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Anyone gotten their cam journals line bored?

Josepilove

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2006
Location
Grafton, WI
I am ashamed of what i have to say here... I got a head for free, and before taking it to get fairly extensively machined, i failed to check if the caps i got it were the right ones...they weren't.

Anyways, the machine shop quoted $185 to line-bore, but said it might be an easy job because of the cam location.

anyone have the job done and what were you charged?

thanks!
 
i just called a local shop about having an audi head done. I was quoted $150 for the bore + she estimated $65 for the bearing inserts.
 
is the cam positioned as high in the head as a 530? i don't know much about the process, but i was told the higher up, the easier/quicker/cheaper the job.
 
the cam bore is in the same position. audi/VW uses the same style bucket lifter as Volvo.
 
no. the original caps are gone... these went to a different head...i was hoping they would fit.

also head the head checked out at the shop, its in great shape.
 
Shop around for quotes, but it sounds like you're going to be spending a bit more to make this head right.
 
I'd find another head. It would be quite a bit cheaper...

This.

Another thing to consider:
When align-boring (or honing) mains, or resizing big ends of rods, you have more to work with. Those caps are tiny, and made of weaker metal. You remove metal from the seating surfaces to make them elliptical, then hone out the hole, removing metal from the bridge area, and they will be weaker.
 
i read in an older thread another way is to get caps from a head with aprox the same mileage, are all of them grabbing or just one.

no idea if that'll work, or if it'll cause more problems, but i would at least try it because i'm cheap
 
Yeah I'd go to the wreaking yard and grab a few sets of them and take them home and put them on with a cam and some oil and see how easy the cam then turns. Usually what makes the cam not turn is the head has gotten hot and warps so the top is warped also, but then someone mabey had the head resurfaced so it's then flat, but now the top cam journals are off and bind the cam so check that. This is the reason volvo says if you warp your head don't get it surfaced, get it straightened. I've had that done before. Basically they heat it up and make it straight again.

I've got a couple extra sets of cam caps I could send you for $20.
 
That would make those heads worthless, no?
That would be my thought on it as well. The Volvo OHC heads don't use cam bearings, the machined surface acts as such. Mix-n-matching the cam caps [without having it align-honed after] sounds like a recipe for shortened cam/head life, potentially even shortened engine life if it goes catastrophic and dumps metal into the crankcase or drops a valve.

Saw a 22RE do that once; came into the shop for a no-start diag. The owner did his own head job ~500 miles prior, mismatched cam caps and that resulted in it eating the cam, seizing it to the head and snapping the cam at 3 caps. Funny part was, pop off the oil filler cap and look inside, the front 1/3 of the cam was spinning with the engine as we turned it over. Wasn't until we pulled the valve cover that it was apparent what happened. :omg:
 
Get more caps and some plastigauge. Swap caps around until you get the right clearance. Clean and smooth the transition from head to cap. Win.
 
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