Damaged teeth on cam sprocket. Repairable?

[Alpha944]

The car has been sitting for some time with the timing gear cover off. Somehow something has hit the cam gear damaging some of the teeth. Is this something that can be fixed with a file and some fine grit emerald paper, or do I need a new sprocket?

[mattdavis11]

I'd stick a dremel to to it, but it's hard for me to recommend doing it. I have a gear I don't need. Someone tried to remove what they thought was a nut/bolt, thus the damage.

[mikepellegrini]

Great pictures; bizarre accident. I can't quite imagine how it could have happened.

The correct and proper answer would be to replace the cam gear.

But yeah, if it was me, I s'pose I'd simply clean it up and call it good.

From the pictures, it looks like it's only two teeth; slightly more than half the length of one tooth and less than half of the other one.

If you look at the way the belt sits, it contacts a whole bunch of teeth at one time:



In this picture, the belt's just sitting there, not tensioned, but it's the same idea. I would guess your damage wouldn't affect the operation.

[bebbetufs]

I would not think this would be a problem in the short term but what about long term wear? Would it not increase the wear and the risk of belt failure?

[Alpha944]

@mattdavis11. please pm me re. price for the gear you have.

bizarre accident.

. Yes. It definitely was not damaged when I installed it after changing the seals. I checked and cleaned every single tooth. I don't understand what has happened. Others do occasionally use the garage where the car is, but I just seems an unlikely place to cause damage. Maybe I've been careless myself, and knocked it with a tool or something!

I do worry about premature wear if I just sand it smooth. There seems to be a coating on the teeth. Would this be to reduce wear? If so, would it not be possible that the teeth will wear prematurely as well as the belt?

Will I be running a huge risk if I run it until its time to re-tension? If there is no excessive wear I can re-tension, if not I change the belt and the gear. Thoughts?

[mikepellegrini]

As long as you leave no sharp edges when you file it down, I don't believe it would affect the life span of the belt.

If there's a coating on the sprocket, it's probably just engine oil.

[Guest765]

Originally Posted by mikepellegrini

As long as you leave no sharp edges when you file it down, I don't believe it would affect the life span of the belt.

If there's a coating on the sprocket, it's probably just engine oil.

file/sand smooth. that is such a little scrape it will never effect the life of the belt, you're supposed to replace them every 3 years or 25k miles anyway.

[Alpha944]

Tanks guys. I just sanded it smooth. I will install the belt tomorrow. I guess I will be alright until it's time to retension anyways. I'll inspect it thoroughly when that time comes.

One more question. What is the torque spec for the three nuts holding the spring tensioner to the block? I can't find it in the manual.

[John_AZ]

15 ft lbs. on the 3 nuts for the mechanical spring tensioner.

Here is a DIY if you need to remove the cam gear and replace the cam seal.

New cam bolt is required! ( should be changed any way to the upgraded bolt):

Bennington Motorsports

GL
John

[mattdavis11]

It doesn't look like a bizarre accident to me. Look at the cam cover mounting boss and the teeth on the gear. Someone tried to get the sob off and had no idea what they were doing.

I charge shipping, Alpha.

[Alpha944]

That's a too good an offer to miss. PM'd

[John_AZ]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

It doesn't look like a bizarre accident to me. Look at the cam cover mounting boss and the teeth on the gear. Someone tried to the get sob off and had no idea what they were doing.

I charge shipping, Alpha.

Good catch.

John

[mattdavis11]

Caught my grammar mistake, but see no PM. If you need it, I can send it, Alpha.

[NINE01]

$9.44 shipped

[mattdavis11]

lol

[Alpha944]

The cam gear was removed, checked and reinstalled when I had the engine out. It was undamaged when I reinstalled it..... It just dawned on me that perhaps this has happened when we hoisted the engine back in the engine bay some months ago. I was under the car trying to guide it into place while some friends were helping up top. They might have bumped it into something or used something to try to pry the engine back onto the drive shaft.

[AA_Ezra]

any recomendations on what brand belt? gates, conti....

[Alpha944]

The jury's out on this one. There have been reports on some failures of the contis, but that may have been down to a surplus of old belts sold on e-bay. There is no real reason why contis should be worse than gates, as far as I can see.

@matt. Did you get my PM?

[mattdavis11]

I got it, can't help you out for a few more days, I'm out of town.

[mattdavis11]

You don't want it, I don't know why I held on to it. Hopefully everything worked out. Sorry man.