Hey guys I am working on rebuilding a 3.8L iron block from my V6 firebird. The cam has been sitting in my garage for over a year and now has rust in half of the lobes. Is the cam damaged beyond repair or can it be fixed? How can I fix it? and what should I pay close attention to?

Thanks for you help.

 

WD-40? that should take it off but I dont know how it will effect the cam. Try maybe even a gun cleaner then take the gun cleaner off really well with clean lint free rag. Apply motor oil to a different clean rag and wipe the cam down really well.

If its anything more than surface rust, toss it.

 

Yikes. Let us know how it goes...

 

is it just a stock cam??

 

Yeah it's a stock cam that has what seems to be surface rust. I will take some pictures of before and after and post when I am done.

Thanks for your inout bowtiekid.

 

if there is no pitting when you clean it up you should be ok, i have run a cam that had surface rust that cleaned up good an in old sbc

 

agreed if there is no pitting i dont see why it should be no good.

 

What is SBC?

 

Small Block Chevy....lol

 

Cam lobes are "micro-polished". If you can see the rust, it way too late. Try asking forum member "Vettenuts".

 

Uncle John, what kind of issues could I expect if I were to remove the rust from the lobes and use the cam as is if the lobes are micro polished?

 

call around and see if any local shops regrind cams. I know some do it over in my area i think one guy only wants like $60 and he will add duration to the cam or more lift to if you would like. So you end up getting more power out of it anyways. Give that a shot.

 

Just clean off the surface rust and you will be okay to use it. It will not effect the cam in anyway.

 

Photo? Hard to tell by description.

Since the hardening is not very deep, rust depth could be beyond the hardening depth depending on condition. Guess the real question you have to ask yourself is how much is a new GM cam (discounted from a supporting vendor, I found it for $315) and is it worth risking the rest of the motor rebuild for that amount of money. Any doubt at all and I would just go new. If the cam is no longer available for some reason, then it may be worth trying to salvage.

 

Try to find that cam used, you might be able to get one really cheap!

 

emery cloth

 

I just finished cleaning the cam using a dremel with polishing stainless steel brush with WD-40 as the lubricant. It only took 30 minutes! It cleaned up real well and all the lobes are smooth to the touch after removing the surface rust.

I apologize guys but I could not find my camara to take a picture of what the picture looked like before the rust removal procedure.

Thanks for your help guys!

 

awesome glad you got it clean!!

 

No problem,

Glad it came off fairly easy with tools you had around the shop instead of paying someone. Now coat it with oil so it wont do the same thing!!

 

Already Done.
Won't let that happen again