Aluminum head SOHC cam journal repair

I have this same topic over on Thumper Talk, but no one has responded, I figure it can get a wider (and broader minded) audience here.

So I have an XR 100 that I bought from AWSX, the basket case that he had listed in the $2015 classifieds. The engine has badly damaged cam shaft journals from running with out oil. At this point I don't know if it was run with out enough oil in the sump, or if oiling system was malfunctioning, but I guess that's not important at this point.

I noticed that there is someone on ebay offering cam journal repair. They clean up the gouges and build the surface back up by welding in new aluminum, then they machine it back to original specs. Does anyone know if this a legit repair? Is this a well known repair? It certainly seems to be a common problem on little XR engines, and I've heard of it on some automotive heads too. 

The guy wants $110 for the service, which doesn't sound bad, until you price a new bare head, or see that a big valve head (modified stock) is under $300, and OE valve size rebuilds are about $200 on fleabay. If money weren't an issue I'd just grab the big valve head, but it is, and this engine also needs a crank shaft, so I'm going to need to make every penny count if this engine is going to live again. 

Is something that a local machine shop could probably do too? What would it likely cost?

That is a legitimate repair, but it is a specialty thing. Its not likely a regular machine shop will have a boring bar small enough to do cam journals- its really not a very common problem, and if the cam journals are done, the bottom end probably looks worse.

I'd pull the engine completely apart before I spent any money. You might find a complete engine is the only smart move.

I had one with bad journals. I filed a little off the tops and caps and lapped the cam back in, gradually tightening the bolts. Perfect? no. On a beater XR100? Fine.

Last guy I talked to bored the head and fitted soft inserts rather then weld repair. Yes both are fine and work well.

In reply to motomoron:

It's way to far gone for that

44Dwarf wrote: Last guy I talked to bored the head and fitted soft inserts rather then weld repair.

Is this something that a local machine shop would likely know how to do? I like the sound of that more than the weld and remachine.

What I would really like is a roller bearing conversion. Engines Only used to offer this, but they don't currently. I can't find anyone else advertising it either. If I can find some pics and details of this I might try DIYing it (with the help of a machinist).

I doubt any local machine shop would try it with out having a good head to go with it to make sure they got it right. Cheap way out is buy used head off e-bay. I'm up to 5 xr100's right now only 1 is stock all others have 120 kits of some make up and bigger cams etc.

I'd look for a good used head. http://www.sportwheel.com/ in Minnesota is a huge motorcycle salvage yard that will probably have one, but there may be others closer to you.