How bad is my camshaft problem?

[therris]

88 Festiva LX, 130k miles, manual 5spd

I'm currenly replacing my camshaft due to it cracking at the dowel. When I pulled it from the car I noticed the housing for the passenger side journal was rubbed quite a bit, as well as the journal on the camshaft itself. See pictures below. Is this a huge problem. I've got a nice salvaged camshaft from the scrap yard and am ready to put it in, but will this just eat away the new one too? I hoping the new one will just sit nicely and the rubbed metal will just mean more oil will lube everything and all will be well.





I guess what I'm asking is, should I expect more problems down the road?

Could this be the source of my sprocket bolt snapping? It seemed that there was enough oil in the journal for it to be well lubed, but my camshaft was a bit harder to remove than the one I pulled in the salvage yard.

How would I remedy this? How would I smooth the inside of that journal housing?

[festivaWES]

I would spring for a new head.....no way that one journal can be milled smooth again.

[Dave G]

If it was mine, I'd put it together and see how it worked out... The bearing surface is milled in the head, so the only way to fix it is a new head; what a pain, eh? You may well luck out and be fine. If you don't, all you'll be out is the used camshaft.

[roycehof]

Therris,
I would go back the Junkyard and pull the head that cam came out of and be done with it. This way you know the cam and head have worked well together before and I fear that the the replacement cam in you old head may have some issues "mating" to each other. If this was in a shop, they wouldn't take the chance of putting a cam in that head. Get the orignal mating head to the cam and I think you'll be happier in the long run. Changing the heads on these car isn't too bad.

[smokin fastiva]

i agree!!

[therris]

I'll look into that. Problem is I found the scrap Festy down in San Antonio over the weekend. I'll have to hope it's still there with the head when I can find the time to get back down there. We'll see.

[FestYboy]

pull the head and replace it, the scoring in your picture is deadly. a machine shop MAY be able to fit a sleave into the journal, but i'm not promicing anything. besides, it would be cheaper to buy a rebuilt head off of eBay than have a shop work on it.

[miami man]

festyboy is correct. my bearings in my old 350 moter looked like that and i had to replace them.

[therris]

Alright, I got off work Thursday afternoon to drive down to San Antonio to get the cylinder head in hopes it's still there.

What socket do I use to remove the head bolts though. My Haynes manual just says "appropriate" socket, and the bolts are kind of funky looking. So I just use a metric socket that works or is there a special socket I'm supposed to use I can get from AutoZone or something?

[FestYboy]

you need a 12mm 12point socket and a breaker bar.

[therris]

Don't know if mine was special but it needed a 13mm instead of a 12mm.

[mattswabb]

Don't know if mine was special but it needed a 13mm instead of a 12mm.

I have yet to come across a stock bolt/nut on the Festiva that uses a 13mm. Most are 10, 12, 14mm.

[therris]

I bought a 12mm 12 point, got to the yard and it was too small, but my 14mm 6 point fit it, so I went back to Sears and exchanged the 12 for a 14. Got back out to the yard and the 14 was too big. Went back to Sears for another exchange for the 13 and it fit just right. I was thinking the same thing though. Who puts a 13mm on anything.

[Dave G]

Well they aren't really proper 12 point 13mm bolt heads... there is some special socket out there somewhere, but I couldn't find it :?

[festivaWES]

I thought it was 13mm 12point too., but i could be wrong. I think a 12 point reverse torque is the proper socket.