Would you put THIS cylinder head on YOUR engine?
 

Alright,

I bought this cylinder head last week, and it arrived a couple days ago:

https://www.miataturbo.net/miata-par...-%24100-66768/

It is cracked, and I was planning on having a professional fabricator from work weld it back up. But, when I took it apart to clean it, I noticed that the cylinder #2 cam bearing was destroyed. All the other cam caps show signs of embedded particle damage, but the #2 exhaust is toast - with both the cylinder head and camshaft being damaged.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1341658652

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1341658652

So, quoting the seller from a PM he sent me:

"I jsut talked with my mechanic. He said the head should still run fine after the cracked is fixed. In fact, the head had been running in my car for a year. I had no problem with it. at this point, since the head could still run fine after cracked is fixed, i would not accept return."

So, ignoring the crack in the cylinder head - would you put THIS cylinder head on YOUR engine?

Not with that damage.

Can they be line honed?

Sorry, I do not have a dog in this fight but I deal with heads daily.

I have heads in my scrap pile with less cam tower damage.

There is not enough material left in the cam tower picture for a align hone or bore.

The cost to have it align honed would cost more than the head is worth

I would concider this a parts head at this point, pull the valves and springs and send the head casting to the scrap yard to be recycled.

If the seller reads this, I would have to say the mechanic did not see this damage, or if he did he is a fool. (also the short block this head came off should be pulled apart and have the oil galleys cleaned, and the oil pump inspected for metal trash and debris )

This is just my .02 cents

Not with that much damage.

+1

Yea. I bought one from a local guy that looked about like that. I trashed it and bought another. Before I bought the next one I had the guy take the cam caps off and send me pics. You could weld the journal up and then have it line honed / bored but you would need to find a new cam. Buy the time you were done with that you would have WAY more in it that it was worth.

The seller has now closed the original for sale thread. I assume because he was not really feeling support from the community.

Agreed^

Here are some pics from under the camshaft:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1341770683

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1341770683

As you can see, the oil supply port for the cam bearing is covered up with mangled aluminum, so I assume this was going to be catastrophic soon.

Also note the scoring on the #3 exhaust cam bearing.

Or because he clearly listed the fact that he took a vise grip, and clamped it on the cam to remove or install his cam gear.

If you paid with Paypal, hit him with a dispute. Box it up and ship it back with certified mail.

wow. so i wounder if it was making noise on the top end? i have seen far less make alot of racket.

And that caused this damage, how?

not the cam damage, but generally just dumb.

Outch!

No. Paypal dispute time.

wow thats pretty awful... how does that even happen

it's kinda what you gotta do to install one. but I'd use a wrench sized for that spot on the cam and not let it torque up against the head wall.

me too, works just fine... I/we even had one that we ground/filed to fit really good on there just for that.

If he never said anything about the cam and cap in the ad, can you dispute it? The mechanic probably didn't take the caps off.