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Cam: Pitted lobes vs. nicked journal

11K views 22 replies 9 participants last post by  K2e2vin 
#1 · (Edited)
So, I just received two D17 non-VTEC cams in the mail. Problem is, one has pitted lobes and the other, a nick in the journal; I'm not really considering a refund since sending it back would be a large percentage of the actual price. I was going to send one in for a regrind; but maybe the one with the pitted lobe is a no-go(don't they just focus on the base area)?

Would the nick cause issues; even when smoothed out(hard to see in the pic but it's about 2mm long and maybe ~0.25mm deep)? Anyone with experience?
 

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#3 ·
It's a camera phone; I can get better pics with it but didn't really spend much time(I'm sure if there's a way to attach a tripod to it, it would help immensely). My Kodak camera is much worse(even in macro mode).
 
#7 ·
When I received a cam that was pitted, I called up Delta to see if they could fix it(this was like 4 years ago). They said absolutely, so I sent it in and got it back looking like new a week or 2 later. IIRC they only charged me $50 to repair...although that may not be worth it with an OEM cam.
 
#9 ·
Was that for just one lobe or the whole thing?

I mean, I have a Y7 cam that I could use, but with a Honda ECU. The whole reason why I wanted to go with the D17 cam is to run a D17 cam gear to use as a TDC sensor.

just send those pictures to whoever is doing the regrind. The nicked one gets my vote though.

-Jay
Yeah, I'm about to shoot Delta an email.
 
#11 ·
Cam core OK !

The little bit of damage that is located on the bottom of the lobe will get removed during the the grinding process, and the little nick in the mail will just retain a lil extra oil and will be polished and verified prior to us sending it back if we are doing the regrinding. There are a bunch of cams that have oiling groves cut in them from the factory, so that one is good to go.
Out rule of thumb is if there is > 90% of the main still within factory spec then yur good to go after verification from us.
 
#13 ·
Are you talking about the broken cam?

Trust me, it's pitted. The picture is just one area(it's on other lobes...that one seemed to be the worst); but looks like the scrape marks probably came afterwords(it may be the lighting, but in person it does not really look scraped up). There's rust on some of the other lobes too.

This is also the first stock Honda cam I've seen pitted; the other one I had was aftermarket....maybe just proof that Honda's quality went down in the later years?
 
#16 · (Edited)
Post a better picture cause I do not agree with you.
There is no way in hell I will believe that a factory honda cam has pitting.
I spent hours roaming around the breakers and did not find a single cam with pitting.
It could be surface rust. Which caused the issue. If you like I will pay for the shipping send it to Delta and lets see what he says.


This is pitting. Post a pic like this. (Shot with a crappy iphone camera)
Delta what do you think about the pitting on this cam is it normal ?
 

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#17 · (Edited)
I really don't care if you think it's pitted or not; I know it's pitted: I've took similar cams to machine shops and they say it's pitted(John West, T-Hoff, HRT), etc(I've even sent one to Crower). You can Google-image "pitted cam" and see similar examples. Regardless, I can't use it how it is. If you're talking about the side of the lobe, I actually had a cam that's similar to that Bisi cam; but it never broke(I believe a local member is running it in his LeMons car). Until this day, I have no clue what brand it was but was told it was a Crower(but they say it's not theirs). One thing though; is the other pitted cams I had; it was more in the middle so it would catch oil. It seems like since this is on the side; it would shed the oil thus leading to the deep scratches(the "messed up" area is deeper than the scratched/galled area).

If you're inferring it came from Honda like that, you're wrong, it's a used cam. All I said was this is the first stock Honda cam I've seen like that; It's possible later castings are more susceptible to pitting/galling because many K-series people have seen this too.

If you pay shipping, packaging, plus my time, I'll send it. I didn't even get a chance to send out my other cam today!

These pics came out the best(poor lighting; pictures on the Nikon PnS camera came darker or too bright); two other intake lobes that were bad, two that look like they're starting to pit(coincidentally on the left side too?)
 

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#18 · (Edited)
Ok I thought you said the Stock Honda Cams come pitted from the factory. This I wont bite. Cause we have had them analyzed and they are very well cast with zero pitting from the casting process.

Pitting can happen two ways one in the casting process and two with faulty use and rust. I know for a fact Honda Cams do not come with pitting from the casting process. Something External has to cause the pitting. I have checked out the following cams to see for casting pitting and found none, Crow, Crower, Skun2, Blox and many more. None have pitting from casting process. Pitting from casting should not even exist on a Billet cam.
Off all the after market cams. I have found the metallurgy on the Honda cam to be the best.
 
#20 · (Edited)
These cams *look* pretty well made from the factory, but the 92-95 VTEC cams are just impressive! RDC, have you guys analyzed any newer cams(01 and newer)? Reason I ask is specifically the K-series guys starting to see cam issues(it's speculated that some people could have pitted cams and not realize it); I'm not sure if it's limited to all K-series or just the early ones(around 01-03; most are seeing it at higher mileage).

It's cool man; I'm sending the one with the nick out for a regrind, and I'll just save the other for a hard-weld in the future.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean it can't work.

I wasn't planning on trying to get a refund due to the shipping cost and it was still a good deal(I figure I would be able to use the pitted cam in the future, but wasn't sure about the nicked one; but it makes sense that as long as it's smoothed, it'll just fill with oil). The point of this whole thread was which one would be better to use. I had simply just let him know; if anything no one would even know it was him that sold me the cams if he didn't say anything about it. If I were in the same position, I would like to know if there's a problem with my parts.

It all worked out fine. I'll be sending the nicked one to Delta for a regrind and just saving the second core for later in the future(larger hardweld)
 
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