This past Sunday an idiot who looks just like me was driving my '68 Buick and overrevved the engine causing a collision between some intake valves and some pistons. Odometer reads 79,500 miles. Upon disassembly I discover a perfect engine other than the aforementioned valve and piston issues which were right foot issues that I intend to address later and the mystery, totally destroyed cam bearings. I had difficulty getting the cam out, they looked like they had been run w/o oil for quite some time. But, the rod and main bearings looked excellent, hardly any wear indicated at all, the crankshaft is perfect, doesn't even need polishing. I hardly noticed any cylinder wear either. I was thinking with the cam bearings in their condition, that I would find other components with some damaged as well. Unless I have a blockage of oil flow between the crank galleries and cam galleries, I know of nothing else that makes sense. The engine is a 430. Any ideas?
Hi Shawn, What side of the bearings were toast. Inside or out. How many miles were on them. Is it stock. (2) Your test is Leave the cam out, Run the oil pump with a drill to see if the oil comes through the galleys. If it does then I would think the oil hole alignment between the bearing and block was bad. UGOTPK
i've heard that later buicks do that (455 mostly). the new blocks have redesigned oil passages- i'm not buick expert by any means though- i just have a friend that races buicks.
Folks, I appreciate the input. C9, I checked out the v8 buick website and it appears they have seen this many times before. They explain in detail what mods are needed to alleviate the concern. This is my first buick v8 build and it is quickly becoming a learning experience. Thanks again everyone
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