front cam caps not fitting correctly
 

C
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...72209fd18.jpeg
an anyone tell me what I am doing wrong here.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c801fdfc6.jpeg
That’s not from a Miata motor. They shouldn’t have those recesses as far as I know, ignore the yellow circles, just grabbed that from Google.

That’s not from a Miata motor. They shouldn’t have those recesses as far as I know, ignore the yellow circles, just grabbed that from Google.


Weird, they fit on the posts and they have the E and I engraved on them like the rest of the caps. I wonder what these are from then, If I buy other ones will they even fit with my head?

They might, and you might get away with it. The "posts" you mentioned are dowel pins. They locate the cap in exactly the same spot every time. Cam caps are torqued to the head, then the entire length of the camshaft bore is bored to the correct diameter. Any time you rotate or change a cap out, you risk it being out of alignment and causing massive damage to the head. Best bet is to assemble and torque the cam lubricated, but with no lifters installed. It should rotate freely by hand with no rough spots.

It looks similar to these caps, you can compare them better than I can though:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/151699762504

I see, thanks for the info. I guess now I just have to find the two front caps for sale.

I think my machine shop may have just given me back the wrong set of caps considering the bolts don’t thread either. Do the rest of the caps look correct or also wrong?
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ed14b83b6.jpeg

No those don’t look right.

yes, go back to the machine shop....they owe you a new head or the correct caps.
chances are your caps are in someone else's head...and maybe they already ruined them.

Thanks

Appreciate all the questions you’ve answered on my posts curly, thank you. The actual camshafts do look correct though right?

Edit: I only ask because I can’t find the grooves that are supposed to be on one cam for the CAS, are they just on the end of the cam?

They are just on the end of the cam, yes. If the cams are in place roughly for that picture, then no, they don't look right. The hexes in the middle of the cams should be in the same place, right behind the #1 lobes.