Im in the middle of putting my engine back together. I pretty much redid the whole top half of my engine when i ran into a problem.

As i was putting the cam sprocket bolt back on, i felt it cross thread. I totally forgot to chase the threads on the camshaft and now im gonna replace it.

My question is, can i replace it without changing the head bolts, gasket, etc?? I just torqued down the brand new head bolts before i ran into this problem. Do i need to replace the head gasket and head bolts if i want to change the cam? or can i reuse the head bolts and just try not to move the head? Any help is appreciated.

 

Um......I'm going to say yes. I had to do this on my V6 for a different reason, but on the recommendation of Ted at engndldr I reused the headbolts that weren't rounded off and reused the gasket. As long as the motor was never fired up, I was told it should be fine. And, after several, several thousand miles, it still is.


On the other hand, how bad did you bugger up the threads? You may be able to just repair them with the head still on the motor.

 

Good to hear! from what i can see, the threads are pretty bad. its almost flat. I also forgot to add that its a 22re. I got a new cam so im gonna work on it tomorrow. I just wanted some input on it. Thanks for the response.

 

You mean "don't fire up the motor with no head bolts"?

 

I agree. If you never ran it then it never heat cycled. You're fine.