the little bit of pain will be worth it. oh i've read while searching on the board about your problem that someone had a bent cam sent to them. You could check that out by removing the new one and rolling it on something pretty flat.
Brian, you're the same as I am... something goes not according to plan and I immediatly jump and say "screw it.. put it back the way it was". Thats where the help of a friend with more patients than I don't know what comes in real handy. You might remember the Doc that was with me at the BOP show at Old Town. That man has a lot of patients and has gotten me out threw problems I thought would be a whole lot worse. So just take a breath, it will come together. 1 - you find the cam journals are too big 2 - you find its bent whats the worse that could happen... you put the old cam back in. not that bad. But I think you will probably find that something can be done with the new cam and you'll get it... hang in there.:TU:
It took me about 2hrs to pound my cam out of the front bearing. Then I cut some of the bearing material away, finaly got the thing out. Ended up pulling the motor to clean i all out, install all new cam bearings. I never seen bearings wore so bad. My cam @ 4,000 miles was damn near wore into the block!
So i just got back from my local machine shop (which was a small little place i pass everyday and never have seen, it was a really nice shop though, blocks, pistons, etc laying around everywhere, tons of equipment. some nice rebuilt engines, including an oldsmobile 455) But he measured the new TA212 cam vs. my stock cam. The 212 had 3 journals measure out as .001 bigger, one journal at .0002 bigger, and one at .0005 bigger. The guy said that this is what would cause it not to spin in the engine. That it makes too perfect of a fit, so that no oil would be able to get inbetween the cam journal and the bearing. Sound about right? I talked to Tim at TA yesterday and wanted me to measure to make sure something was wrong before shipping it back, so now i wait til Monday to tell him
Im really glad that it DID turn out to be something wrong with the cam, that way it isnt the bearing aor anything. Plus now i can tell TA. Not to completely bash them, becuase i have bought several parts from there and all were great, when i called them and talked about a replacement, they were really arrogant basically saying that there couldnt be a mistake with their cam, and that it had to be my engine or bearings. They tried to make me feel like i didnt know what the hell i was talkin about. Glad i turned out to be right
Brian, I'd work with TA on it. I'm sure they're now inspecting some of their stock with these. Mistakes like this happen, however it could also be possible that your factory cam was a little on the small side originally and the GM may have been able to tweak their line a little to allow a slightly out of tolerance cam to be installed. not a problem in the stock form but when you start changing the parts problems can come up. It doesn't sound like you got the actual dimensions of the cam shafts to TA yet. But you compared them to the new cam to the old one. -nate
well yea, everyone has told me (even the machinist) that the new one should be exactly the same as the stock cam, and since its those degrees off, that would cause the problems. but then their is the arguement that you brought up about maybe my stock cam was off in the first place, and i realized that. So im bringin home a micrometer tomorrow to get the actual dimensions. But seriously if my cam was made small, then i really have to worst luck ever with this stuff. Time crunch + unexpected problems= no longer fun. But i pray that its the new one thats messed up, otherwise it looks like ill have the machinist shirnkin down to the size of mine. And I cant call TA til tomorrow anyways, since they're only open during the week
I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe your stock cam journals have been worn down. I know that the stock bearings are MUCH MUCH softer than the journals. If something was going to wear it would be the bearings. No question.
Ok, quick update cuz i gotta go work on it. But I spoke with Mike from TA yesterday and he was very helpful and knows his buicks. He talked me through step by step and educated me a lil as well. I owe an apology to TA as well. Its turns out my all my journals on my stock cam measured out 1.784. One measuered 1.785. All of the journals on the new TA cam measured out 1.785. So it makes sense that it was a tight fit. I put the new cam back in and put the gear on it. I could then turn it by hand. This proved that it was good. I feel great that i got past this bump. Yesterday i installed the cam, lifters and pushrods. Then put the timing chain on dot to dot. Pictures to come later and more info. Gotta get to work! Btw some advice on start-up/startup prep tips would be greatly appreciated. I dont wanna miss anything and i want everything to go smooth. Thanks guys!! :TU:
for some reason that still sounds a little tight...? I'm pretty sure some engines I've put together (not buicks) you could spin the cam by the dowel pin...Especially with your used bearings in there, there shouldn't be much if any resistance. Did they check for straightness of the new cam? Even if all the journals checked out, doesn't mean it was straight.
Mike told me to put the sprocket on it and then tell him how hard it was to turn. I turned it by hand with not much force. If it fit and spins, he said that the pull from the crank/timing chain would straighten out any minor warp if any. Basically i had a speedbump that didnt need to be there ou: :error:
An update: i put the valve covers back on. I installed the timing cover with the new seal which was a pain in the a**. The dowel pins didnt want to go in with that new cork gasket under the cover, so it took some work, torqued those bolts to 20 ft.lbs each. I also installed the harmonic balancer and bolt, with the help of my dad, torqued that to 130 ft.lbs. Im glad the neighor had a really nice Snap-On torque wrench that worked great. Tomorrow i plan on getting the intake installed and start installing the accessoris. Im off all day saturday, so i plan on finishing it then. Hopefully start up and break in this weekend!! Wish me luck!!! ray: :TU: This is where im at now:
Man you're making great progress. The only advice I can offer is go to Wal-mart and get some Krylon red KO2114 and some generic semi gloss black. I got the red at year one, but TA carries it too apparently. sherman Williams may have it to since I heard they own krylon. When you get the intake back on put some old towels or sheets over the firewall and inner fenders. put an old oil filter on and spray everything red. Once dry, tape up the red and spray the AC bracket and power steering pump (and anything else) semi gloss black. clean up the wiring harness, do a nice job of taping it up with some good 3m electrical tape (no cheap stuff) While you're at it spray the air cleaner black too... Spend a little extra time, you wont regret it.
I was thinkin about that, but cleanin all that junk off would take a while and TONS of degreaser. My main focus right now is getting it back on the road. But the new intake and air cleaner are already painted up nicely! My dad wants me to stop drivin the suburban to school, so i gotta get my car back I def have to fix that wiring though. Thats REAL ugly lookin
If it has been in the engine for a long time I have seen varnish build up behind one of the bearing journals and it won't clear bearing. Try sprying some carb cleaner on bearing journals and see it will come out. Had a similar problem on a 430 I was disassembling.
Dude you'll regret not spraying the motor while its accessable...Even if you dont clean too well...just a rag and some thinner or something. You could do the brackets etc at a later time. I wish we lived closer Id do it for ya!
Brian, what the heck!!! How can you go about all that headache and time of installing a new cam and such and then put your engine back together looking like that!? It only takes a little extra work with a wire brush, wire paint stripper on a drill, brake cleaner, some primer and paint and your valve covers, water pump, timing cover, block would look a whole lot nicer. Sorry for sounding like an anal tard but really. It always astounds me when people drive around in great looking, repainted cars and then they pop their hoods and it looks like a 40 year old engine sitting in a 40 year old engine bay covered in 40 years of grease, oil and grime. Takes away from the appeal of the vehicle. Keep the hood closed.
