cam gear warning!
cam gear warning!
This is a long story so i will first get to the main point. I got some cams and gears put in a week go and I ASKED to keep the cam gear cover on for more of a sleeper look. For all you who are running fidanza cam gears and keeping the cam gear cover on my cam gears were rubbing bad and eating away at the cover from the inside causing my car to stall and misfire.
So heres the story i got the cams and gears put in and kept the stock cover on and ever since then i noticed that my car would stall out and bog when i would accelerate at times and always did so when i would shift at high rpms. so i got it tuned last saturday i still notinced that it would stall. So i thought my plugs might have gone bad so i got some new spark plugs and installed them on sunday. As i'm going back to school i give my roomate a ride and i still notice that my car is still stalling at high rpm shifts.
So i did not drive my car until thurday when i went back home for the weekend. So i ended up going to auto zone and get a diagnostic check and it read that my car was midfiring. So changing my plugs and spark plug wires several times and runnng my car and i still had the same problem only i think i also have a boost leak since my gauge would read 0 at times when i would start the car ans stay there for a until i would drive my car around a bit then read vacuum. now yesterday i changed my wires back to stock and put in the iridiums and lowered the boost and it was driving normally but i did not try any hard shift and high rpms> later that day my cousin with his srt-4 and i went to the track last night. i ended up running my car at 19lbs of boost and my gauge ended up reading and acting right until i ran my car at the track. my first run i ran a 13.7 with a crappy 1.9x 60 ft and bogging and hestitating 2nd 3rd and 4th gear shifts. So i bought some tools with me just incase this happed and i ened up changing to my magnacor wires only to run a 14.1 with a 1.9x 60 ft and bogging and hesitating worse every shift again.
So i changed back to my stock plugs and lowered the boost to around 15-16 lbs and only ran a 14.0 and still hesitating all my shifts. so i go back to the parking lot and i thought maybe a cam gear cam loose and was slowly getting looser and looser since the problem only got worse and worse. So with the motor hot as hell i took of the cam gear cover and burning my hand a bit in the process. So i look at the cam gear setting and there bot set to 0 and all the bolts were tight but i did notice a black chunky substance on the spokes of the cam gears. i pick some of it up with my finger and its solid and smells like burnt plasitic. SO i'm like WTF and i look pick up my cam gear cover and the inside of it it all eaten up as if my cam gears were rubbing on it bad.
so with the cover off i take another pass any my 60 was good with no burning clutch, and no hesitation between gears i hit a 13.7 at 15-16lbs of boost and almost every run from now on i hit low 1.8's high 1.7 60 fts with no buring clutch smell and no hesitation or bogging when shifting at all. so i go back to the parking lot and turn up the boost to 17lbs and take another pass and i hit a 13.4 with no hesitation between shifts. so i go back the parking lot and give the up the boost a bit more i turn on my car and see my vacuum is acting up again at staying at 0 an my car begins to idle at around 500 rpms as apposed to around 8 or 9 hundred. I drive the car abit until my vacuum hits and i went for another run while running down the track i see that my boost is still only at 17lbs after upping the boost abit. So i go back and tun up the boost again upping it about 3lbs and take a pass down the track while i was running i was watching my gauge and in 1st and 2nd my boost would be 18lbs, in third it would bounce between 17 and 18 and in 4th it would go up to around 19 and 20 so i'm like i really have to have a boost leak for sure being carful shifting like the previous runs i hit a 13.1 with a 1.77 60ft and a trap speed of 103.
so i go back and run again only to mess up my launch and only hit a 1.92 60ft hit my shifts harder again with no hesitation or bogging i ened up hitting a better 13.1 with a trap speed of 106 again with my boost through 1st 2nd at 18lbs 17 in second and 20 in third. so i go back and run 2 more times with decent 60fts but i missed end and 3rd both times. So then the track closed 45 minutes early and i let my car cool in the parking lot for about 1/2 hour before we leave. so get in my car to leave and boost immediately under vaccum. before we get on the high way i hit it and immediatedly in 3rd my boost stayed at 23lbs. so i pull over and lower it to around 21lbs and take of in and in every gear it would hold 21lbs til redline with no hesitation between shifts and my car felt alot faster that what it was running before. so i get home and drive my car this moring and my boost is reading at 0 and the rpms are falling to around 500 rpms.
SO i got my cam problem fixed how do make sure that for sure that i have a boost leak?
So heres the story i got the cams and gears put in and kept the stock cover on and ever since then i noticed that my car would stall out and bog when i would accelerate at times and always did so when i would shift at high rpms. so i got it tuned last saturday i still notinced that it would stall. So i thought my plugs might have gone bad so i got some new spark plugs and installed them on sunday. As i'm going back to school i give my roomate a ride and i still notice that my car is still stalling at high rpm shifts.
