I bought new cams, timiing components and gaskets from Rockauto. They only had one choice for GM cam. I didn't like the wear on the original cams. The motor had over 212k miles on it and did not have the timing chains replaced. I was going to service the engine for Christmas for my son because it was running a little rough.
I found the head gasket was blown. It blew out between 3 and 4 and had notched the head.
l found a 135k mile engine for less the the head work. So I put the new components on the replacement engine. The cams on it where rusty with the same kind of wear pattern.
So the soga began. I never would have dreamt it would not be possible to find replacement cams.






Now I have the head worked because I thought it was possible the valves where bent. All was good but good to know anyway. There some minor rust discoloration where the rings sat but I couldn't feel a groove.
I went this morning and pulled some out of car at LKQ.
I attached pictures of each set of cams. The first is the original, the second of the replacement engine cams and the last of today's picks.

 

Rust pits are nice oil reservoirs.

 

I’d install the picked camshafts .

 

Extra oil capacity on the cams is good but the new used cams are better. I'm going back with them. So much for doing it right with new OEM parts. At this point it's the best I can do.

 

The fun of obsolescence built in!

 

It such a shame there's so little aftermarket support for these cars. Comp Cams and Melling are the only places I found a listing for HHRs. I call Melling, they don't offer a stock cam for my application. Comp Cams list for over $600 for performance Cams and then there would be the tuning. I'm not ready to go down that rabbit hole on a used engine in a daily driver. I had to concede. No good deed goes unpunished. That the hard way to get knowledge but we'll learned.

 

Since the Ecotec engines are among the most populace in the world, I would think there would be supplies. The fact that OHV cams don't wear very much might play.
Did you try searching for "camshaft for Ecotec LE8"? The engine is used in millions of cars.

 

I tried searching every way I could think of, from the GM part number to Chevy ecotec cams. I checked all the major outlets, GM parts network with cams delivered in the last 6 months. I didn't find any stock LE8 cams. There may be one sitting somewhere but I didn't find it in two months of searching. There was on site I checked with that said they where currently out of stock but to check back in 2 to 10 weeks. I am cutting my losses, l need to get this car going. Installing use cams is better than having it sit indefinitely.
.

 

Call some machine shops.