Tale of a cam swap
11-03-2007, 11:35 PM
#1
Tale of a cam swap I have been collecting parts for a cam swap for a few weeks now, but finding time to do it has been a problem for the past two weeks.
(the cat is my secret ingrediant for a little more powa!
This weekend, I finally have no commitments, and was even alone at the house for most of Saturday. I started the cam swap at about 9:30 pm Friday night.
I rocked along, pulling the radiator/fans; rack & pinnion; coils & rocker covers... storing parts in the trunk for safe keeping.
Just when I thought I would see the cam out by midnight, I ended up tearing up my 3-prong puller. So that was it for the first 2½ hours. This morning, I picked up a rental puller, and the balancer came off without too much drama.
With the front cover off, I was able to set the lifters, and add wooden dowls (a little small, but what I had laying around) for extra protection from dropping a lifter.
Old cam slid right out, and finally time to install the new cam.
That's when this little story takes a screeching stop
Right after the third journal gets started, the cam quits moving. After pulling it back out, looking through the bore, test fitting with the old cam, trying the new one a third time, I finally realized that the exhaust lobe on #4 is hitting the bearing. When I put a straight edge on the bearing journals, that exhaust lobe made the straight edge rock. In other words - the lobe is off-center from the cam centerline. All of the lobes are close to the journal OD, but this one particular lobe is too far out of line to install the cam.
So all that is left is to clean engine covers and port the oil pump.
A couple before pictures:
and the obligatory after pictures:
I got the outlet port opened enough to fit my pinky through. Should allow a little more flow. I suppose I'll have plenty of time to port the throttle body while I wait on a new cam. I plan to call the cam manufacturer (let's leave them anonymous for now, depending on how they treat me - and no it isn't a Comp cam) Monday morning, and see how willing they are to do a swap - on the quick. So here is how it will sit until I get a replacement shaft...
(note the first Gen 406 off to the side that I just pulled out of my '69 Nova while it goes to the paint shop...)
to be continued...
(the cat is my secret ingrediant for a little more powa!
This weekend, I finally have no commitments, and was even alone at the house for most of Saturday. I started the cam swap at about 9:30 pm Friday night.
I rocked along, pulling the radiator/fans; rack & pinnion; coils & rocker covers... storing parts in the trunk for safe keeping.
Just when I thought I would see the cam out by midnight, I ended up tearing up my 3-prong puller. So that was it for the first 2½ hours. This morning, I picked up a rental puller, and the balancer came off without too much drama.
With the front cover off, I was able to set the lifters, and add wooden dowls (a little small, but what I had laying around) for extra protection from dropping a lifter.
Old cam slid right out, and finally time to install the new cam.
That's when this little story takes a screeching stop
Right after the third journal gets started, the cam quits moving. After pulling it back out, looking through the bore, test fitting with the old cam, trying the new one a third time, I finally realized that the exhaust lobe on #4 is hitting the bearing. When I put a straight edge on the bearing journals, that exhaust lobe made the straight edge rock. In other words - the lobe is off-center from the cam centerline. All of the lobes are close to the journal OD, but this one particular lobe is too far out of line to install the cam.So all that is left is to clean engine covers and port the oil pump.
A couple before pictures:
and the obligatory after pictures:
I got the outlet port opened enough to fit my pinky through. Should allow a little more flow. I suppose I'll have plenty of time to port the throttle body while I wait on a new cam. I plan to call the cam manufacturer (let's leave them anonymous for now, depending on how they treat me - and no it isn't a Comp cam) Monday morning, and see how willing they are to do a swap - on the quick. So here is how it will sit until I get a replacement shaft...
(note the first Gen 406 off to the side that I just pulled out of my '69 Nova while it goes to the paint shop...)
to be continued...
11-04-2007, 12:07 AM
#6
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I can only guess what co. that is (its happend before) I am in the middle, weel almost end now of my heads/cam swap on my vette, you left your hood on?!?!? Wait until you have to put the balancer back on its a boatch, thats holding me up right now, I went through 2 autozone pullers before I got the old balancer off. What size cam did you go with, it looks like a 240+ duration?
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11-04-2007, 12:19 AM
#8
It is actually a pretty small cam. Advertised at 226° @ .050" lift.
11-04-2007, 12:33 AM
#10
Who knows for sure what this cam really is. I tried to measure the lift by measuring the lobe minus the base circle * 1.7 rocker ratio, and I got 0.597" lift. But the cam was supposed to be .585" lift. It could be error in my caliper measurements, or it could just be a different cam than what I ordered.
11-04-2007, 02:53 AM
#12
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this is not qc standards as ought to be indeed,
look ath the bright side,you can do all these other finicky bits
and are well aware now to re inspect the stick before you attempt it again.
however does this mean i can only trust competition cams?
there are fair few beaut cam grinders along the way is it possible
to clear their reputation in case i wanna buy their cam?
like for instance name some companys that the cam is not from maybe
i like the quality of the pictures,was the crank bolt a mongrel to loosen too?
look ath the bright side,you can do all these other finicky bits
and are well aware now to re inspect the stick before you attempt it again.
however does this mean i can only trust competition cams?there are fair few beaut cam grinders along the way is it possible
to clear their reputation in case i wanna buy their cam?
like for instance name some companys that the cam is not from maybe
i like the quality of the pictures,was the crank bolt a mongrel to loosen too?
11-04-2007, 07:37 AM
#13
however does this mean i can only trust competition cams? there are fair few beaut cam grinders along the way is it possible to clear their reputation in case i wanna buy their cam? like for instance name some companys that the cam is not from maybei like the quality of the pictures,was the crank bolt a mongrel to loosen too?
I enjoy photography, along with hot rodding. I use a Nikon D70 with 18x135 zoom lens right now.
11-04-2007, 09:49 AM
#15
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I have seen this before so it is not that uncommon, and from different cam manufacturers as well . I pretty sure that the company you got this from is going to take care of you , their customer service is awesome! I have this same cam that you have and it sounds alot bigger than it is, so you should like it . 
Good luck !
Good luck ! Last edited by Zitty'sZ; 11-04-2007 at 08:27 PM.
11-04-2007, 08:00 PM
#16
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Clyde, good luck with a proper and speedy response from the cam mfg.
If you need any help or just someone to watch the install go down(
), holler...I'm not too far from your place.
If you need any help or just someone to watch the install go down(
), holler...I'm not too far from your place. 
11-05-2007, 07:16 AM
#20
After I have a chance to talk to the vendor, I'll post more information about the cam. As far as installation for other people, you wouldn't like my time table very well. It would take me a while to get to it, and I have two project cars of my own.
