Bad cam...

[genesis]

Come to find out that the loud ticking my car was making is due to a worn and pitted exhaust cam. First instinct is to go Schrick, but the one thing that's giving me pause is the cost of new rocker arms; also, the car is completely stock. I may add an exhaust (sec.2&3) later on, but that's probably about it. Would it be worth doing? What about something like a Lang stg 1 head? For under 1K they would do 5 angle valve job and disassembly/reassembly-could have everything done in one shot...curious as to what gains I might see along w/exhaust and tune. My other options are to stay stock and replace the bad cam w/ OEM parts, or source a used head which could be hit or miss. What do you all think?

[robgill]

If the goal is to fix the car, I would just replace the cam. Used stock cams are easy to source and the install is relatively straight forward for an experienced S54 mechanic. This is assuming the current rocker isn’t also damaged.

If you upgrade the cams it starts to get much more expensive quickly. On top of the cost of new rockers, there is a lot more labor involved to install them. The rocker pivot arms come out the front of the head and interfere with the radiator, front clip etc… so those have to be moved. Or, remove the head from the car, which also adds a lot of labor and risk of screwing something else up.

[sapote]

Surprised to hear stock cam pitted. Mileage?
Rocker probably looks bad also. Pictures?

[genesis]

Bought the car with 80K on the clock 2 years ago, at 89K now. Yes, the mechanic said rocker was also worn, waiting for him to email pics.

I'm quite curious as to what actually caused this...I read something online last night that said that there is an oiling hole in the exhaust rocker shaft that is fed from the main oil gallery that, if misaligned would cause flat spots on the cam and followers.

[sapote]

Bought the car with 80K on the clock 2 years ago, at 89K now. Yes, the mechanic said rocker was also worn, waiting for him to email pics.

I'm quite curious as to what actually caused this...I read something online last night that said that there is an oiling hole in the exhaust rocker shaft that is fed from the main oil gallery that, if misaligned would cause flat spots on the cam and followers.

I think you should remove the EX rocker shaft to take a good look: As oppose to the IN rocker shaft, the EX shaft should have a plug at its end so the internal pressurized oil can feed the EX cam bearing journals and after flowing through the bearings, the leaking out oil also lube the cam lobes and rockers. Missing the plug on this shaft could cause oil starvation. All 12 lobes are pitted or only one? oil starvation also damaged the cam bearings.