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Old 12-21-2007, 11:28 PM   #1
paintbing
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Default Cam question...

EDIT: 4/22/09 - Need advice - See post #10

I just put on my new head onto my hybrid, however the two cams on the new (right) head aren't spinning as freely as the left head. The left head cams will spin freely until the lobes make contact with the buckets(and then obviously it stops). The right head cams still spin without much effort on the cam gear, however they don't spin freely like the left head cams do. I took the cams off and re-set them in the head to see if that would fix it, but it remains the same. Should I be concerned with the difference in tension? Going to drop the motor back in tomorrow.

BTW, There is plenty of oil flow in both heads. I know cause as I turn the crank, I get a lot of flow.
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Last edited by paintbing; 04-22-2009 at 03:49 PM.
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Old 12-22-2007, 05:55 AM   #2
paintbing
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Bump to the top... need an answer before I start and/or drive...
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Old 12-24-2007, 01:21 PM   #3
checque
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I'm not sure I understand this right. You pulled one head off the car and had it worked and not it's not spinning as freely as the one that never left the engine? What exactly was done to just one head while the other remained untouched?
The fresh head should be slightly harder to turn since it's not broken in/lubed quite as well. I have a fresh set of heads that aren't super easy to turn and a set of heads that have been broken in that turn super easy.
Here's a video of my broken in heads: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjN89tsHKrE
You should be fine as long as you have plenty of oil flow like you said. Give the fresh head some time to break in before you go romping on it.
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Old 12-24-2007, 03:37 PM   #4
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what cams are you running i had the same problem with osme cams i bought as well i took it to the machine shop and they mored it out just a tad bit. check to see if ther is a lip between the cam guide and the head.
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Old 12-24-2007, 08:07 PM   #5
Turbo_Mike
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I had a motor do this to me in the past.
Stock WRX 2.0L shortblock with EJ20G heads/intake
The drivers side exhaust cam was hard to turn after intallation. Took it out, cleaned and lubed the crap out of it, couldnt see and burrs or scratches on anything, still turned hard, re-torqued 100 times, still wasnt good, so I let it go and put it together.

Lets just say 1300 miles later, there were no more teeth on the timing belt, and 15 out of the 16 valves were bent to hell. So long story short, fix it before you have a big issue later....
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Old 12-24-2007, 11:20 PM   #6
paintbing
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It wasn't too hard to turn. Just slightly firm enough so that it didn't spin freely.

I took one head off cause I had a cam seize inside it and needed a new head. I am running stock cams.

Thanks for the video. It looks like you had to work to get the cams to turn. Mine didn't seem to be that stiff. Thanks for the input guys!
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Old 12-25-2007, 01:07 AM   #7
Turbo_Mike
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Ok that sounds like no big deal then. I have one cam on my current motor that isnt spinning as freely as the rest, but it works fine. If you can spin it wihtout the cam gear in place, its fine. If you cant, theres an issue....
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Old 12-25-2007, 04:02 AM   #8
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Did you put the cam caps back in there original location?
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Old 12-26-2007, 12:11 PM   #9
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Yes, the caps are in the correct location, AND not rotated 180 degrees either.
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Old 04-22-2009, 03:49 PM   #10
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Bumping my old thread... Long stort short, I had to buy yet another head and rebuild it.
When I put the intake cam in, it is really stiff (even without the caps on), and I can only turn it when I put the cam gear on it to help. The exhaust cam is just fine. Turns like butter.

What should I do? There are no bur's or anything. The journals don't look scuffed or anything, and I am using liberal amount of 10W30 oil as an assembly lube.

Thoughts?
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Old 04-22-2009, 04:30 PM   #11
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If you're sure the heads are fine, the cam is probably warped/bent...
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Old 04-22-2009, 07:43 PM   #12
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^ not sure how the cam could have bent/warped from me wrapping it in bubble wrap and letting it sit in a box for 2 weeks...
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Old 04-22-2009, 10:52 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paintbing View Post
^ not sure how the cam could have bent/warped from me wrapping it in bubble wrap and letting it sit in a box for 2 weeks...
cams can warp this way. cams should be stored on end.
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Old 04-23-2009, 02:40 AM   #14
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It wasn't the cam. I put my stocker back in and it too was stiff.

I ended up wet-sanding the journals on a progressive scale - 220, 320, 400, 600, 1500.
took me about 2 hours, but I managed to get it loose enough to where I could turn it by hand easily.

Thanks!
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Old 04-23-2009, 07:34 AM   #15
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Since you've effectively resurfaced the cam bearing surfaces, you might wanna plasti-gauge them for proper oil clearance. Just making them easy to turn doesn't mean that you haven't gone too far.

By chance, did you check the journal diameters of all the cams and compare them? Maybe that head had abnormally small cam journals to begin with, and your new cams are a bit bigger. Size stampings should confirm it, but I don't know the codes used.

Jay
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Old 04-23-2009, 11:12 AM   #16
paintbing
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No, I didn't measure the diameters of either the cam or journals. I was lacking the micrometer to do so.

I should re-mention that the 'new' cams are not 'new'. I used them for 15K miles already. It's the new head that is differnt. I used my stock cam in the new head and it too was tight. The motor is back together, and I am pretty confident that I have the proper oil clearance.
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