I just randomly started my JCW after sitting for about a week. The noise I heard is what I assume is valve lifters. Quite noisy. I pulled the valve cover off and had a looksee. The lobes seem to be very rough and pitted as well as some of the rollers. Is this a half common failure? I have heard of a similar issue with a rocker but that created a missfire. This was smooth running just loud clatter. Recent salvage purchase so I don’t know the service history. I have inspected the supercharger and it has been recently rebuilt. I do want to do a 17% pulley but I got to get the cam issue figured out first. I assume all it needs is a cam and rollers? If so, what performance cam can I use without tuning? My knowledge on cams is a little low

 

You sure that car has never been flooded? That nasty mess suggests oil failure or starvation to me. It's a first.

My first inclination is to suggest that you develop a profound mistrust of the engine condition, and before putting a dime into the car take the time to prove to yourself that it isn't going to prove an unreliable money pit.

Compression and leakdown test would be one way to build back some confidence. I'd want to know oil pressure if possible, just to get an indication of bearing state (and oil pump).

I'd inspect the sump for metal, pull a main bearing cap and visually check the lower end if possible.

You do have fresh oil in it right? Did you see what came out of it?

Sorry to be such a bummer, but those pictures are pretty alarming.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

I haven’t done anything with the oil yet other than just topping it off. Only slightly low it was. But yeah, I do intend on inspecting it elsewhere to. No flood/water damage reported to carfax to my recollection

 

Noo..! NOT a water problems..!

For whatever reason, you HAVE just had a cam lobe surface breakdown. The hard surface (heat treated) was most likely not deep enough. It's normally .025' to .03' thick. BUT it's not uncommon to have the hard surface t be only a few thousandths thick and eventually start pitting.
It started out with a few very small pits in the hard surface of the lobes some time (many miles) ago. As you continued to drive the car, the pits grew both in size and quantity, until you have what you have now. This is where the rough (stippling) surface came from.
I have a motorcycle with the same problem on an exhaust cam (twin cylinder, twin cam), but I caught it in the very beginning stages during a valve adjustment. While I was sorta lucky, the cam is still trash and needs to be replaced. New cam on the shelf, just haven't replaced it yet. The any good part with mine, I don't have a lot of metal floating around in the oil, or resting in the bottom of the oil pan in the form of fine dust..

I would remove the oil pan and clean it well, when you replace your cam AND rocker arms. If you look very closely, you'll see pits in the roller of the rocker arm.

Mike

 

Would there be any risk of farther damage to anything else if its driven a little before I fix it?
Forgot to mention it has 150k miles

 

Well...the more the engine runs, (on the street or in the driveway), the more tiny flakes of metal will continue to come off of the lobes. Hopefully, the oil filter will catch most of the metal, but....
That in itself isn't too big a problem since it's already a big problem...
BUT what is a problem...is those little flakes of metal that are floating around in the oil that the filter doesn't catch, and tearing up other parts of the engine..! Not unlike just throwing a hand full of sand into the oil pan...NOT recommended..!

I would drive it as little as possible. If you need to drive it, I'd change the oil...again, and I'd also go buy some neodymium (strong) magnets and epoxy a couple of them to your oil pan to try to capture as much metal as you can, to get it out of the oil.

I recently figured out that the stock positraction unit in my car is broken. I bought both magnetic drain plugs (trans. AND engine), and a couple of high strength magnets and bonded them to the trans. case to hopefully pick up any particles or larger pieces, until I can take the trans. out and clean any broken pieces out of the case. I changed the trans. oil, and looked carefully, while I didn't see any metal particles, I know that when bigger parts break, they also leave smaller, tinier parts behind too.

Mike

 

True… by positraction I assume you mean LSD? That makes me curious about mine because it does make a little noise in turns while on the throttle.

 

Just let the clutch out quickly from a standstill on clean concrete. About 2500rpm, and let the clutch out quickly. Don't let it snap out, like side stepping the pedal, but a quick raising of your foot.
The tires will leave a mark as they OR it spins..!
That's how I found out mine isn't working. The OEM design isn't very strong. Well part of it is plenty good, but those four LITTLE tabs that actually lock the system are a ****-poor design.

Mike

 

So I been looking around on ECStuning for parts. Would I need to replace the rocker arm axles? Or just the cam and rockers? I would also like to go with a mild performance cam but I’ll have to gather some knowledge to know what to get

 

Ok...I just looked at the ECS site.
The "axle" as they call it would more normally be called a mounting shaft in ALL other forms in the auto industry..!
You would need to remove the rocker arms and inspect your current shaft to see if it has been galled and or scratched beyond use under each rocker arm. This might be caused by the cam particles in the oil.

The roller wheels NEED to be smooth and scratch free on the surface, or they should also be replaced so they don't damage your new cam.

Mike

 

For the cam, I’ll probably go with the RMW from Outmotoring. I just need to figure out if I want the 246 or 250 cam

 

I have the 246 and my friend has the 250. I love mine. He loves his.
The 246 starts increasing power at 2500 rpm and the 250 at 3000 rpm. Seems the difference is it shifts the added power up 500 rpm.

Mine feels like a turbo car at lowe end but doesn’t run out at high rpm. Best if both worlds.
If you get the 250 you’ll have to probably dent the spark plug tubes. It’s real close tolerance.

 

jj -

Is your feeling on the two cams, from dyno tests or seat of the pants feel ?
Another question, what, if any is any power increase or decrease below 2500/3000 rpm, vs. the stock cam ?

Mike

 

It’s seat of the pants feel. For my car it was a resurrected parts car so I can only compare it to my daughter’s R52s. I’d say a little.

I asked my friend with the 250 and says maybe a little.

 

jj -

Thanks.

Mike

 

Unfortunately I’m seeing tones of cam failures. So many that I’ve started a “crap cams” album on my phone.

if looking for used - you can grab one out of a W10 (R50) if you are able to find a good one.



This one was mated the roller below


This one was mated to chunky cam above

 

Crap cams lol

 

What do we think boys? The rocker axles good? I decided to take it apart farther to inspect before I order anything. Seem fine to me but I want someone else’s opinion who’s done this before. I do like how easy it is. I had it apart and back together in less than an hour! Curiously enough though, it has stopped making the loud ticking noise

 

Poo. The pictures uploaded in lower quality

 

Well, I’ve decided on the RMW 246 cam. After 2 defective rockers and shipping complications (thanks fedex), I finally got it done today. Does seem to be slightly peppier in the lower RPMs. But now there is a very slight whirring sound when I rev it.

ps. When I was searching about resetting the chain tensioner, I was made aware of the rattle they can make. The guys video sounded just like my intermittent noise.

 

So now that you've been driving on this cam for past 6 months, how do you like it?

I am interested because I noticed the cylinder 1 exhaust lobe on my camshaft has that pitting similar to your original camshaft (not as bad though) last January when I replaced my valve cover gasket.

Now that I need to pull my head, it will be convenient for me to replace the camshaft and affected rocker(s), so I've been doing research on what I might like. I sort of leaning towards RMW 250 right now.

 

Can’t say I’ve felt much difference with it. But that would depend on other mods to. It does create a strange whining noise though