hypothetically speaking...............
if one were to disassemble a motor's head not marking the order in which the cam caps came off.....how would one go about figuring out which order they go in for reassembly?
hypothetically speaking that is:rolleyes:

i know if this were to happen, all the arrows face the front.

~leon

Doom!

Try to match the score marks on the bores or sludge patterns...

Good luck,

_SHig

If you can't figure it out, just install the cams with no gears/timing chain, and see if you can turn it. As long as it turns freely you shouldn't have TOO bad of a problem. If it doesn't turn keep moving the caps around till you can turn it freely.

The cam caps are already marked by the factory. They are numbered and have arrows showing which way the caps should installed. It's fool proof.

They're not exactly numbered man. They have dots on them, but they don't go in any specific order.

Maybe he's thinking rod caps. Those are numbered for sure...

_SHig

My bad, you guys are right. The caps are not numbered, only indicators of intake or exhaust. The numbered cam caps only apply to VE.

Doom!

Try to match the score marks on the bores or sludge patterns...

Good luck,

_SHig

oh noooo, dont say that!!!

so hey, what if i pop the VC off another sr20 for something to go by. might that help me?

ugh...hypothetically that is:rolleyes:


thanks for the help so far!!!:biggthump

or what about if i go pop the VC off another sr20 like say....from a junkyard, and take the cam caps from the motor.....keeping them in order. well no that wouldnt work, the caps would be worn differently from one motor to another right? or would it work?

that would work...If I were you hypothetically speaking, I would take the cams too ;)

edit: will not work :(

Well, I'm not certain, but I believe that the cam caps are bored and honed in place with the head, so they're technically "matched". You're gonna want to keep them together as much as possible.

p.s. i will be installing s4's when this all goes back together.....will that make any difference?

All the cam bearing surfaces on the cam itself are *supposed* to be the same size. As shig said the caps are bored and honed when they are assembled on the head so you should try to match them the best you can.

So.. How good did you clean them when you took them off? Most of the time you can see the outline where the oil spray bar bolts to the cap so that should narrow down a few of the guesses. Someone also mentioned above about trying to match and of the scoring marks on the inside of the cam cap. This should also help a little..

I wish I knew how to decipher the little dot patterns on them that would make this a whole lot easier!

Mike

DO NOT take cam caps from another motor and put them on your head. Trust me on that one lol. Do as I said and assemble it till the cams turn freely.

DO NOT take cam caps from another motor and put them on your head. Trust me on that one lol. Do as I said and assemble it till the cams turn freely.

i can second that. i had 2 ga heads disassembled and put the wrong caps on one head. went to start the car and the cams didn't move.....but the timing chain did. bye bye gear teeth...hello new engine. 2 morals of the story...don't ever get in a hurry when working on a car and do not use cam caps from another engine.

DO NOT take cam caps from another motor and put them on your head. Trust me on that one lol. Do as I said and assemble it till the cams turn freely.

This is true, DPR sent me back my head with the caps from an other head and I can't turn the cams. 2 months later I am still waiting for my caps. If you are lucky the caps from another head might be OK but most of the time it won't work.

ah gees....i need some advil...it's just one headache after another putting this motor back together.

well, on the bright side.....i still dont have "all" the parts. but damn, i almost have all the parts. i hope not to be holding all my parts waiting to assemble and swap on some stupid crap like this......although it is my inexperienced fault! live and learn the hard way....thats for me:rolleyes:

thanx all,
any more advice is always helpful.
~leon

ah gees....i need some advil...it's just one headache after another putting this motor back together.

well, on the bright side.....i still dont have "all" the parts. but damn, i almost have all the parts. i hope not to be holding all my parts waiting to assemble and swap on some stupid crap like this......although it is my inexperienced fault! live and learn the hard way....thats for me:rolleyes:

thanx all,
any more advice is always helpful.
~leon

well you can narrow a few of them out at least. hypothetically, the intake and exhaust caps are mixxed or separated? assuming the at least in 2 groups. do the exhaust 1st. iirc, there are 5 caps. the one for over the dizzy is a dead give away at least! so down to 4. match the oil tubes to where they belong. hopefully theres some marking on the caps outlining the oil tubes. so that should leave you with say 2 caps to guess at!?

well you can narrow a few of them out at least. hypothetically, the intake and exhaust caps are mixxed or separated? assuming the at least in 2 groups. do the exhaust 1st. iirc, there are 5 caps. the one for over the dizzy is a dead give away at least! so down to 4. match the oil tubes to where they belong. hopefully theres some marking on the caps outlining the oil tubes. so that should leave you with say 2 caps to guess at!?

well that theory would help, but thinking about it today.........i remembered i sold the intake cam.

just went from a 150 piece puzzle, to a 1000 piece puzzle. DOH!

did i mention that i have s4's? is that gonna help me any?

The cams themselves won't matter.