Hey guys, i have a buick 430 and we're just starting on it and we put the cam in.... but the cam is very hard to turn. what do you think is wrong. i asked some guys on moparts.com and they said it could be one of the cam bearings that may be distorted/installed incorrectly etc. so if it is this, what can be done to fix it easily, preferably without spending money. any help would be appreciated. thanks
It could be the bearings...... However, it could also be the Cam Journels are on the tight side. This list cam I had cam that way. I had my machinest turn them down to the low side of the clearances....... now it turns like butter in there If the cam slid in without much of a fight, I'd lean towards the journals being on the tight side...... just my .02
Okay ya i forgot to mention we were wondering about the cam journals too.... no it did not slide in easily, we had to fight it, so it could be that. a suggestion off moparts was to take some 400 grit sand paper and work on the bearings or journals to get them a bit smaller, good/bad idea? just take it to a machinist and have him cut em down a bit?
Welcome to the board. You may have the bearing in at an angle. It is very important you install them correctly. You can do a search on cam bearings and should get alot of info. JW has posted info on this issue in the past. He owns Tri-Shield Performance. You may want to send him an email good luck
ya but we didnt install the cam bearings, we left them in there when we took the old cam out, so anything i can do about that?
Oldspower---That was me (drolds) that told you to post your question here over on the Moparts board. Glad to see you didn't waste any time and welcome. Does anyone have a link to the post that occured here a while back where Jim Wiese(JW) discussed this issue???? He gave some torque values (in Inch/lbs) that he used to check cam/bearing tightness and the whole thread was very informative. OldsPower----JW is a reference to Jim Wiese, one of the guys that got this whole board going.....find his name on this site and you can email or PM him. You might want to first wait and read the thread I referred to above. Good luck. Patton
Ya, i've talked to him before. i posted on here awhile ago about parts for the 430 and he helped me out, so if anyone can find his post i'll take it. ya i sure didnt waste any time, thanks for yer help DrOlds, its appreciated. thanks guys
A buddy of mine put a mopar together one time and the same thing happened. He couldn't turn the new cam by hand. I told him that he had the cam bushings in wrong. He him and hawed and finally took them out. He put new bushings in and the cam spun freely. As for the journels being to tight, I can't imagine GM sending out a motor with the cam bound up.
