Hi all. I need some advice. I received a head that was damaged in shipping. The exhaust cam gear was broken, the shroud on the front of the head was bent, and one of the intake manifold studs was bent.

In no way is this a reflection on who sold it to me so don't get the wrong impression. What I am concerned about is whether I should attempt to use the head. I am not sure if the collision with the cam gear could have damaged the cam and the journals it rotates on. Do you have any suggestions/tips for inspecting these parts of the head?

I'll submit some pics later once I am on my personal pc.

 

I bet you wish I sent your head. Ask Ben how his looked when I sent it to him....

 

What was the medium for shipping?
Was there shipping insurance?
What company shipped it?
What was the declared value?

PICS!!!
"exhaust cam gear broken" doesn't tell us if a tooth is chipped or the spokes are cracked, or if half the gear is missing

 

I bet he wishes that anyone who took time and went through a valid postal service along with an insurance claim & perfect packaging sent it.

 

UPS
Private Sale
Declared value = not sure (I didn't setup the shipping myself)

The gear is still in one piece but it is split open.

I talked with UPS and they are going to send someone to inspect it.

 

Scott did a very good job.
When I ship out a head, I wrap it up with stretch wrap, then I wrap it with special bubble wrap designed for heavy items, then go with stretch wrap again. I then put it in a double layer cardboard box that I got expressly for shipping miata cyl heads, shore it up with more cardboard so nothing can shift in transit.

So far I have a perfect 0 damage record. Though I have had a few parts go missing. :(

 

Bear in mind that if additional insurance was not paid, the maximum that they will pay out is $100. That ASSumes that they deem that the packaging for something as big and heavy as a head was "adequate".

 

I am not very concerned with the bent stud or the bent shroud which can both be replaced. The cam gear is disappointing. My main concern is whether the head or cams are warped. If I brought it to a machine shop would they be able to tell me if it was warped?

 

it sure does reflect on the seller.

for what it's worth, partsgroup bolts the head to a piece of particle board on the bottom to act as a sacrificial component. it hits before the head does.

 

If they can't then I think it is time to start shopping around for a new machine shop.

 

That is actually a good idea.

 

So far the seller has been working well with me. I will let you know what I find out about the condition of the head.

 

the cam gear and stud can be replaced. I'd very carefully inspect the cams and journals and see what's salvagable.

 

Dude, that **** was dropped. Hard. Having worked in shipping, I know first hand how people treat boxes and whatnot. Looks like it fell right off the back of the truck onto the pavement when being unloaded at one point. That's nothing the seller can prevent, although Ben's method could have saved the cam gear. Makes you wonder what isn't visibly damaged.

 

Damn what shipping company shipped that? Gotta make sure to avoid them.

 

That is what I am thinking. I found out that we have insurance on it for the full cost of the head. I just hope I get an inspector who understands how precise the head needs to be. It may not look damaged but it very well could be. If I do get the full insurance I will be in search of another head.

 

If they jerk you around over it, take it to a machine shop and get them to write on a letter head that the thing is trashed. May not help but, it couldn't hurt.

 

Actually, while I've given up on a couple heads I probably could have used in the past, I'm with the other poster - while I would make the insurance pay you for another gear, and to have the stud changed - really, I've got several gears sitting around my garage, I'm sure you could find one cheap (or get adjustables, since you're going to build a real motor anyway you'll want this! OEM price on a gear would buy you a fine adjustable), and a stud will set you back a dollar. Checking to see if the head is flat is 1 minute of work, perhaps a pressure test would make sense there too.

Basically, if the bottom has no real marks on it, and the cams turn over smooth (you could plastiguage under the caps), there's no real issue. I don't see anything in what you showed which would keep you from using this. Hey, don't feel bad, I built two motors due to stuff like this, only set me back an extra $800 or a k and now any weird noise I hear I can swap motors in a weekend.

 

I actually removed a few of the caps on the exhaust camshaft and found some small metal flakes. Is this normal? The Exhaust cam pulley was the one that was smashed.

 

I doubt the metal flakes are from the smash, but that's not at all typical. Likely from the motor it came from (was this grenaded?)

At this point, I would highly recommend taking it to a shop, let them inspect and clean it.

If you want to get some tools together, you can do it yourself - buy a straight edge and some plastigauge with the money you would have paid someone else to do it - but either way, if there's any metal anywhere (is it magnetic - i.e. steel or alum?), you really want to clean it out.