Check out pictures of my Cams

Pulled the carbs to send toe Billy Carr, decided to do the valves while everything is open wide. Here are some pics of the cam lobes on the rear of the engine. One of each lobe, the the engine rotated and 4 more.

1984 VF1000F

Anybody see anything wrong with the lobes?

 

Manual says to remove all the oil pipes if you have to adjust the valves (all are tight, of course..). Is this actually necessary or is it for some convenience?

Should I be checking anything with the cam chains while I am in here?

 

Im not sure but I think you should be concerned about the gaping hole in the middle of a few of the cam lobes :tongue:

 

Cam lobes look in good condition to me. Is the mileage on them low? Some of the photos are not focussed on the lobes though so it is hard to tell.
No idea about the oil pipes. Never seen that mentioned before. Certainly never touched them when I did my 500.

 

I think they look fine. Never have removed oil lines to do valve adjustments, but I'll have to say, it would be nice if they weren't there.

 

You have the wrong end of the stick, Matey, as cam wear happens on and around the sharp nose of the cam while your photos mostly show the backside, which never wears at all, not a whisker !



Cam bearing surfaces show a few lines but no serious wear.

I'm no expert on antiques, but i think maybe Honda added the oil hole on the back of the cam to minimize wear......after initial failures ??

 

6 out of 8 are lobes? On the balance of probablities I'd say the OP has nothing to worry about.

 

As others have said, looks good in there... Cams are never going to look like they've just dropped off the miss, especially with a few years service... Those look fine though...

 

Well, after adjusting 14/16 valves I got to the very last cam lobe. Front left cylinder, intake. A little gouge on this one. Not sure how bad this is compared to other guys who have had this issue, good thing this is just a third bike that I rode two or three times a month.

 

Someone would have to be an engineer or metallurgist to say exactly what went wrong there, which i'm not smart enough for.

Seems unexplainable that the defect would not have any wear tracks following it. How did a nasty bit of metal debris get in there, and what did it do to the surface of the cam follower ? Probably, cuz the defect is on the highest pressure point of the cam, destroyed the follower.

The cam bearing surface at the right of the lobe has a discolored, rough, oil-starved appearance in the photo, possibly overheated.

 

that is a rust pit if the bike ever set for a long period time and the head condensed some water and it pooled on the cam thats what happens.. at least in the many years i have worked on motors thats been the explanation.. i would inspect the follower and if itrs ok then just order a new cam or get it reground if you get it reground get a performance grind on it woo hoo you would be amazed what the performance grind on the 1ks cams does its like 4 pieces of bacon for breakfast instead of 2

 

I really wouldn't worry about it. The mileage you will do will determine if it will get worse anytime soon. Just keep the clearances adjusted and use decent oil. Keep an eye on it now you know it is there and just ride the bike. The hassle of changing camshafts or getting it repaired just isn't worth it IMO. It wont affect the performance of the bike in the slightest. This of course assumes you want to ride the bike. If you want to tinker with the engine then fire away and get searching Ebay.

 

Here's a brief description of lobe pitting.

http://www.tribology-abc.com/poll/case07.htm