Two broken camshafts, two occasions.

[slothonaleash]

I have owned a couple of s13's, both with seemingly healthy STOCK ka24de's. I seldom see this shit happen to anybody else, but it has happened to me with two different engines. Upon mild acceleration, the car shuts off with a thud and I pull over. After trouble shooting for a few minutes, I pull the vc off and the cam gear on the exhaust cam has completely sheared off, breaking the timing chain in half. Fucking TWICE. My question to the population is whether I am doing something wrong and what causes this kind of thing to happen. Neither engines showed any kind of distress before-hand; oil levels were good, and I wasn't beating on either of the cars when the shafts snapped.

Thanks

[mhubble91]

Hm, well first of all, had you disassembled the head at all? and if so, the only thing i can determine is that you may have torqued the cams in the wrong sequence... thus installing them at an angle and putting too much tension on the chain and in turn snapping it? thats the only thing i can come up with?

[SHIFT_destroy]

what about that metal guide protector thing that sit above the cam gears and chain ... we all kniow that breaks off ... that may have gotten lodged in there .. maybe ??