Cam lobe wear. How much is too much?

[Jacobz]

Well I started tearing down my bike today so that I could fix the transmission and fix some various oil leaks. After taking out the cams I noticed a fair amount of wear on the exhuast cam lobes. The intake looks just fine.

Here is a link to my photobucket, the first three pictures are of the cam. http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k236/deadironrat/


Is this too much wear or can I get away with it?

[waffenampt]

That cam looks pitted or worn pretty good. You will have to measure it with a micrometer and check the specs

[suzukiray]

You need to replace that cam & ALL the rockers on that cam. I have GOOD cams & can get you NEW rockers for 43 bucks each. Let me know if I can help. Ray.

[kevin2502000]

Those look like they have gotten hot, what oil were you using and did it get changed frequently?

[Jacobz]

I've only had the bike for about a month, I have no clue what the guy who had it before was doing (but from the looks of the bike, not much). There is no discoloration on any of the cam lobes though. Does the exhaust cam get a lot hotter then the intake cam?

[Newbie2it]

Nah, the cams run about the same temp. The oil takes care of that. Zukis were known to have some bad cams from around then. My 93 750 did the same thing. The hardened material wore out and it exposed the rough cast iron., Just replace the cam and rockers like Ray said. Are all the lobes on the cam worn like that? or just one or two?





This is a shot from mine, I only has one lobe that lost the hardness and so only needed to replace the single rocker. I still have that cam in fact, Just hung it up on my new garage wall the other day as a momento LOL.

[Jacobz]

Yeah that's what mine looks like (you just have a better camera). All of the exhaust lobes are worn a little although there is really only one that concerns me. The intake lobes are not worn at all.


Do I really need to replace the rockers? They are all as smooth as silk. I'm on a very tight budget (college student).

[Jacobz]

Does anyone know if 91 GSXR 750 cams would work in my 93 katana 750? Looking at the specs I can see they're not as good as 88 or 89 GSXR cams but they are still better (and not damaged) then the cams currently in my kat.

[Court93kat]

91 GSXR cams won't work in your 750. Those GSXR cams have the 8 lobes vs the 4 lobes you have. They do work however for the 600's that have the shim heads.

[RossW]

Weird, my cams are worn way more than that but they are still nice and smooth in the grooves. With roughness like that I would definitely replace.

[Newbie2it]

Here, this will help you with some of your cam questions of different years.

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=75466