legacycentral bbs

I really screwed up guys... I gouged up the Cam shaft when I removed the seal tonight. I used the self tapping screw method and scraped the shaft in two places when I pulled the seal out using Channel Lock pliers. The two spots are right where the seal would be in contact while spinning so I can only imagine how quickly the oil will begin to flow out again if i put everything back together without fixing this. UGH!! I'm so mad at myself right now!!!! This is the 2.2 SOHC in my wife's 96 Legacy AT AWD.

I will never use the Screw method again! And I'll be much more careful if I ever get to do this again!

I'm reaching out to all you folks for suggestions on fixing this problem. Please give any and all thoughts.

I've already thought of 3:

1) Replace cylinder head or rebuild it with new cam
2) Sand down the affected areas very gently with increasing numbered grit metal sandpaper( finishing with 800 grit or higher) until the gouges are gone. Problem with this is that now there'll be a slight flat spot which might cause the seal to leak also
3) Use an cam end sleeve that would cover the affected area and return it to smooth condition. Speedi Sleeve is one brand name I researched a bit. I'm not sure if they have one that will fit the 2.2 Subie heads but it's an option until it isn't.

Are there any other ideas? How have others solved this problem? Any issues with the three solutions I've come up with?

This is my wife's car you guys. She wants it back soon. Help me figure this out.

go to the junk yard and snag another cam

How badly is the gouge? If it's not too bad, I'd just sand it down, otherwise I'd concur with Chris, grab another cam.

Speedi-Sleeves or Redi-Sleeves actually work pretty well.

If you haven't already resolved the problem, is there any chance you can take a picture to show us the gouges? If they don't go too far into the housing it might be alright if you just file down any sharp points.

OK Everything is back together. I ended up sanding down the affected part of the cam shaft until it felt somewhat smooth. I've taken pics but can't seem to attach them to the post. Anyone know how? Let me know and I'll add the pics for your flaming pleasure!

the pics look bad at first, then after sanding they look better but still not perfectly smooth...I was afraid to take off too much material from the camshaft to steel mating surface. No leaks so far. I replaced the PCV valve also just to make sure the pressures stay as low as possible.

In other news, I replaced the 2 cam seals and o -rings, the crank seal and the o-ring in the oil pump and resealed that also so the front of the engine seems very dry now and I hope it stays that way. Now to attack the oil separator plate.

You have to host the images on another site and then post the link. You can use Imgur.

You may already know this, but there's a new design for the oil separator plate. You can get it from a dealer. The new plate is made of steel and it's part number 11831AA210. It uses new 5mm (I think) allen-head bolts instead of the countersunk #3 Phillips-head bolts the old one uses. You need 5 regular bolts, part number 800406140 and one bolt with sealant on it, part number 800406150. The one with the sealant goes in the hole that has an arrow pointing at it.

From when I did my motor, our motors don't appear to really need that one bolt with sealant on it. It may just be something on the new motors.

Here are the before pics. I'll get the afters when I get home from work.







The white line I drew on the pics is the previous seal line. The gouge is the deepest in front of the line so I'm hoping that I dodged a bullet. I'll get the after pics up later today.