Hey guys I'm doing a rebuild and had the block machined and new cam bearings installed, well tonight I was installing a new Comp Cam and it was going well till the last cam journal than it because difficult to get the cam in or even turn it. I pulled it and installed the original used cam and it fit just fine, I checked the original cam with a caliper and it was 2.002" give or take and the new cam was 2.005" give or take. I looked at the bearing and it doesn't have any burrs or look out of wack. Any other things I should look at?

 

Your cam or bearing is out of spec, or maybe the cam bearing got fubared on installation. First you need to get a micrometer (and learn how to read it) instead of a caliper, theyre not accurate enough.
If Im reading the spec sheet properly, the cam journal should be 2.000

 

If the rear can journal made it thru the first 4 sets of bearings, the problem is probably not the cam...unless the most fwd journal is oversized and will not fit. Mike all the cam journals and verify the size. Roll the cam on the flattest/smoothest table you have...see if its out of round or bent....that would bind it up.

 

The rear journal is the smallest one, so it could still be out of spec.

 

Just looked up factory specs on cam...did not realize it had a taper.....journal # 1 2.029-2.030 #2 2.019-2.020 #3 2-009-2.010 and #4 1.999-2.000 My stroker has had less than optimal hot oil pressure since I built it 8 years ago but im sure the main and rods are good.. I bet money my machine shop screwed up the tapers..too bad not going back in there again unless I need to but it makes things a little clearer

 

So here's an update I measured the bearing and it was out of spec, ordered a new set and it was fine installed them and now it good to go! Thanks for the help everyone

 

Thats odd that the bearings were wrong but the old cam fit in. Did you measure the journals on both cams to find out why the issue? Was it the wrong part number bearings?

 

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No they were the correct part number and I have the journals remeasured with a better mic then my digital caliper and it was 1.999" it was just an out of wack part.

 

Hi, I have built several motors, put them together myself. I have not done the cam bearings....usually installed by the machine shop when they oversized my bores. Do you need some sort of press or can it be done with hand tools...thanks.......info for my retirement projects..lol

 

https://ebay.us/m/FtcZF7

 

Thank you..I will look into doing my own cam bearings on my next project

 

I did mine myself with a cam tool I got off Amazon it was super easy

 

Thanks, thats the one thing i never did myself. In all of my rebuilds I always had the machine shop bore and hone the cyls and press in cam bearings. Sadly I never checked them for proper config . I always assumed if I asked for new bearings, and the cam slid in...that they were done correctly. Thanks for your insights

 

Yep, same here. I plastigauge the main and rod bearings on engines to see if they where good, but like you said if the cam went in fine it must be okay.