03 cobra, camshaft journal

[Kwik03DSG]

Hello, I have some questions regarding some damage that occured to my heads during the installation of my shortblock/fuel system/Whipple and tuning...

long story short, I called to get an update on my car, then when I got some unclear feedback, I went to the shop to discover this....


*will post pics momentarily*

 

[suaveflooder]

Subd for pics

 

[Kwik03DSG]

 

[Ironhand]

Started it without oil pressure. The head and the cams are junk now.

 

[horspla2000]

Yep, oil pressure problem for sure. Unfortunately, you have some scrap metal now. :0(

 

[Kwik03DSG]

Now is there any other way this would occur? Or is what you guys are telling me the lack of oil is the main way something like this would occur?

Also is there any way to repair the head? I ask because it's ported with ferrea valves, comp springs and retainers.. Gonna cost a pretty penny to repair out of pocket... the shop is stating some debris got in the head from porting and caused this (even though it was thoroughly cleaned, with no loose debris when I inspected it, prior to dropping off at the shop for installation)
So I would have to pay for it.

That really bites because I dropped the car off for the motor install as well as my fuel system and tune 4 months to the day ago. Haven't touched the car, as it was in the process of acquiring the finalized tune (this occured during "free rev" datalogging)
And this occurs...

What would you guys do in my predicament, if this occurred during the installation process and they asked you to pay for it? Would you peruse legal options?

 

[racebronco2]

I have been thru this a couple of times. If debris was in the head it would not cause three journals to be wiped out. Without looking closely to the pictures i am almost certain it the drivers side intake cam. The front tower usually.

My head has about 20,000 miles on it since the cam bearings were installed. I have saved two other 2v ported heads that local machine shops say can't be fixed. There is one shop local whom specializes in just cylinder heads. Most of their work is installing cam bearings in import engine. They even work on diesel heads that are cracked.

If you look at the front cam surface you will see it has a bevel to it. If the bevel is damaged they cannot fix it.

 

[Kwik03DSG]

I have been thru this a couple of times. If debris was in the head it would not cause three journals to be wiped out. Without looking closely to the pictures i am almost certain it the drivers side intake cam. The front tower usually.

You are indeed correct it is the drivers side intake cam.

And yes 3 journals getting trashed simultaneously from "debris" sounds fishy at best... If not complete horseshit.. Don't really know what to do next..

 

[racebronco2]

You need to determine why there was lack of oil. The drivers intake cam surfaces get oil last. If the bearings are wiped out then one or two of the rod bearing usually spin.

 

[Kwik03DSG]

I have no clue why there was lack of oil. The shortblock is a brand new MMR 1000 that has only maybe 90 minutes, 2 hours of run time and the car has been backed in and out of the shop. Zero miles of street time.

Are you serious that the rod bearings might have spun?

 

[racebronco2]

Yes, i spun a rod bearing and found the cam journals messed up. Twice. Second time it was my fault because my friend told me to check the cam bearings. The second time i only had 500 miles on it.

 

[racebronco2]

Did MMR do the headwork?

 

[Kwik03DSG]

Did MMR do the headwork?

No, a guy out in Houston did the work. He's on SVTP, screen name is sjallen. Did a hell of a job on the port, I heavily doubt it was anything he did. Rather the shop ****ing up the installation of my shorblock/heads and Ford GT cams at some point and passing the buck along to me.

 

[Kwik03DSG]

soooo... anyone have any suggestions about how I should address this with the shop? or just eat the bill?

and does anyone know who repairs these kinds of issues? not about to toss out a fully built/ported head without trying to save it...

 

[racebronco2]

soooo... anyone have any suggestions about how I should address this with the shop? or just eat the bill?

and does anyone know who repairs these kinds of issues? not about to toss out a fully built/ported head without trying to save it...

You should first see about what kind of deal the shop will give you. Like i said debris in all 3 journals, it's very doubtful. You still need to have the lower end checked out. Unless you can actually find the cause it will be hard to prove what went wrong. I am not saying it's the shop's fault but the excuse they gave you doesn't make sense.

 

[Scotty B]

Did they pre-oil the engine before start up? Also, were the oil post still installed in the cylinder head? these prevent the oil from draining out of the head over time. Even on an engine that has already ran, just removing the exhaust cam will drain the oil from the head and lead to scuffing.

I have repaired cam journals on my heads with bronze insert. Its not easy but it has wotked.

 

[vr4]

oil starvation or lack of assembely lube. on other engines ive seen head gaskets misinstalled/wrong gaskets that will block the oil feed.