honda xbr500 camshaft woes

[guest1636]

hi new to clubs and forums just took off head found camshaft worn on lobes plain centre bearing scored to death wot to do find a different head?,bike only done 31000 miles do i strip it complety see if any more oil starvation problems

[JOOLZ]

Sounds like bad news, heads seem to be like rocking horse s***, I have been looking for a new head for over a year now. I suppose the head could be revived by having an engineering company bore out the center bearing and fitting a couple of shells in there.
Camshafts are a little easier as they come up on ebay from time to time, any camshaft from the 500 600 and 650 rfcv motors will fit as do the hot cams kit.
I shoudnt worry about a complete strip down of the engine, the heads always go first, you have to be very vigilante about the oil and change it every 5000 miles, and make sure that the levels are always topped up

[SteveC#222]

I shoudnt worry about a complete strip down of the engine, the heads always go first, you have to be very vigilante about the oil and change it every 5000 miles, and make sure that the levels are always topped up

The manual says 5000 miles but most XBR owners change it much more frequently - max of 1500 miles between changes and a new filter every other change to protect the head.  Oil is cheap! (ish). 

[guest1636]

hi thanks for your advice would the camsha ft and followers from a 650 dominator fit? assuming i can get the centre bearing shelled

[JOOLZ]

They should fit ok

[guest1636]

thanks jools for your advice i will crack on and get the head and rocker top shelled find a new camshaft and camshaft bearings i seem to think theres an article about improoving oil to the cams any ideas mike

[guest1640]

You might find some interesting info on Advrider from one of the members cyclewizard. He talks about shaving a little meat off the oil pump case and drilling out the oil galleries on the cam and lines that feed the top end.
Cheers
Stu

[guest295]

There's also the old trick of getting the cam bearings line-bored to fit proper bearing material.  That seems to work really well but needs thye attentions of a professional. Well worth it, by all accounts.

[guest1230]

Camshafts for XBR 500f and xbr 500sj are NOT interchangeable as sj has an automatic de-compressor on the end of it which changes the dimensions. Thats also why the cam chain is thinner for sj.