Camshaft Bearings, Anyone Replaced Them?

Kiwi Rider

Kiwi Rider

Registered
Ive got my cams out at the moment as I'm setting my valve clearances, 5 of them needed re-shimming to keep them in spec.
My inlet camshaft bearing on my '99 Gen 1 Busa is rough as guts . . . it needs replacement and I wanna do both inlet and exhaust rather than just the one.
Has anyone here ever replaced the cam bearings?
Looks tricky to remove the sprockets, no visible keyway, looks like the sprocket is pressed on . . I've never replaced bearings on cams before.
If there is no info on this, I'll take the cams to our local camshaft repairers, but I'd like to save some cash and do it myself if I can.
can anyone help?
Thanks. Kiwi.
 
Last edited:
Well, I took my cams to work and pressed the cam drive gear and bearing off the cam using our press.
All worked out ok, one thing though, if anyone plans on doing this job themselves DO NOT FORGET to mark the position of the sprocket in relation to the camshaft position BEFORE pressing them off.
Will keep y’all posted on my progress.
Kiwi :thumbsup:
 
Kiwi Rider said:
Well, I took my cams to work and pressed the cam drive gear and bearing off the cam using our press.
All worked out ok, one thing though, if anyone plans on doing this job themselves DO NOT FORGET to mark the position of the sprocket in relation to the camshaft position BEFORE pressing them off.
Will keep y’all posted on my progress.
Kiwi :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Kiwi, this what happens when people are in completely different time zones. You posted at 3AM and by the time we woke up, worked a full day and came home to have dinner and then get on the .org, you had already done the repairs. Lol!
 
How many miles and is this the first valve clearance adjustment you have done on this bike?

I will be checking my 08's clearances this spring at 1600 miles.

I did my ZX-14's first adjustment at about 20,000 miles and all but one exhaust valve was tight. only a couple intakes were tight. The last time I checked at about 45k miles, they hadn't changed.

I was told to adjust the throttle bodies vacuum right after doing a valve clearance adjustment. I did not and noticed no dif. Adjusted vacuum a couple years later on the 14 and stll no dif. Runs good, idles good.
 
Mythos said:
How many miles and is this the first valve clearance adjustment you have done on this bike?

I will be checking my 08's clearances this spring at 1600 miles.

I did my ZX-14's first adjustment at about 20,000 miles and all but one exhaust valve was tight. only a couple intakes were tight. The last time I checked at about 45k miles, they hadn't changed.

I was told to adjust the throttle bodies vacuum right after doing a valve clearance adjustment. I did not and noticed no dif. Adjusted vacuum a couple years later on the 14 and stll no dif. Runs good, idles good.
Click to expand...
1) 135,000kms (85,000miles)
2) I had the cams ground to a stage 1 Yoshimura grind 24,000kms ago but never replaced the bearings because they were both smooth with no discernible play.
I now wish I had replaced them at the time !
3) The valve clearance check was now due with 24K kms on the re-ground cams.
When I initially fitted the reground cams I had to set every clearance from scratch and I set them all within the specified range the camshaft engineers gave.
Obviously the clearances have changed a little due to settling in.
For anyone wanting the bearing type and size it's a 6005NC3 single row radial ball bearing with a machined groove in the outer shell for the locating C ring.

bearingfinder.ntnamericas.com

Item # 6005NC3, Single Row Radial Ball Bearing - Open Type, Snap Ring Groove On NTN Bearing Corp. of America

Browse Item # 6005NC3, Single Row Radial Ball Bearing - Open Type, Snap Ring Groove in the NTN Bearing Corp. of America catalog including Item #,Description,Ordering Options,Type,Bore Type,Outside Ring Type,Material,Cage Type,Cage Material,Ball Mater
bearingfinder.ntnamericas.com bearingfinder.ntnamericas.com
1603343405815.png


The sprocket is a press fit and the bearing is an interference fit.
For some time now I've had an unusual noise in the RH side of the engine at just above idle thru to about 1800rpm . . I reckon this noisey inlet cam bearing is the culprit!
Once it's all back together and running I'll report back about whether this mysterious noise is gone, or still present.
44E546AC-6B6C-4202-930C-B70A5DE51745.jpeg
She’s looking naked under there lol
F597A5E8-8294-4EBD-95D2-48576F95B533.jpeg

The chassis on Busas look so tough! 90613B04-2F4E-4166-A43D-2C527C061075.jpeg
Here’s the list of clearances when I first checked them the other night, I checked them 3 times with several revolutions of the crank between each check to be sure.
All measured in thousandth of an inch.

Wish me luck lol.
 
