I am in the middle of a cam install, I bought the 5/16 wooken dowels and cut them about 3 inches longer than the cam. When I spun the cam and slid the dowels in they went in REALLY easy, (heard about the pass side being a pain) well that worried me, so after the dowels where in I spun the cam more and it is still shooting some of the lifters up, (can hear them). So then I put a pushrod back in and spun the cam around and I can feel it riding the cam lobes (I did this on numerous ones). Is theis normal???? Should you still be able to lift the lifter with the cam with the dowels in????,,,, Thanks for your help!!

 

Do u have a flat side on the wooken dowel?
The hole in the block is larger then 5/16, its about 7/16 or half inch.

 

No I didnt sand one side down, I read about that if it won't go in, but my dowels went in all the way, if one side isnt flat will it not hold up the lifters??

 

you could always buy some penmagnets to be extra safe...

That way you will be protected both ways...

 

Sure, u should have a flat side on the dowels to hold the lifters from the middle which is the smallest diameter on the lifter, cause the dowels should go on the smallest diameter area then the biggest diameter on the lifter they should sit on the angle of the dowels, but if u have round dowels the lifter will go down below the limit on the camshaft.
In this case if the dowels are big enough they will hold the lifters or if they r small they will go down and sit between the coneccting rods.
Becarefull.

 

Ya, I guess I will just do that, I just went and checked again, there seems to only be 2 that arent staying up even without the dowels out (cam is still in, done working on it untill morning).

 

Take your time, and good luck