If it was not on the right place then it's either going to block the oil galley which would gall the bearing and had gone out with alot of galling . If inserted crooked it would wear funny and if not installed all the way with a proper fitting then markings would show on the camshaft journal being questioned . There are three parts involved here and one does wear congruent with the other . So yes we can still read the cam and bearings and earlier did ask for photos to be available to us . There is a photo of said cam bearing it shows the galley side ( upper bridge )of the bearing on the cam to bearing surface and when popped out the galley positioning will mark the outer diameter of the bearing where it was positioned Both cam and bearings can be mic'ed or does everything get left for the machine shop ? A malpositioned bearing would show wear signs . There are alot of parts here that didn't get inspected and scrutinized but cam bearings if you sneeze on them you see wear very precision to accommodate a brittle and hard piece of equipment
Tech tip: early SBC rear cam bearings by John Spencer | posted in: Tech Tips | 0 We’ve recently had a couple of situations arise with SBC rear cam bearings where the cam bearing kit we received contained the wrong rear cam bearing for our application. One engine was a ’57 Chevy 283 and most recently it occurred with a ’63 Corvette 327. Fortunately we discovered the problem before installing the bearings. We wanted to pass this information on to our readers to hopefully save them some grief and money should they encounter the same thing. This affects the following small block Chevy engines: ’55-’56 265 ’57-’63 283 ’62-’63 327 These ’55-’63 SBCs had an oil groove in the rear cam journal bore that was offset towards the back of the block (see picture). When the engine was new, the rear cam bearing had a corresponding hole in the bearing that was also offset to the back of the block. If you installed the bearing backwards, the rear cam journal galley would be covered and no oil would lubricate the journal. Eventually Chevy made a running change to drill two holes in the bearing (front and rear) so oil would get through whichever way you installed it (see picture). Starting in ’64 though, Chevy centered the groove in the rear cam journal bore. Therefore if you try using a cam bearing set designed for ’64 and later engines on a ’63 or earlier block, very little or no oil will make its way to the rear cam journal and damage will result. So if you are installing new cam bearings in a ’55-’63 SBC, order the Clevite SH-287S bearing set (or comparable set) and you won’t have any rear cam bearing oiling issues. early SBC cam bearings, early SBC rear cam bearings, early small block chevy cam bearings, early small block chevy rear cam bearings
Block plugs (especially oil); warm them well, the plugs, apply candle wax to the thread area while good and warm (a MAPP gas torch will do for a plug) and let it cool a little. Warm it again and spin it out. It works like a charm and has never failed me even on shit twice as old as this. Candles work better than straight paraffin, I don't know why. Mrs Highlander always saves her "candle bones" for me. I've even used that technique on old delicate stuff with very careful heating. Another trick (not that tricks are always needed), take a square bit and stick it in the appropriate 8pt socket. Rattle it a little with a light setting on an impact and the hits will break the oil sludge quite nicely. When you restore old shit for nearly 50 years you tend to improvise and overcome.
I learned that trick at age 8, at the knee of my grandfather. I still use it. Good tech, and good memories!
Well I've gotten ONE of the oil galley plugs out. A little heat and some PB blaster. But I've found a bigger problem. I wiped down the bores and went through each one with a flashlight & found some vertical scratches. Some are very light, but two of them i can catch my fingernail in. Is this something that can be honed out? Or am i going to have to have this engine bored?
Take some honing to remove them if you catch with finger nail. If they come out, the skirt to wall clearance may be excessive for cast pistons. You have to buy pistons anyway, .030 over is common. Or hone to specs of a forged piston (more clearance) and hope the cylinders are true and straight. Hard to do without proper tooling.
Amazon.ca : how to rebuild your SBC I can see where this is going. It's going slow. It's going to be painful. A thousand cuts bleeding you dry and a game of guesses. Now if you read the book and asked, its saying this and I don't understand why, an answer would be more readably obtainable. That scratch, it's not going to be the deciding factor on whether or not that engine needs a rebore. That's like asking, do I throw out this apple because it has a bruise.
I wouldn't worry about those scratches, I'd be focusing on trying to determine why you weren't getting oil up top. As far as "honing out" the scratches, I would say "no" ... if you run a hone through the bore long enough to completely eliminate those scratches, I promise you, you will have opened up the bore too much for use with std bore pistons. You want to hone "just enough" to deglaze the walls, leave the imperfections alone unless you are taking it in to be bored. As far as doing this all at home, you are probably going to need the tool to install the cam bearings (I bought one off eBay). As for "bore taper" ... in my opinion, if the ridge is minimal, then the bore isn't tapered too much that it can't be assembled and run.
