4G93 worn out cam

[fifth]element

[fifth]element

New Member
Hi guys, this is my first post here and I was just after a little advice please.

I've got a '99 VRX sedan with the SOHC 4G93. It's got this ticking sound which after a trip the local mechanic has identified as worn out cam lobes and rolling rockers.
So I'm considering options and this is what I've come up with so far.

New genuine camshaft is going to set me back around $1000 & the rolling rockers about $70 each. So near 2k just for new genuine parts - we'll call this worst case.
I think possibly my best bet might be to find a reconditioned head - I've spoken briefly with Luis from LLT Racing who has said he can supply a complete reco'd head for the SOHC for $580 shipped - sounds good! Actually the reason I contacted him in the first place was to consider the DOHC swap if it's going to cost me ~2k anyway I wanted to just consider all the options. Have any of you guys dealt with Luis and LLT in the past? and what are your thoughts about their work.

Alternatively can anyone recommend another source for a reconditioned head?

I'm also interested in your guys' opinions about the DOHC swap, I know it's costly and if I wasn't needing to replace the head anyway I wouldn't even think about it. I figure it'd cost me about an extra grand overall compared to the single. My budget is steering me away from this option but I admit to the irrational temptation. Are there any major complications with the task??

Thanks in advance for your advice/opinions.
 
in my experience with LLT was years back. maybe 4-5 years ago, bought H4 HID's from them and promised to be there a week, suffice to say it came 4 months after. that is my experience with luie. yours could be different.
 
There Is a mixed bag, many hate, some like, some neither. I would arrange pick up if possible, the delivery is often the issue people have had.
 
For $500 you could probably come across an entire G93 - I only paid $250 for my entire parts coupe that drove aha. Mechanics diag is probably correct but just to cover all bases, the clearances were adjusted to spec? Is it a high km motor/car?
 
Delivery time is not really my concern, I mean, I don't want to wait around but as long as the product is good I'll be okay with it.

If I had the room I'd think about getting a parts car, as it is my car has to live on the street :( and yes clearances were checked and I've seen the wear with my own eyes, car has about 160kms so not too high.
 
I would suggest getting a used / reco head and from what I asked / researched, you are better off turbo charging your 93 for far much greater performance gain vs getting a DOHC head. from what I can gather aswell is aftermarket support for the N/A Dohc is just not there. have a looksee around the forums and you will see guys pushing between 150kw-180kw on the 93 Turbo.


edit: forgot to add that the DOHC head conversion cost VS turbo 93 cost is not far off with the turbo charging route costing 3k or even less if you do things right the first time. I got quoted by luie years ago aswell 2.5k for the head + all needed ancillaries + he's flight and accommodation because im from VIC which was in the vicinity of 5-6k which is not worth it in my own opinion.
 
LaNcE said:
I would suggest getting a used / reco head and from what I asked / researched, you are better off turbo charging your 93 for far much greater performance gain vs getting a DOHC head. from what I can gather aswell is aftermarket support for the N/A Dohc is just not there. have a looksee around the forums and you will see guys pushing between 150kw-180kw on the 93 Turbo.


edit: forgot to add that the DOHC head conversion cost VS turbo 93 cost is not far off with the turbo charging route costing 3k or even less if you do things right the first time. I got quoted by luie years ago aswell 2.5k for the head + all needed ancillaries + he's flight and accommodation because im from VIC which was in the vicinity of 5-6k which is not worth it in my own opinion.
Click to expand...

Turbo is just not an option for me, I'd rather buy an EVO to be honest. From what I can tell getting a reco'd SOHC head from Luie fitted by a local mechanic will run me about $1500. Thing is Luie quoted me about half as much for the labour to fit the DOHC as my local bloke did to install the single, so considering that if anything it would be less work to install a SOHC then the labour should be about the same, right? So according to Luie's figures it should cost closer to the $1100 mark to have the job done (If I was in Sydney and had him do the job).
Maybe if I shop around mechanics a bit I can find someone who can get me a better price, either way the DOHC would cost me a total of around $1000 more which means I won't be doing that at this time (I was only considering it if it was going to be a similar cost).

