Is it necessary to tear down your engine to replace cam bearings?
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 284
Likes: 53
Is it necessary to tear down your engine to replace cam bearings? I found a couple of rust spots on my cam. So I figured I would pull it to see if I NEEDED to upgrade the cam RIGHT NOW, or whether I could just let things slide for a while. It turned out the rust spots were the least of my concerns. The frontmost cam bearing is completely trashed, as is the corresponding journal on the cam. It looks like I need to replace both the cam AND the bearings to get the motor up and going. But while removing the rotating assembly would at this point be a fairly trivial affair, I would rather not remove pistons and have to honey and re-ring (the cylinders have GREAT cross hatch - I don't want to needlessly loosen the piston clearance by honing). Do I NEED to strip down the block in order to replace cam bearings? Or can they be replaced in a complete motor that is out of the car?
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 37
Likes: 0
Yes, you should take the whole engine apart because if the cam bearing is bad, who knows what else is bad as they don't usually go bad.
There are holes that need to be lined up, and it may can be done, but you will be better off tearing it down and cleaning/checking everything.
There are holes that need to be lined up, and it may can be done, but you will be better off tearing it down and cleaning/checking everything.
TECH Resident
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 926
Likes: 18
From: Central Texas
The trash from the bearing and journal went through the whole oil system, I would disassemble and thoroughly clean everything, a ball hone and new rings would work with negligible clearance issues unless you get carried away. new bearing and lifters and you should be good to go.
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