I stored a mild Cam in a dry t shirt after lightly oiling it. Was in the boot of stanza for less than 2 weeks.
The boot leaked and the tshirt got wet.
Can got some surface rust on it :x


So I thought,could I wipe with oil and it clean.up?
Some did but the rest was a little more attached.

I thought about scotch BRITE it steel wool.
Figured wet dry 1200 grit with wd40 may be ok.


It cleaned up ok but im worried the light patterns in surface may be pitting.
Would it be safe to use or as a friend told me it may have damaged the hardening so will most likely chew out quicker. Maybe a year it less.

could I use it or should I send it to Cam place for re hardening or grinding?
Or junk it?

There was already wear on the lobes, it was 2nd hand when I got it with a,shaved u67.

Seems a shame to junk it, I posted this on Ozdat too but a lot if learned guys here aren't on there.

if it were Mine i would bung it in, a week with water on it, shouldn't pit it too much at all,

Personally, I would try to find a cam regrinder in your area. Check with your local machine shops. They should have the means to reharden the lobes. Also, if nothing else, it's still good as a core to a regrinder, or you could have it reground to a different spec. Just remember that if you regrind an L series cam, you will need to use thicker lash pads.

it should be fine but if you want it reground or polished i'd recommend CLIVE CAMS in Ferntree gully,just had my A12 reground [mild street]think it cost $125 including return postage,a polish only would be a lot cheaper
Russ

If you had only used scotchbrite, it'd usually be a no brainer (but it might not have gotten the rust off). But with 'real' abrasives, it's less the case. I'll also note that in the second (cleaned up) pic - it looks like there's a score/groove across each of the two lobes toward the bottom of the pic. I can't say for sure as it might just be the lighting/digital pics making it look like something but in reality it isn't a groove, just a colouration or something (I remember trying to take pics of cams for another forum and it was just about impossible to show what was easy to see with the cam right in front of you).... So i'd be a bit reluctant. Then again, if it owes you nothing, you could always try it.

I would _definitely_ add my name to the list of people (on any forum) who recommend Clive Cams. I couldn't tell you just how good their reputation is, and they earned it fair and square. A few years (actually probably closer to 10-12) ago there was a big issue with lifters from the US that had been ground flat instead of the usual very slight convex shape on the foot. They were lunching cams left right and centre. Some other places didn't check em, and customers cam's were destroyed within a few hours of running. And some of these other cam places wouldn't do anything honourable with regard to replacement. Clive Cams checked their stuff, and their customers (afaik) didn't suffer the same fate. I think at one stage Clive was even contacted about a big job from one of the manufacturers, looking at getting all the remaining lifters that were 'wrong' and machining the proper shape onto them so as they didn't all have to simply be binned. I don't know if they went ahead with that or not.

Anyhoo, when other companies were shafting customers, CLive Cams did rigght by theirs, and ironically (or not) were actually a lot less expensive than the purchase price for cams from some of the other mobs to start with!

I've sort of paraphrased the above to try and condense it, but anyone who happened to be on the moparmarket forums circa 2002 (approximately) would know just how big of a thing this lifter problem was, and just how bad one cam firm (in particular) was in terms of their customer service, production values, quality control and general integrity.

Short version, either try it, or take it to Clive Cams and get their input on it, and if need be, look to them for a regrind if you want to go to a different cam spec and this cam can't be used as is.

What do you mean if I used scotch brite it would be a no brainer John? It would or wouldn't be useable?

Those lines were on there before John too. I think it was set too tight at some point in time before I owned it.

Might try it and save for a new Cam, maybe slightly more agressive than this 733a

Giving your second pic. a closer look, I can see wear where the rocker arm runs against the lobe. The cause of this is lack of proper adjustment. People who don't get periodic tuneups and valve adjustments will see this problem. Back in the days when I worked for a dealer, we sold a lot of camshafts and rockerarms for this reason. If all of the lobes have this kind of wear, it would be a really good idea to have someone regrind the cam and the rocker arms. Rocker arms are just like lifters and should only be run on the cam lobe they were broke in on, as they develop wear paterns like flat tappets do, changing positions will cause accelerated wear.