Is this cam bearing toast

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Jul 17, 2012 | 11:50 PM

silversweetZ

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From: Mountain Home, ID on My way to Korea!

Is this cam bearing toast

2003 5.3 iron block. Just took out the stock cam, don't have a lot of experience determining if bearings are bad or not. What do you guys think, its the one in the front?

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Is this cam bearing toast-cam-bearing-2.jpg

Jul 18, 2012 | 12:20 AM

PREDATOR-Z

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From: BFE

Measure

Jul 18, 2012 | 12:53 AM

blackLS1m6

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Gm cam bearings always have some copper showing. More than likely they are fine, but I would measure them to be safe. I'm a gm tech and I have yet to see an ls engine that wasn't showing copper on the cam bearings. They even look like that brand new out of the box. Gm also released information stating that it was normal too.

Jul 18, 2012 | 01:05 AM

sic7camaro

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From: So.cal

Thats good to know.but it still doesn't look normal.my motor cam bearing looks the same

Jul 18, 2012 | 07:19 AM

wildcamaro

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Yea normally I would say yes it's toast but measure with dial bore gauge to check...measure 12/6, 3/9, and even 10/4& 8/2 just to be safe

Jul 18, 2012 | 08:43 AM

Ethan[ws6]

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Normally I would say that this needs replaced. My schooling tells me that this needs replaced also. However, it seems that LS guys run bearings like this all the time and as per recommendation of this forum, I have done it myself on 4 different engines without issue.

Jul 18, 2012 | 09:37 AM

Ws6kid.

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Rather be safe than sorry I say.

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Jul 18, 2012 | 05:21 PM

JaYZeig

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when i got my junkyard 6liter, i swapped cams, and my cam bearings looked like this, i decided to run em, and havent had any problems for over a year and 5k miles.

Jul 18, 2012 | 06:12 PM

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RezinTexas

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+1 for measuring. up to 0.006" clearance is acceptable.

Jul 18, 2012 | 09:13 PM

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S10xGN

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The looser the cam bearing clearances, the lower your oil pressure will be when hot.

Jul 19, 2012 | 06:39 AM

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cranny

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Every LS motor I've had apart, both low milage and high, have had copper showing. None have had any problems.

Jul 19, 2012 | 08:09 AM

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BlackScreaminMachine

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From: Wallingford CT

Agree to measure but like said seems like for LS1's the front bearings show that. What does the cam surface look like??

Jul 19, 2012 | 08:43 AM

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silversweetZ

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From: Mountain Home, ID on My way to Korea!

Can journals look great, no even a scratch anywhere on it!

Jul 19, 2012 | 10:35 AM

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LsxNotchy

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From: Patchogue,New York

mine look like that also.. havent started it up since i swapped the cam but i read that alot of people leave them so lets hope!!!

Jul 19, 2012 | 10:43 AM

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3rdCoastPowerSports

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From: Loony Bin

looks more worn than the ones i have seen. U can run some pretty fucked up cam bearings and still have the thing stay together. Like S10GX said it make your oil pressure drop when the oil heats up. Your oil will also have stripper glitter in it. Im sure you could stick it back in and run it and be all good but you could also replace it and not worry again. Measure it and then make an informed decision

Jul 19, 2012 | 12:12 PM

#17

427

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Some GM engines have cam bearings installed that are undersize, then bored in position. These will have copper patches when the block has not been run. This seems to have stopped in recent years, but I have seen this a bunch in older engines. Sometimes if you change the bearings the cam will drag on the new bearings, this causes a nightmare....

Kurt