So i did not drive my car until thurday when i went back home for the weekend. So i ended up going to auto zone and get a diagnostic check and it read that my car was midfiring. So changing my plugs and spark plug wires several times and runnng my car and i still had the same problem only i think i also have a boost leak since my gauge would read 0 at times when i would start the car ans stay there for a until i would drive my car around a bit then read vacuum. now yesterday i changed my wires back to stock and put in the iridiums and lowered the boost and it was driving normally but i did not try any hard shift and high rpms> later that day my cousin with his srt-4 and i went to the track last night. i ended up running my car at 19lbs of boost and my gauge ended up reading and acting right until i ran my car at the track. my first run i ran a 13.7 with a crappy 1.9x 60 ft and bogging and hestitating 2nd 3rd and 4th gear shifts. So i bought some tools with me just incase this happed and i ened up changing to my magnacor wires only to run a 14.1 with a 1.9x 60 ft and bogging and hesitating worse every shift again.
So i changed back to my stock plugs and lowered the boost to around 15-16 lbs and only ran a 14.0 and still hesitating all my shifts. so i go back to the parking lot and i thought maybe a cam gear cam loose and was slowly getting looser and looser since the problem only got worse and worse. So with the motor hot as hell i took of the cam gear cover and burning my hand a bit in the process. So i look at the cam gear setting and there bot set to 0 and all the bolts were tight but i did notice a black chunky substance on the spokes of the cam gears. i pick some of it up with my finger and its solid and smells like burnt plasitic. SO i'm like WTF and i look pick up my cam gear cover and the inside of it it all eaten up as if my cam gears were rubbing on it bad.
so with the cover off i take another pass any my 60 was good with no burning clutch, and no hesitation between gears i hit a 13.7 at 15-16lbs of boost and almost every run from now on i hit low 1.8's high 1.7 60 fts with no buring clutch smell and no hesitation or bogging when shifting at all. so i go back to the parking lot and turn up the boost to 17lbs and take another pass and i hit a 13.4 with no hesitation between shifts. so i go back the parking lot and give the up the boost a bit more i turn on my car and see my vacuum is acting up again at staying at 0 an my car begins to idle at around 500 rpms as apposed to around 8 or 9 hundred. I drive the car abit until my vacuum hits and i went for another run while running down the track i see that my boost is still only at 17lbs after upping the boost abit. So i go back and tun up the boost again upping it about 3lbs and take a pass down the track while i was running i was watching my gauge and in 1st and 2nd my boost would be 18lbs, in third it would bounce between 17 and 18 and in 4th it would go up to around 19 and 20 so i'm like i really have to have a boost leak for sure being carful shifting like the previous runs i hit a 13.1 with a 1.77 60ft and a trap speed of 103.
so i go back and run again only to mess up my launch and only hit a 1.92 60ft hit my shifts harder again with no hesitation or bogging i ened up hitting a better 13.1 with a trap speed of 106 again with my boost through 1st 2nd at 18lbs 17 in second and 20 in third. so i go back and run 2 more times with decent 60fts but i missed end and 3rd both times. So then the track closed 45 minutes early and i let my car cool in the parking lot for about 1/2 hour before we leave. so get in my car to leave and boost immediately under vaccum. before we get on the high way i hit it and immediatedly in 3rd my boost stayed at 23lbs. so i pull over and lower it to around 21lbs and take of in and in every gear it would hold 21lbs til redline with no hesitation between shifts and my car felt alot faster that what it was running before. so i get home and drive my car this moring and my boost is reading at 0 and the rpms are falling to around 500 rpms.
SO i got my cam problem fixed how do make sure that for sure that i have a boost leak?
Last edited by redevo58; Jun 13, 2005 at 03:04 PM.
Thanks for the warning.
I think its pretty common knowledge that you have to trim the gear cover when you do cam gears. You may wanna check your timing belt to see if it took any FOD damage.
A peice of advice on your boost guage would be to not tap the vacume line after the Fuel Pressure regulator. Or you will experience the symptoms you describe.
I think its pretty common knowledge that you have to trim the gear cover when you do cam gears. You may wanna check your timing belt to see if it took any FOD damage.
A peice of advice on your boost guage would be to not tap the vacume line after the Fuel Pressure regulator. Or you will experience the symptoms you describe.
how in the world could you not hear the gears hitting the cover?? I trimmed my cover before I installed it back on when i put my cams and gears in and it was still hitting just a TINY bit...i just needed to shave off another 2 or 3 mm from one spot on the gear cover...
just the gears hitting that ONE little spot on the cover (at idle) I could hear it from inside the car...i dont see how you couldnt hear it hitting since you didnt trim the cover at all
just the gears hitting that ONE little spot on the cover (at idle) I could hear it from inside the car...i dont see how you couldnt hear it hitting since you didnt trim the cover at all