So what I really need is alternate sources of SOHC reconditioned heads for comparison and recommendations for reliable mechanics (preferably on the south side of Brisbane) who can complete the task. I'm leaning towards a reco'd head from Luie would leave me with no regrets, I suspect he is able to offer such a competitive price since he somewhat specialises in Lancers and so far no one has had anything negative to say about his work other than wait times.
Obviously budget is my main issue here, I need this to not cost me a mint but at the same time I don't want to cheap out so bad that I end up with something substandard.

Thanks everyone for your input
 
From memory a dohc setup from LLT is mad unreliable. Ask Harry lmao.
 
Im a bit late on the scene but I assume the '99 still had adjustable rocker clearances. How was a rooted cam diagnosed? From the ticking? Does it go away a bit when the motor warms up? The clearances are supposed to be checked every 10000 km. I don't do it that often but probs every 20000 km. My 4G93 has 365000 on the clock and still powering on. I could be wrong but a worn cam seems a bit extreme.
 
SA_Dave said:
Im a bit late on the scene but I assume the '99 still had adjustable rocker clearances. How was a rooted cam diagnosed? From the ticking? Does it go away a bit when the motor warms up? The clearances are supposed to be checked every 10000 km. I don't do it that often but probs every 20000 km. My 4G93 has 365000 on the clock and still powering on. I could be wrong but a worn cam seems a bit extreme.
Click to expand...

Yep solid adjustable, a friend of mine is an engineer so I had him take a look at it while he was in town. (I know in the OP I said I took it to the local mechanic which I did but that was just to get a quote for the work + he wanted to see for himself) The lobes on 3 & 4 exhaust have worn pretty bad. 4 is the worst there's a pretty good gouge there that was obvious even to me once he pointed it out, and this has also caused some irregular wear to the roller :(

mr_jordz said:
good condition.
been pulled apart. each part has been cleaned.
Click to expand...

Can you tell me how many k's on it and what made you pull it down and clean it up was there an issue? If you had a shop do it have you got receipts for the work? Also I have to ask why you're not using it yourself? and just to confirm we are talking about the complete assembly?

rigby said:
From memory a dohc setup from LLT is mad unreliable. Ask Harry lmao.
Click to expand...

Can you remember if it was the reco job or the actual conversion that was giving him trouble? If his reco work is okay it's going to be my best option unless jordz comes through with the goods for me.



Appreciate all the input guys, thank you
 
A cam and rockers in better condition than the current ones from a wrecker would set you back about $150 max, The fact the cam is "worn" along with the rollers+rockers within the lifespan of the car, means theres another issue at hand.

Cam's are manufactured from some of the hardest metal available, so to wear it out before pistons, valves, the block, the crack, or anything else means something is wrong - i'd be leaning towards oil starvation within that side of the engine from blocked oil gallaries. Try a bottle of oil flush, and new oil and filter, and then get the replacement cam and rockers. The swap in and out is easily doable if you know the basic's of tools and engines.

Re: LLT; I'm not a fan of his work. His success stories are matched with an equal amount of not so successful stories. I know guys that constantly drove from Melb to Syd to sort out these mechanical issue in person, only for them to be unsolved and them move onto another car. Unsolved issues, undelivered goods, faulty goods, and average customer service dont appeal to me. Granted, there are a couple guys with quick cars based off LLTs work, but if you want to get a replacement head/cam/etc, i'd be looking elsewhere
 
Does the ticking go away after the car warms up? Your best bet would be to get a second hand cam from the wreckers. My local (pick a part) charges like $80 for a cam or about $120-150 for the entire head.
 
donki said:
hand.

Cam's are manufactured from some of the hardest metal available, so to wear it out before pistons, valves, the block, the crack, or anything else means something is wrong - i'd be leaning towards oil starvation within that side of the engine from blocked oil gallaries. Try a bottle of oil flush, and new oil and filter, and then get the replacement cam and rockers. The swap in and out is easily doable if you know the basic's of tools and engines.
Click to expand...
Good observations. Could even be a siezed roller.
 
donki said:
A cam and rockers in better condition than the current ones from a wrecker would set you back about $150 max, The fact the cam is "worn" along with the rollers+rockers within the lifespan of the car, means theres another issue at hand.

