Has anyone ever put bearings in their head for a cam? I took my head into the shop today and the mechanic said that the head is shot because the middle journal (bearing spot) has a decent groove in it. That was the only reason. The whole freakin head is toast because of one little groove, no core. The head probably has less than 40,000 miles on it. Seems to me one could put bearings in the head and reuse the head. The mechanic thought that would be more expensive than just getting a new head. Thoughts?

 

What motor? Not that it matters, yes when they scored theyre toast.

Scoring could be a sign or an oiling problem too.

 

Your mechanic was correct there are no replaceable cam bearings.

Yes you could spend way more then a complete new head with a cam and oversize valves machining your head to be able to use cam bearings .

In fact if this is the 22rec I would bet you could buy 2 maybe 3 brand new built heads

Since it is really not cost effective I really don`t know if anyone has done more then just talking about it in a abstract way.

 

Are there any flow benefits when just bigger valves have been fitted to a normal 22R-E head or is the flow hampered by any material in the combustion chamber?

On the old small block Chev's that was the case when going from 1.94x150 valves to 2.02x1.60. Without getting rid of the material hindering flow you were just asking for worse off idle response/torque and worse MPG without much gain in overall torque and horsepower.

 

Good, well good that the mechanic is accurate and that I needed to get a new head. The engine is the 22re out of a 94 4wd p/u.

I'll essentially have a rebuilt engine with new head with port and polish, bored cylinders a hair over, new stage 1 cam, balanced, crank needed a little work, and the rest of the usuals for a rebuilt for $1695 + $300 (for the head). I was hoping to not to spend that much, but I almost rebuilt the thing myself with out the block being prepped, which I think would have been a mistake. Plus I probably would have only saved a few hundred if I did it myself and I don't do this stuff for a living (which is good,... and bad). The professionals know where to cut corners.

Thanks for the help.

 

http://www.lceperformance.com/22R-Ca...-p/1023001.htm

Hans

 

Well crap. LCE makes it look like its no big deal. I'll contact them and see what the cost is for a bore on the journal's. Seems pretty straight forward to me. With cam bearings and some machine work, will it be less than $300?

Thanks for the insight.

 

Don`t forget to figure in the shipping both ways as well.