Autopendium :: stuff about old cars

Tags: 350 bearings camshaft core engine plugs rebuild

The past couple of trips down to Romance of Rust (where I'm rebuilding the Camaro's 350 in the corner while my Volvo Amazon is rebuilt) have been taken up with fitting new cam bearings. 

For those who've never done this before -- and I hadn't -- it's a tricky, fiddly and frustrating job. There's also a fair chance you'll muck up at least one of the bearings along the way. I managed to damage two -- and it would have been more had not Mark been watching over me. The first one I knackered was the first I tried to fit (Mark showed me what to do on the first one, then I did the rest).

The fitting tool (a  turned, stepped aluminium cylinder on a thread) we'd got was nearly but not quite the right size, and that, together with my inexperience and innate clumsiness, meant the bearing went in on a skew and got progressively more damaged.

Cue a trip to Real Steel for a new set of bearings (only £10.50), and to a local metal worker who made me a new aluminium cylinder, with the correct diameters, together with a tapered piece that could be used to hold the rod in place while it was being hit with a hammer (probably as clear as mud unless you've done it).

Anyway this time the bearing went in fine, and indeed so did the next two. It was just the last one (the one closest to the back), that I messed up on Friday by driving it in a bit too far. Anyway today, with just the one left at that size, Ihad another go, and (with some guidance from Mark), managed it.

After that, trial fitting the cam seemed like a doddle, and so I moved on to fitting it properly, and fitting the core plugs (again no probs).

So, would I recommend any other novice engine builders fit their own cam bearings (rather than getting the machine shop to do it)? Definitely. I reckon it's probably the most difficult part of the rebuild, but the sense of satisfaction is great, and even if you muck up a couple of bearings like me, they're not expensive, and you learn a helluva lot.

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