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mabupa said:
Kiwi, this what happens when people are in completely different time zones. You posted at 3AM and by the time we woke up, worked a full day and came home to have dinner and then get on the .org, you had already done the repairs. Lol!
Click to expand...
I had a good chuckle over your post Miguel, yep, I'm so efficient I even answered all my own questions lmao! AND did all the work required.
FIGJAM.

FIGJAM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
Kiwi :rolleyes:
 
@Kiwi Rider


small and friendly note from across the pond ;)

measuring the valve clearance in millimeters is a lot more precise than measuring in inches, because the rounding up / down from inch to mm is always minimally inaccurate.
For the best results, I recommend the feeler gauges in mm in 1 / 100th increments.

I personally ordered the thicknesses from 0.04 to 0.30 mm in steps of
4/100 – 16/100, 18/100, 20/100, 22/100 , 24/100 , 26/100 – all in all = 21 pieces for around 15 € plus shipping i guess ~ 15-20€
(sorry – the sizes of 17, 19, 21, 23, 25/100 are not available there)
here at this german shop ("in den Warenkorb" means "to the ordering basket") and they write on their homepage that they also deliver abroad, e.g. to us and I strongly assume that they will then also deliver to nz.

for calculation the new shims i only use my excel sheet - no more wrong calculation errors ;)
here a pic of my excel calculation sheet

valve%20clearance.jpg


and the associated / corresponding excel 2003 sheet itself to download

wish it could help you (and all others here) a very little bit ;)
 
Berlin Germany said:
@Kiwi Rider


small and friendly note from across the pond ;)

measuring the valve clearance in millimeters is a lot more precise than measuring in inches, because the rounding up / down from inch to mm is always minimally inaccurate.
For the best results, I recommend the feeler gauges in mm in 1 / 100th increments.

I personally ordered the thicknesses from 0.04 to 0.30 mm in steps of
4/100 – 16/100, 18/100, 20/100, 22/100 , 24/100 , 26/100 – all in all = 21 pieces for around 15 € plus shipping i guess ~ 15-20€
(sorry – the sizes of 17, 19, 21, 23, 25/100 are not available there)
here at this german shop ("in den Warenkorb" means "to the ordering basket") and they write on their homepage that they also deliver abroad, e.g. to us and I strongly assume that they will then also deliver to nz.

for calculation the new shims i only use my excel sheet - no more wrong calculation errors ;)
here a pic of my excel calculation sheet

View attachment 1628226

and the associated / corresponding excel 2003 sheet itself to download

wish it could help you (and all others here) a very little bit ;)
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info and link Frank, will have a look at that.
 
mabupa said:
Kiwi, this what happens when people are in completely different time zones. You posted at 3AM and by the time we woke up, worked a full day and came home to have dinner and then get on the .org, you had already done the repairs. Lol!
Click to expand...
So you don't check the org the moment you awake????
SHAME on you mabupa, when I go to bed I have my alarm set for every hour so I can check what's new.
Well . . .slight stretch there lol.
 
Kiwi Rider said:
No, I removed the sprockets to gain access to the bearing, I'm replacing the bearings.
To be honest, I can't be bothered with all the time and work involved in dialing in adjustable sprockets, I'm happy with the way it produces power as it is, without wanting more!
Click to expand...
Well how are you getting the sprockets back on within spec?
 
Kiwi Rider said:
So you don't check the org the moment you awake????
SHAME on you mabupa, when I go to bed I have my alarm set for every hour so I can check what's new.
Well . . .slight stretch there lol.
Click to expand...
Well, I have to admit I’ve been cheating on the .org with an Isuzu forum. Lol! I got tired of trying to keep my Honda clean of all the industrial fall out from work, so I sold it and got a beat up 20 year old Isuzu trooper with a blown head gasket and a long list of other issues and have been working on getting it road worthy and enjoying the woods in it (is a 4x4). She was neglected mechanically, so I’ve done a laundry list of things and still have a lot to go. It has turned into my new hobby for the last 3 months or so. She’s now good enough to be my daily driver, so I got some spare time to catch up on here.
 
mabupa said:
Well, I have to admit I’ve been cheating on the .org with an Isuzu forum. Lol! I got tired of trying to keep my Honda clean of all the industrial fall out from work, so I sold it and got a beat up 20 year old Isuzu trooper with a blown head gasket and a long list of other issues and have been working on getting it road worthy and enjoying the woods in it (is a 4x4). She was neglected mechanically, so I’ve done a laundry list of things and still have a lot to go. It has turned into my new hobby for the last 3 months or so. She’s now good enough to be my daily driver, so I got some spare time to catch up on here.
Click to expand...
I wondered where the heck you been?
Are you doing all the repair work yourself?
And cheating on the oRg like that. . . Ya should be ashamed of yerself lol.
 
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