Cam's are manufactured from some of the hardest metal available, so to wear it out before pistons, valves, the block, the crack, or anything else means something is wrong - i'd be leaning towards oil starvation within that side of the engine from blocked oil gallaries. Try a bottle of oil flush, and new oil and filter, and then get the replacement cam and rockers. The swap in and out is easily doable if you know the basic's of tools and engines.

Re: LLT; I'm not a fan of his work. His success stories are matched with an equal amount of not so successful stories. I know guys that constantly drove from Melb to Syd to sort out these mechanical issue in person, only for them to be unsolved and them move onto another car. Unsolved issues, undelivered goods, faulty goods, and average customer service dont appeal to me. Granted, there are a couple guys with quick cars based off LLTs work, but if you want to get a replacement head/cam/etc, i'd be looking elsewhere
Click to expand...

Thanks Donki, that's some great insight. I think the cause is likely my fault, sort of. I bought the car in a pinch after someone wrote off my old car for me and I needed a new ride quick. In hindsight I never should have bought it. I knew there was an issue when I bought the thing and was lead to believe it was the lifters. I owned a GSR in the past and was familiar with the lifter tick due to clogged/undersized drain holes which is apparently common with the HLA's in some of the Mitsubishi's so it made sense at the time and the car was pretty sweet otherwise with low k's and fairly tidy apart from a *poo*ty paint job on the front bar and some reasonable 16" BBS wheels, anyway I went from considering a DOHC conversion / new HLA's to barely being able to afford to change the oil (DOHC was always a long shot but I was keen on the idea at the time). So the problem has only gotten worse since then, though I have to say the problem was preexisting but no doubt some very old oil at times wasn't helping the situation.
I've since learned that the G93 has solid adjustable lifters (on the Australian release anyway) not HLA's at all and so what I thought was the problem was never the problem. And this is just one of many examples why I've learned not to trust mechanics, I had the car checked out by RACQ (second time they've burned me with a pre-purchase inspection) and after I realised they changed orientation from CC - CE ultimately meaning I wasn't going to be able to afford the conversion I had it checked out by another place that quoted me a thousand bucks for a hydraulic lift kit. Of course I believed him because I didn't know any better, he was supposed to be the professional, ha! in my experience mechanics are anything less than professional (just my experience, I'm sure there are good ones around I just don't know any). I mean wtf was he going to do anyway, convert my entire rocker setup?
So I've taken to trying to learn things for myself, which is good and not good haha, and with my low budget things have been put off longer than they ever should. Suffice it to say work has picked up somewhat for me recently and I'm keen on getting my car back to up to standard.
I may have exaggerated the condition a bit, I mean it's not good. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that there was a sort of coating on the cam lobes, I think that is what has worn away, so not a 'gouge' necessarily but definitely some decent wear. Or is that special coating just on the rollers? or both maybe??
I am convinced they need to be replaced though.
I quoted the job (fit reco head + replace timing belt/water pump and flush coolant) recently with yet another place and I asked them to itemise for me, he wants to charge me like $400 for a timing belt and water pump when I can get the kit retail for about half that and I just start to think well F you then, you want to overcharge me on parts how else are you going to rip me. So yes I am entertaining the idea of doing it myself, I wouldn't mind paying up for someone's hard work if I thought I could trust the MF not to try and bone me.
I wanted to steer away from wrecked parts at first because I'm afraid of picking something up that is just as rooted or worse but you are right this probably is my best/cheapest option if I can find someone willing to part out an engine.

PS LLT is officially off my radar for good, thanks Rigby and Donki for setting me straight on that one, I just can't afford the risk.
 
ccturbo said:
Does the ticking go away after the car warms up? Your best bet would be to get a second hand cam from the wreckers. My local (pick a part) charges like $80 for a cam or about $120-150 for the entire head.
Click to expand...

The tick does not disappear after warming up, in fact sometimes (rarely) when it's cold it won't hardly tick at all until after it's warm.
 
Where are you located? I know 3 reputable shops around Brisbane
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top