87 2.5l Worn Exhaust lobes

[Jason Ball <madmac@domain.elided>]

Once again in way over my head, my Milano Saga continues...........

I'm in the process of my 87 Milano roadworthy, and I'm having the heads
rebuilt at the local alfa shop.  

I called the shop to check their progress and my mechanic said that they were
almost done reassembling the heads and the valves seemed well despite some
light valve to piston contact.  He casually mentioned that one exhaust lobe on
each cam was worn but it shouldn't be a big concern.   I told them to finish
it up.

After I hung up the phone I thought about it further and reasoned that a head
job would only be as good as its weakest link..... so I called back to get
more info and it turns out that 5 of the 6 lobes were worn and the taplets
also had worn groves in them.   Bummer.
 
>From what I understand 87 Milano had "soft" cams  and these were prone to
early wear.   I have also heard that after the hardened surface wears through,
the lobes will wear very rapidly.   When questioned about this 
my mechanic casually gave them (the cams) another 10k.  (which is less than
the 30k belt interval!!!)  But, he said that the worn cams wouldn't seriously
affect performance and would simply result in increased valve train noise. He
offered a set of used cams and taplets for $300.  I had them stop the work and
I'm tearing down another 87 2.5 of mine in the hopes it has a good valve
train.  

With my untrained eyes, it appears that some of my second 2.5 (170K) also has
wear on exhaust lobes.  (Ug!) So More questions.

1.  Are there some model year 2.5 cams that are "harder" than others?

2.  What are the drawbacks to using worn valve train on a otherwise fresh head?

3. Can I check for worn lobes w/o disassembling my other heads? If so what
should my untrained eyes look for?

4. Is $300 a fair price for "used" 2.5 cams and taplets.  Seems a bit on the
high side.

5. Would it be unwise to install 164S Cams onto a 101K bottom end.  I think
the hot cams and fresh heads might "blow-out" my 101k bottom end?

6. Am I getting jerked around by my mechanic?   I want to create a good long
lasting relationship with my Alfa shop, but this doesn't seem easy at this point.

I'm trying to get the Milano on the road without getting too upside-down but
I'm not going take any major shortcuts that will have me revisiting the heads
or bottom end any time soon.   (Pulling motors is not FUN.)

Thanks!!!!!!!!

Jason Ball
87 Milano
85 Subaru 4wd Wagon


Jason Ball

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