I'm looking all over for a quality 22re camshaft that is to the factory specs. So far all I've found is performance cams and Chinese-made stock cams. Does anyone have an idea where to get a good quality stock camshaft for a 1988 22re? Thanks!

 

You can try contacting 22reperformance.com. They regrind OEM camshafts back to factory specifications for their stock heads and engines, so they might sell you just the camshaft if they have enough cores to regrind.

 

I actually have talked to them recently they have a shortage of cams, unfortunately. : (

 

Give these guys a call https://deltacam.com/

 

I pulled mine off a vehicle at Pick Your Part. Better a used oem than a new one from China. Easy to remove and inspect before buying.

 

Delta cam seems legit, I talked to them. I will most likely use them, thanks for the recommendation.


Did you have it reground?

 

.No, but I did polish it pretty well with 3000 sandpaper, then 0000 steel wool. But it was pretty clean to begin with.
I did pull the valve cover three times during the first few hundred miles to make sure it was wearing properly.
I'd seen lengthy instructions on how to break in cams, which kinda baffled me, as it was something we never worried about ages ago. But I think the cams from China are prone to horrible wear. I went to a friends garage and we got to talking about the Chinese aftermarket cams and he showed me two 3vze cams that actually broke in half during break-in.

 

Yeah I think the concern is from old days too even when cams were good quality. Every older guy I've worked with on cars always says the same thing about breaking a cam in, high rpms to get oil up there and zinc. So I believe that initial break in period is of big importance. The one you grabbed from the yard not so much, already worn in I suppose.

 

True, but more with the domestics regarding break in. About the only time we had to bore a Toyota block for oversize is when scoring occurred, very rarely did we see the piston lip develop.
I think the bad wear on the aftermarket cams is more common on loaded heads. I think the aftermarket valve springs and valves are a contributing factor. Regarding the breaking cams, well, that's all on the cam.

 

I watched a piece of YouTube content that showed camshaft manufacturing in Pakistan.
Paying close attention to what they were throwing into the melting furnace, I was really shocked to see the crap that they called scrap metal.
There was no quality control at all.
The boy loading the melt pot at one point threw in parts of a lawn chair, and 5 old style typewriters.
I'd like to see the results of the Rockwell test on that mystery alloy.
Art.

 

What really pisses me off is that it's got very hard to avoid the chinese/pakistan and all the others that crank out junk to sell over here and our sorry government allows it.
Often as not when I buy old American brand name parts (Raybestos,AC Delco and Cloyes) to name a few it ends up when I get it and look at the box carefully it states made in china usually in small print and in some out of the way place on the box like they hope you won't notice it.

 

The inexpensive aftermarket parts do have their place. Not a bad option if you just want to get something running to sell it.