Long story short... Had two engines, best of both to make one. Machine shop did the block, Delta Cam did the cam and lifters. And I have the second original cam. Today I'm installing the cam and it doesn't want to go all the way in. On this engine there is one cam bearing in the front, the remaining three journals are just finished holes in the block (for lack of a better term). They are oiled from the oil gallery, but no actual bearing insert. The bearing surface at the rear is too tight. At first the cam would not go into the last opening. I made one very gentle attempt with the new cam and stopped when it resisted. Got the old cam out and tried that. Same thing. At this point, the front journal isn't even touching the bearing yet so I know the problem is the rear one, but why? The cam was in there when I started this. It came out...
Anyway, fast forward. I gently honed the rear hole a very tiny amount and got the old cam installed with assembly lube. It's tight, and seems too tight to me. I can turn it but it takes some effort. No unpleasant noise, no scratches on the bearing surfaces..
Should there be fair resistance at this point, or should it be fairly free when turning? I don't know how to quantify the resistance. Just seems odd to me that it was in there and ran, and now it's resisting going in...
Edit to add... The Mechanic's Manual tells me the bearing sizes for the cam, but I cannot find anywhere that it tells me anything about clearance, other than end play.
Thanks:
Paul
Last edited by Xerxes; 07/12/13 11:54 PM.
