Well, in March I installed some S3R cams in my roller rocker motor:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/1-11.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/2-11.jpg

I ended up blowing the headgasket in May, no more than a few hundred miles later. The car has been sitting since then. It still ran, so I moved it a couple of times over the past few months.

What I didn't realize- the water mixing with the oil was causing the cams to rust. Starting the engine was grinding the rust into the lobes. :(

I was going to trade another forum member for S4s tomorrow, so I took them out. I immediately saw they were trashed. After cleaning them up, they look even worse. :(

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/1-22.jpg

4 of them have light damage:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/2-21.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/3-17.jpg

A couple of them have moderate damage:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/4-18.jpg

A couple of them are really bad:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/5-15.jpg

There was also some damage on one of the ends:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j14/daveswiss01/Project/6-14.jpg

I did a couple of quick searches and I guess my best bet would be to run them by the machine shop to see if they can be salvaged.

Yeah have the shop regrind them. They won't be as aggressive, but they'll stll be better than stock. Make sure you get the lift/duration numbers from them after they grind them.

Sorry to hear it, man
Rick

I bought a set of cams JUST like those. They were S4s so I tossed them in a beater I had at the time. The beater had a clean motor and it ran great. I pulled the cams out and the had cleaned themselves up just from cutting into the cam caps on a different motor. If I had S4s to trade I would still trade and not worry one bit.

Some people would ship those cams like that....good on you to be honest.

Thanks for the feedback folks.

The forum member I was going to trade with may still be interested. He's going to call JWT tomorrow and show them the pics if possible.

If we trade I'll throw some cash to be fair. Any suggestions on compensation?

im not sure how jwt actually makes there cams, if there reginds or if they car cut from factory blanks...

if there regrinds this is very typical. i know with a lot of the honda cams people see this. when companies regrind cams after there finished they put the cams through a process that harnens them, this process can eventually cause them to deteriorate much like your cams look like. ive seen some skunk2s do this.

:( dang dude.... that blows

JWT does use factory blanks, so it's not a regrind issue. I'm 100% positive it was from the rust.

Suck! Too bad you can't just toss them in the B12. :)

yea hi.. those cams can be fixed.. like .. tomorrow..

get a very fine grit sand paper an dab a bit of wd40 on which ever lobe you will be working on then sand away in a slow caution manner.

well if i was looking for S4's(which i think i may be in the near future), this wouldnt bother me. its not like its pitted deep. the caps cover the whole lobe, so its not like it wont open and close properly. glad that you were honest enough to post this. ad someone will buy em from you anyways so dont sweat it.

I had some highport cams I bought that had damage like that... Used some soapy steel wool then wd40 to clean them up and had no problems. This was on a DE


http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f254/xxtokesxx/1998%20Nissan%20200SX%20SE-R/92%20Highport%20Cams/IMG_0864.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f254/xxtokesxx/1998%20Nissan%20200SX%20SE-R/92%20Highport%20Cams/IMG_0868.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f254/xxtokesxx/1998%20Nissan%20200SX%20SE-R/92%20Highport%20Cams/IMG_0867.jpg

Those cams can be hard chromed and ground... I have done this to a few sets of cams to either fix them or make them a little ore aggresive.. Get them hard chromed and then reground they will be better than new..

Erick

Your lucky man... I had the same thing happen to me (low milage head gasket blew trashed one cam) Except i killed the part that doesnt lope... and looked ALOT worse that that...

Good for you for being an honest seller :biggthump

well if i was looking for S4's(which i think i may be in the near future), this wouldnt bother me. its not like its pitted deep. the caps cover the whole lobe, so its not like it wont open and close properly. glad that you were honest enough to post this. ad someone will buy em from you anyways so dont sweat it.


:iagree: the pitting is not too deep...I'm no cam expert but after installing mine, I dont see how it will affect it much. +1 on honesty :biggthump