don't have to worry about it.

sounds like time to invest in upgraded cams for both heads!

If you had found that when replacing your valve cover gaskets, I'd say put it together and forget about it. But seeing you already have it torn down, it's a no-brainer. Replace the cam.

Just putting it out there, I have a set of rebuilt JDM heads for the EJ25 DOHC with Supertech valves... Just saying... and they are for sale... again, just making conversation lol

If I wasn't in such a time crunch, I would buy them from you, but we ended up getting a replacement head and cam and they are being resurfaced at a shop. Thanks though!

Not a problem... I figured you might have it handled now, just saw an opportunity to put some advertisement out there lol