So I'm reassembling everything and I can't figure out why the end of my intake cam is exposed. I didn't remember removing this plug and my old engine (which is still fully assembled) has this plug but it looks like a permanent piece of the head. When I got the head back from the machine shop I had to clean the half moon plug area as there was silicon leftovers but I didn't think anything of it until it came time to put the VC on. I read in another post that the plug is pressed in -- I felt around the half moon plug on my old engine and it felt hard, not spongy like silicon so my guess is that it's never been removed. Is there a simple way to remove this? Is it even possible? Should I be calling the machine shop and complaining? My new engine arrived fully assembled and I know that the plug was there, it had to be.

Originally posted by DSM-22
Should I be calling the machine shop and complaining? My new engine arrived fully assembled and I know that the plug was there, it had to be.

Yes. Since you bought it fully assembled then it is not fully assembled...

Well I called the machine shop and the tech that decked my head said he doesn't remember taking it out and they don't have any half moon plugs laying around - go figure. Well do I have the ability to remove the one on my old engine? Can I just fabricate one and RTV it in place?

Tell them to look in their hot tank. Probably in there. In the mean time get a price for the part + gas to pick it up at your dealer. Then tell the shop they owe you that for losing your part.

You can pull it out of your other motor.

Originally posted by bullettdsm
You can pull it out of your other motor.

x2 I bought a fresh head as I was putting everything back together I noticed the same gap and was wondering wtf it was from. Looked at the old head (thank god I didn't send the core in yet) and there it was. Pulled it off the old head and stuck it on the new.

Originally posted by cs82685
x2 I bought a fresh head as I was putting everything back together I noticed the same gap and was wondering wtf it was from. Looked at the old head (thank god I didn't send the core in yet) and there it was. Pulled it off the old head and stuck it on the new.

This is what I ended up doing. Stupid douches at the machine shop didn't want to own up to losing it nor are they going to reimburse me. They definitely won't be seeing my business again...

Machine shops are not good lately I guess, Took my machine shop 3 months for a rebuild when I dropped everything off dissasembled and picked it up the same way. I really dont know what part your talking about but I think the machine shop needs to pay for it.

Originally posted by DSM-22

Originally posted by cs82685 x2 I bought a fresh head as I was putting everything back together I noticed the same gap and was wondering wtf it was from. Looked at the old head (thank god I didn't send the core in yet) and there it was. Pulled it off the old head and stuck it on the new.

This is what I ended up doing. Stupid douches at the machine shop didn't want to own up to losing it nor are they going to reimburse me. They definitely won't be seeing my business again...

A fresh head isn't necessarily going to come with one, read my post again. Mine didn't come with it. Probably easier to just order one from the dealer

This wasn't a fresh head, this was the head off of an engine I purchased as a full, complete running unit w/ cam plug and I know it wasn't missing because I helped the guy I bought it off pull it.

A couple years back I bought one for 3 bucks on ebay. It's just a little piece of metal you put some sealant around. My Haynes manual says to replace it everytime you change the valve cover, but I don't think most people do... I didn't even know it existed until the second time I changed the valve cover gasket (the first time I must have done something wrong cause it still leaked). The Haynes manual calls it a semi circular seal, but I remember there being a more technical term for it I used to find the part. Crankshaft seal maybe? Can't remember for sure but that sounds familiar.

Just check ebay It's only a couple bucks and it's not that big of a deal. If I remember right, the part number is the same for a neon, I think I saved a few dollars by buying one for a neon. If I remember right, there was like an 8 dollar difference between one for a neon and one for an eclipse, but the seller was the same, and so was the part number.