I dont know what it is called

[dffusion20]

Sorry guys, I really dont know anything about engine internals but I got a huge leak on my pan and and I ran waaaayyy low on oil. There was still some oil on the stick when I was done. There is a little background info. My mechanic wanted to check the head and we pulled off what looked like to be "half of a circle" holding the cam in place. I really dont know what that is. Could anybody tell me what that is. It has some scratches and discoloration that my mechanic said was not supposed to be there. What is this and can it be remachined and fixed. Thanks for your time.
Alex

 

[tonster]

I am assume you are talking about the cam cap? You could try wet sanding with 1000 grit to smooth the surface a little but nothing more than that. Make sure the oiling hole at the bottom is not clogged. No oil on that cam surface would cause excess heat and discoloration to occur.

 

[1992awdlaser]

It is a cam cap as mentioned above. I would not even try fixing it yourself. The only thing I would do is bring the head to a machine shop and tell them you want it line honed(line bored if a lot of material is gone or the scratches are deep).

 

[dffusion20]

Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get back to your comments. I think I am actually going to be looking at a 6 bolt swap. I wont even try work on the head, I talked to a very wise DSMer and we are just considering a swap.

 

[jjgrizz73]

Please explain this reasoning...

 

[dffusion20]

Sorry again, well my cams, cam caps, and rockers are scratched and discolored from starvation of oil. I have to ports in my head that magically became clogged after I got my car back, and the tourqe specs on the head are somewhere from 14 to 18 and everything was tourqed down to 60 pounds. I am not very wise with anything more than simple bolt on and I got taken advantage of. I did not know that it was a bad idea to have my crank ground down, I was under the impression that he was stroking my motor to a 2.1 but he was really just weakening my crank. It just seems to expensive to fix when I have a 6 bolt at my hand. I think I finally found the right mechanic. He owns a DSM and man is it pretty inside and out!!!

 

[2gawdtsi]

go for it then. especially if itll be cheaper to just get the 6 bolt.