Pulled Off Rocker Covers

[Proximity Motorsport]

Hey,

pulled off rocker covers to get painted and found my cams are rusty. Car hasnt been running for about 6 months...

any idea if this is okay or not?

cheers

[TokyoTaxi]

That is "NOT" going to be OK

Bypass the re-grind and either get some new or 2nd hand ones IMO.

[Proximity Motorsport]

can i get a confirmation on that by some more people?? Is that because the rough surface will cause premature wear on the valves and possibly cams?

[2rismo]

My non-rusty great-condition standard ECR33 RB25DET cams are for sale for $200. You should NOT use those cams. Where does the rust go once it wears off? Into your engine. All bad.

[DRD-00F]

DEFINATELY not good.

Cams are an instrument of precision, you don't want any weaknesses. You can probably buy some non-rusted second hand ones out of a car being stripped on the forums, or buy some pon cams... but you do NOT want to start the car with that!

[Proximity Motorsport]

just rang my local tuner and he said to pull them out, and give them a hit on wire wheel buff or with some 800 grit wet n dry. Anyone have any objections to this?

[Travis Trayhern]

yeh mate got an easyer option lol, it will only be surface rust just go get some wire wool and clean them up no biggy but put some cheap oil in it and oil filter run the car then drop the oil and replace it it will be right.

[Travis Trayhern]

  Travis Trayhern said:

yeh mate got an easyer option lol, it will only be surface rust just go get some wire wool and clean them up no biggy but put some cheap oil in it and oil filter run the car then drop the oil and replace it it will be right.

hangon just looked at the pic abit closer lol might have an issue on ya hands try clean them best ya can but if there are any indentation left on the lobs after clean just throw them out and get some others.

[Proximity Motorsport]

  Travis Trayhern said:

hangon just looked at the pic abit closer lol might have an issue on ya hands try clean them best ya can but if there are any indentation left on the lobs after clean just throw them out and get some others.

Okay just spoke to a reputable shop down south in brisbane and they have told me the same thing as my tuner and this young man have. Gotta try clean them, and if its got any pitting at all, throw away, as the case hardening will be affected.

cheers

[DRD-00F]

You can probably pick up a second hand set for sweet f**k all, means you don't have to scrub away at it either.

I wouldn't trust it, but that's just me I spose

[DAN00H]

it's only surface rust from what I can see. you can get rid of that, but you need to remove the cams to do it properly.

if you are not confident using fine grade emery cloth, then you could take it to a shop. oh - if using a wire wheel, ensure it is brass...

[Proximity Motorsport]

for those of you who were interested to see how i went... i used a scourer, one of those green plastic wool pads for scrubbing dishes in the kitchen, and some penetrene and within 10 minutes had them clean. Then i poured some engine oil over the tops of them.

[DRD-00F]

Hmm... looks alright... spose I'm just a girl then

[2rismo]

So you did it in the car then?

[JAS-25T]

and all those bits went straight into the motor.

lovely.

[Proximity Motorsport]

no im not a idiot. I used a damp cloth and it stuck to that. You can critisise me all you like but you obviously werent here to see how i did it, and you did not see how the rust came off. There is definately no foreign bits in the motor

[tridentt150v]

Actually, some micro porosity isn't a bad thing - maybe the rust gave you that - OK I'm joking.

Some tune shops phosphorise your cam lobes so that they have micro pits in them. This is supposed to be good for oil retention and cold starts.

If you did them on the car, even iif your really careful, I'd still change the oil and filter after a flush or two.

[grem]

i'd probably have not wasted the money on painted rocker covers and spent it on some shiny new poncams, but thats just me.