Hi,

Unfortunately it seems that I have purchased some Toda cams on eBay which have heat damage. They had surface rust which I got off, but then left these marks. The cam seal end looks fucked but there is no cuts into the material. It's all smooth.

See pictures below.







What do you guys think?

My guess is that the engine was run with either F--d up lifters and or bores that did not allow them to rotate on the cam. Somebody had to really work hard to screw up the cam mounting gear surface. Dave W

yeowtch! the first picture looks like someone dragged a grinding disk between a couple lobes.

I want to say those look very similar to how my cams looked when I found out the hard way that the PO had used RTV blue to help seal the head gasket, blocking the entire oil passage to the head and cams.

I would maybe take them to a shop and see if they can polish them for you, unless you feel like tackling it yourself.

Hard to tell much from pics... the important thing to determine is if there has
been any loss of metal from the surfaces (pitting, spalling, scoring). If there is
no loss of metal that can be detected with a fingernail, the marks may just be
staining from some kind of chemical reaction.

If the surfaces seem smooth, do some work on the marks with green scotchbrite
or fine steel wool and WD40, and see what happens. Maybe try some fine grit wet
and dry paper with WD40... nothing coarser than 800 grit, and don't go crazy as
that stuff will remove metal from the surface, and you don't want to start changing
the shape of journals or lobes.

Cams are lubricated by running on a film of oil, so very minor surface damage
(marks that cannot be felt) does not mean that the cam is unusable.

Cheers... jondee86

PS: Might be worth measuring the journal diameters to check for wear before
investing time in cleaning them up

Thanks Jondee86 and Sgt, will do.

I cannot feel any of the marks with my fingernail. I will measure the cams to make sure they are all the same diameter.

However, would you feel comfortable using these in a freshly built engine?

If a close inspection showed no signs of wear beyond some light scoring of the journals
and the journals were all within factory spec diameter, I would consider using them. But
I would investigate the coloured marks to see if they had any depth. Have a go at one of
the marks that is outside of the running area for the cam seal... see if it comes off with
a bit of effort using scotchbrite or 800 grit wet and dry.

If it comes off with just hard rubbing with scotchbrite or light rubbing with the wet and
dry, then it is only surface discolouration. If so, I would clean off the worst of the marks,
make sure all the surfaces were smooth, and drop them in. New cams are expensive, so
it's worth investigating further before you decide to throw them in the bin.

Cheers... jondee86

PS: Your pictures make some of the journals look like they have been attacked with a ball
pein hammer !! If they really are pitted/dented then throw the fuckers out.

Alex170984 wrote:
However, would you feel comfortable using these in a freshly built engine?

we are judging based only on photos.... with that as the criteria.... I'd look for something as a replacement

This is the offending article

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ae86-Toyota-T ... 7675.l2557

The numbers on the end of the cam, they are lift and duration yes? I was told they were 7.9mm but it seems they are 9!

Those cam pulleys are not for a Toyota, look to be Nissan maybe RB or CA engine type.

they are from Fensport.

http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_2 ... ry_12/2060