All these books are fine, but look at Squirrel's (Jim Forbes) engine freshen up threads. You can get a whole lot of use from a lower $ freshen up. Gary
You don't HAVE to do anything at all. What your SHOULD do is subjective, different people have different opinions, and different people have performed this type of repair in different ways, with different results, ever since internal combustion engines have been around. Many, many engines with scratches like that have been repaired by running a ball hone through the bore to restore the cross hatch pattern and replacing the rings, and the engine has run for many thousands of miles afterward. Maybe it used a little more oil than normal, maybe not. Maybe it had a little more blow-by than normal, maybe not. Again, this depends on your goals for the engine, and your budget, and what you want out of it. HAMBer Squirrel did just such a repair on an old car (was it a Hudson?) with a deep scratch in the cylinder not too long ago, and then drove the car on a rally afterward. He stocked up on oil and went and had a good time. Are you going to race this thing? Or are you going to take it on road trips around the country? Or are you going to drive it a couple of miles down to the hamburger shack and hang out? What do you need, or what do you want to do? Figure that out and fix it accordingly.
Well I have read this thread fully. Under the rear main cap there is an oil galley, there should be a 1/4 inch plug in it that directs oil toward the oil filter. Is that plug in? Otherwise, if I was the O P. I would have it professionally machined and rebuild it as he(you) are learning. My last 327 cost 1100 bucks. I would clean it with paint stripper to remove the sludge, run a rifle cleaner down the galleys, hone it, lap the valves with my drill and go. Most of what I do is not internet approved because I am too poor for this hobby. I can say the only difference I have seen between any of my small journal 327s is my November 61 327 is not a thinwall casting, otherwise cam bearings are the same, everything aside from small and big journal stuff is the same. I am glad I didn't have the internet when I learned this stuff and relied upon my great grandpa's motors manual, my grandpa, great uncle, Uncle, Dad, and assorted Crusty old men.
Do you have the correct lifters for a Chevrolet with the oil holes in the right place I recall some issues with Pontiacs having a similar issue when Chevy lifters we're sold with the same part number by a box store
Update on the 327! Buddy at work put me in touch with a guy who is gonna hot tank my block, get those plugs out & my cam bearings. Figure out the oiling issue, replace cam bearings and bore it out. All on the cheap. Plus he's right here in town. This will give me some peace of mind. And I'll put er all back together myself... So i dont feel like I'm cheating too much. I'm also going to look into some different heads i think... If I'm having it done up by a pro & bored over i feel like better heads make sense.
Three HUGE bits of advice. 1. Read as much as you can about engine rebuilding, those prior references are right on. 2. If the engine guy has not already pointed this out, make sure to have the pistons in hand before final bore honing. 3. Before you assemble the engine, make sure the inside is as clean as an operating room.
I remember one of my high school students proclaiming to the world that all engines were greasy & dirty , that we were wasting our time getting it clean ! His father told him that , he worked in another building as a English teacher !
That is great news regarding the machine work. Keep in mind, you're gonna need a torque wrench when it comes time to assemble.
If your block will clean up with a .020 overbore, I have ALL the internal parts (except crankshaft) that came out of an '82 350 that was in a project that I purchased. The engine was assembled but never fired up. (Note: All parts are NEW except rods are reconditioned.) Pistons, recon'd rods, rings, bearings, cam, lifters, bearings, oil pump, timing set. They are yours for the freight if you can use them.
Ask your machinist to use a torque plate when boring the block. Look into it. The plate loads or distorts the block the same way the heads do when they are installed. Once the block is bored, the machinist will measure the pistons you are using and then "hone" the block, with the torque plate, maybe .002" or more , for the correct piston to cyl. wall clearance, depending on piston construction . If he doesn't use this procedure, find someone who does.
Two preferably, inch and foot pounds. After all, "how much is an inch pound". I typed that into google and before I was done it auto filled to "on a Woman". Lol, really. torque specification - Is 96 inch pounds a lot of force? - Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange Read the question. Read the replies, always fun. I like to think my reading is of a diverse nature, so yea, I typed it in. Why Inches Matter More Than Pounds | by Raina Nichole | Ascent Publication (medium.com) - I believe the answer is in the difference between the composition of fat and muscle. You have probably heard the joke: Which is heavier, a pound of fat or a pound of muscle? The punchline is that they are the same…they each weigh a pound. However, that’s not the full story. A pound of muscle has a higher density. And things that are denser take up less space. If that doesn't sound like an engine rebuilding secret, I don't know what is.
For an old, street driven 327 I doubt that using a deck plate would be needed for an overbore. Especially if there is much of an extra charge for the service. Your money would probably be better spent elsewhere.
The Jalopy Journal
