cam shaft overhaul

when i bought my bike i picked up 2 tea chests of spares and the elr frame from the seller,
now i was digging around in the boxes looking for anything usefull and found a set of cams these were off his drag bike he said they were high lift and so on, anyway they look like crap to put it politly they have been sand blasted by the look of them and then left to rust for a few yrs, the shinney parts lobs or what ever the correct term is are dull and could do with grinding or polishing is this worth it?
shall i junk them?
if the work is affordable for me (disabled stays at home with daughter) ill try to rake in some money some how as i allways wanted better cams to complement the rest of the engine mods ive done over the last 16 yrs.
if so anyone here able to do it?
or recomend a affordable guy to use.

if you need a pic to see the condition let me know ill hobble out with the digi cam and pull them out of the oil tray there in and snap some.

measure up the lobes and if they are decent just polish the journals with 600 emery and go for it. They can be reground but I don't know the cost. Too much most likely. You need to know the lift and duration. Then youll know if the compression ratio of your motor is compatible with the "high lift cams". If they are long duration there will be a drop in compression. Maybe 30 or 50psi or more. If you use them, and they are for ratios of 12 or 13, might want to advance the intake to keep compression. That may mean your valve clearance will be less than the minimum and would then require cutting the piston tops. Valve to valve clearance may come close and would need to be checked. As long as there is nothing flaking off the lobes and they are all the same shape i dont see why you couldnt polish them. They are exremely tough and can take alot of abuse. I remember someone complaining about the surface flaking off web cams, and that they do a poor job of treating or whatever. Im sure that he had more than one round of problems as he stated as much, and included others that had the same problem. If there was a problem im sure it has been more than corrected since that period of time.

there are definate pit holes in thes lobes from rust
which means re grinding or filling with weld,
or what ever they do to add to the lobes so emry paper wont cut it i feel.

Post edited by: kano, at: 2006/11/04 18:48

Any other info on them,Kano?
Anything stamped on the ends?
And yes...pics would be good,Bud,so We can help identify them.

ill take some pics tomorrow.
new i would have too lol,
the ole back is killing me from the cold
here right now didnt see any markings
but ill check and stick a vernier on them too.

If the lobes are pitted I would not use them.If they are High lift you will need new heavy springs and under bucket shims.

way back in the 40s -50s a lot of camshaft companys started out by taking stock cams and welding them up and regrinding them.the same thing with stroker crank shafts ,im not sure how cost affective it would be today though cams are cheaper than machine shops in my experience.another problem with trying to polish the lobes is im guessing camshafts have a certain amount of hardening built into lobes like crankshafts do and a good chunk of it gets worn through from normal use,if you start polishing on lobes you might polish right through whats left.not to mention you could change the lift on each lobe just enough to where they dont match which would cause issues for ya too. :whistle: goodluck,appy wrenching!

well i know you guys ar right
re working these cams isnt worth it
so ill start looking for a new head
and cams to boost my performance
ill do a dyno run so i have a benchmark
to compare with.
thx.