Tale of woe that ends in probably needing a new camshaft

[bloogrssgrl]

Hello all,
Long time lurker - first time posting.

I have a 1999 Impreza with an ej22 motor. While doing recent maintenance of belts/pulleys/seals that included a cam seal replacement (that didn't actually need to be replaced but "While we have it apart..."), the driver side camshaft ended up with a gouge in it when the old seal was being pulled and now it leaks for real.    Sigh...
So now we have a project on our hands. I didn't find any other threads addressing this so, if I missed one, please help with the link to it and we'll gladly peruse the discussion and come back to this with any questions that might not have been answered.

In the absence of that, some questions before we get started:
Ordering a replacement camshaft...recommendations? (The bone yards in our neck of the woods have pretty slim pickins so getting a used one is iffy.)
Any tidbits of information, oddities, etc that would be good to know about doing a camshaft replacement on this particular motor?
And though I shudder to even write this... while we have it apart, recommendations on any other items we should address? (Motor is at 140K and, other than this particular issue, no problems.)

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated.

[GeneralDisorder]

Use a small "ignition points file" to clean up the gouge, optionally fill the damaged area with a little metal fill epoxy (JB weld, etc) and file/sand it smooth. I would do this with the cam in the engine still but depending on your skill level maybe you should remove it. It's just a seal surface and it just needs to be smooth. 
 

GD

[bloogrssgrl]

Thanks for the input. We did file it down but it's a pretty good gouge. Hubby wasn't sure if filling it would work or not and was hesitant to do all the work of pulling it apart and having it fail again.

Although, we're actually getting pretty good at disassembling and reassembling now...

We'll give this a try and see how it goes.

[GeneralDisorder]

JB weld is amazing stuff for certain applications. It can easily support the load of a Viton lip seal.

 

I have used it to repair gasket surfaces many times. Especially pitted manifolds, and block/head surfaces where coolant has eaten the metal away and filling is really the only viable way to save the part.

 

GD

[idosubaru]

Can you seat the seal "more" or "less" deep to a more preferential area of the camshaft (least amount or no amount of damage?

 

I'd expect a smooth and even finish to work most of the time as well. A filler is easy enough to try, give it a go if you have to. Is that up to the task of sealing a moving surface long term?

[Silent Bob]

Check with your local NAPA.  They may have a speedy-sleeve available for it.  They're meant to fix just this sort of problem.

[GeneralDisorder]

A speedi sleeve might work but I doubt they have one listed for this application specifically. You can measure it and buy a sleeve almost for sure but I doubt this poster has the tools and experience to measure and order an industrial shaft repair sleeve and make that work. 

 

If you do, loctite 609 

 

GD

[lostinthe202]

I don't know what a speedy sleeve is, a shim basically right?  But any kind of shim is going to require material to be removed from either the cam or the sea so that the same geometry is maintained, right?  Or am I not understanding how that works?

[GeneralDisorder]

A shaft repair sleeve is a very thin sheet metal sleeve that presses over the shaft and creates a new surface for the seal. They do change the OD but with lip seals the dimension isn't very critical so a slight enlargement isn't a problem in practice.

 

GD

[lostinthe202]

A shaft repair sleeve is a very thin sheet metal sleeve that presses over the shaft and creates a new surface for the seal. They do change the OD but with lip seals the dimension isn't very critical so a slight enlargement isn't a problem in practice.

 

GD

Ah, gotcha