Well hopefully my mistake will teach others who have not installed a cam before to not make the same mistake I made that caused me to pull my engine out to fix. Do not ever force a cam in, if its not sliding in smooth something is wrong. Also take note in how the old cam spins when everything is removed, it turns nice and smooth right? The new cam should be like that too. Lastly when you remove the old dowel pin, put the mushroomed end thats all messed up in the cam side, so that the nice end is going to be installed into the cam gear. That is where I made my mistake, and I tapped it on the dowel pin with a hammer, but even being gentle pushed the cam plug out of the block. Heres a picture, and details on the engine. 352 new isky 262 super cam all the other normal bolt on stuff, edelbrock manifold, headers, hot ignition. And for the FE experts that look at this, does anyone know whats wrong with the picture? This was taken right after I pulled the engine, I didnt touch anything! We will see if anyones paying attention.
Must have been one heck of an oil leak, next time take the mushroomed end to the grinder and taper it, if you don't have a new dowel and need to get it done right away
I think I've heard that the FE cam plug should be installed the other way- cupped side towards the cam?
Bingo we have a winner. The inside of the cab was torn up from the cam spinning on it. It made one HELL of an oil leak! But its all back together and driving, ill be driving it up to Maryland this week.
I see the trans locating dowel has been pushed in on the left side, as well as the cam plug coming out.... Flatman
Three things- whenever your working on an engine, or anything else for that thing, you shouldn't have to "force" anything in, unless it's designed to be an interference fit- stop and find out what's wrong before before you bust something. And never put anything in an engine "thats all messed up"- cam dowels are pretty cheap. And a thing to watch put for, some of the cam companies are sending out the wrong dowel pins with new FE cams, that are way too short- I caught it on a couple 294S's, and a guy I know just bent a bunch of valves on a 428 when his "short" pin went in far enough to come out of the cam gear with it running- he's not happy
The 3,5, & 8 lb hammers are in the complete rebuild kit. This is the cam kit. The complete rebuild kit also includes a 35 lb pneumatic Jack hammer. 90lb Jack hammer is in the "Big Block Pontiac kit "
I prefer the remington 410 for carbon removal and light duty shot cleaning. Silicon carbide grit reloads work nicely for deglazing cylinders too!
Where are the precision tools? Vice Grips, Crescent Wrenches, straight blade screw drivers, and a big *** pry bar? oh and a pair of wore out channel locks too...
As an FE owner and cluless mechanic thank you for that info. Seems like an easy thing to goof on. I just picked up a 390 to replace the tired 361 in the Edsel. It will be getting a little more cam....
Well if I can help one person by posting this thread and admiting that I was a dumb*** and screwed up bad Ill be happy that I did post it.
One guy at a swap meet was selling Ford tool kits. It was a light blue plastic roll up pouch with Ford blue oval logo and contained 5 different sizes of hammers, a pair of pliers,a couple of screwdrivers and a roll of tie wire. The hammers, pliers and screwdrivers had the Ford logo stamped in.
Shocker, way to go. I learned the hard way years ago on a 390. New engine, fired it up and oil was pouring out between the block and bellhousing. This was a school bus! I had to drop the trans and put a new plug in turned around. Hard lesson. That school bus truck trans was a ***** with a floor jack.
Pretty simple, either a set of factory Ford manuals, or a Motor manual from the same era, shows you how to do most everything you need to, with pictures. The old Motor manuals just reprinted the stuff in the Ford manuals- and they're pretty cheap, always some old Motor manuals at the swaps
The Jalopy Journal
