Cam Bearings

So, despite my best efforts, the shop that did my 430 short block put my cam bearings in wrong. They clocked them at 5 and 9 instead of 7 and 3, they do good work otherwise and this was long enough ago that making a stink now wouldn't be worth it. I know the front bearing needs to go, and the center ones don't look so hot either. I wouldn't think being clocked wrong would cause this. Normally I would replace them all except I'm not in the position to pull the motor and break it down to do it. Anyway, the question is are the center ones too worn to leave in? Thanks

 

most of those dont look good

 

They all look shot to me.
Pull them out and save them for eng. mockup purposes.

 

I can't imagine not replacing all of the cam bearings, it seems if you just replace 1 0r 2 the new bearings would carry most of the load and wear to match the old bearings.

Bob H.

 

Had a shop put them it wrong and they wanted to drive out and put same ones back in. I insisted on new ones at their cost....they grumbled but did that....

 

Thanks guys, that's what I was afraid of. I'm going to try and figure out a way to change the worst ones with it in the car, but I'm not optimistic about that. This thing only has around 1000 miles on it and now a simple cam swap has turned into a complete teardown.

 

Yes, that rear one is much better than the rest. I don't have anywhere to rent or borrow a cam install tool, so I'm going to try and make a driver using a cut off rear journal from an old cam.

 

Buick cams are 2 maybe 3 different diamaters

 

Not BBB's. I believe V-6's are.

Paul, are those TA dual groove cam bearings? The first one looks like it because the wear groove in the cam is off from the holes. I guess to save costs TA doesn't make the #1 cam bearing larger across like the factory did. All the TA bearings are wider than the factory #2-5 but narrower than #1. All 5 bearings are identical in width and that is why #2-5 hang out front and rear of their bores. Therefore to align the bearing holes with the cam groove I like to center the #1 bearing in the hole front to rear. This will align the groove to the holes better. Not as critical because the dual groove feeds the driver side lifters but certainly worth doing. I would have to say I'm not that excited about using the dual groove by itself for #1 because it just seems to not feed that much oil over to the lifters so I usually add a groove to the block and only use one hole to feed the cam bearing off the driver side.

 

I also have the groove in the #1 cam journal welded closed when using TA's back grooved cam bearings. No reason for it and it spreads the load better across the bearing.

 

I kinda doubt he will be able to have enough access to get the bearings out, and then sneak them back in place to install with the crank & rods in the way.

 

to replace in them in the motor wont be easy. I guess I dont know why something this important you wouldnt just want to fix it right. it looks like you have a fair amount of the motor already apart.

just pull the motor, this way you have enough roo. to use the proper tool the right way, replace them and go on. it stinks yes.....but why cut corners and ruin more.

as of now you only a few hundred bucks in bearing and gaskets, I think parts stores rent cam tools. fix it right, save your motor

 

It is a crap shoot IF you can weasel the bearings between the lifter bores.
I did this a few times on my 350's, BUT the casting flash was cleaned away before assembly of the engine, even at that, it was a delicate act of loading the bearing onto the expanding mandrel, then orientating the bearing properly.
Never did in-car cam bearing replacement on a 455 tho.

 

Agree, I'll try about anything but I'd pull the engine get the grooved coated TA bearings and do it once and be done

Buick cam tunnels as are most manufacturers back then are known to be off center from each other. Without correction some engines will always have bearing wear

 

X2, just yank the engine.
If you never used a cam bearing tool, doing it in-car is not the way to learn.
Also doing it in-car, a lot of the front end will have to be removed to allow the cam to slide out.

 

I've got a SBB 350 that the rear cam bearing bore in the block is about .005 smaller than the rest. I called and spoke to Mike @ TA and he told me that the factory pressed the bearings in and then line honed to bores to size, so even if the bores in the block were off a little, they would be trued up by line honing.

 

True but when we replace them the only way for us is to make a "cutter cam" but that always seem counterproductive imo, as we try not bang them up but so why would you purposefully scratch the piss out of them with a cutter cam ha

 

well his cam is out already, thsts how he got the pics