Carbon steel welding Cam lobes so they can be re-ground?

[sniper]

Anyone ever hear of welding on Carbon steel to cam lobes in order to add material so that they can intern be reground into a desired high performance spec with no need for shims and so on?

 

[gloverman]

Yes but I try to avoid them if billets are avaliable which they are for 1UZ. I have had some race cars with built up cams - on one they cracked and the cam needed to be replaced. Also it is recommended running only mineral oil which limits oil choices. Cheers

 

[Toysrme]

They are typically just shaved down to the profile you want, then re-shimmed to fit.
Yes it is semi-common common to re-weld pitted, or worn lobes when having cams re-ground. Or when having re-grond cams prepped for a racing duty engine. But you will pay a penalty for such work. Going rate is like $40-50usd a lobe.

When you re-weld cam lobes, you are suppose to use an extremely high nickle content filler. This will make it the machined surface very hard & durable.


That's what I remember about regrinding cams anyway, FWIW.