I have a 71 BBC 402, New cam bearings installed by the machine shop, New Lunati Voo Doo cam 60203. I can't get the cam to stab into the second bearing from the front. What's Up? Are the bearings installed wrong? Any help please.

often a little ridge gets pushed up on the bearing by the tool. Cam bearing material is very soft. Take it back to them and ask them to fix it.

This fix often includes carving the front edge of the bearing with a pocket knife. Sort of messy, kind of like watching sausage being made. Better not to see it, but it doesn't matter whether you do or not, results are the same.

the people that put the bearings in should have test fit a cam to check the bearing installation. take it back

Silly question, but I have to ask. Did you remove your fuel pump?

Only the heads, pistons and crank are installed.

Only the heads, pistons and crank are installed.

Just a tip for all the guy's up here that do your own assembling, the cam goes in first, repeat, the cam goes in first!! It isn't necessary to leave it in at this point, but it's the first step!

You see from the issue here why this is a very important pattern to follow, as Gary N mentioned above.

Now having said that, I'll add this: it's incumbent on the cam bearing installer (in this case the machine shop) to install a "test" cam BEFORE the block leaves the building!!

It's their job to make certain at least you don't encounter this issue! It isn't real good to find it out after the short/long block's assembled!

If this is the issue, the cam won't slide in by hand, then return it to the shop! I would strongly recommend not "scraping" any bearings unless you have some experience in this area!

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. You've got a real chore to do a repair at this point, and I'm certain the shop will say "you should have tried the cam first", however, at this point, "it is what it is"! Here's a SB one used specifically for this purpose!

http://thumb8.webshots.net/t/69/669/1/54/62/2808154620044112208RZkkII_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2808154620044112208RZkkII)

try another cam first, just to rule out that-you would be suprised at some stuff, man made errors

I had any issue like this one, installed the fuel pump first, damn fuel pump rod... It took me about 2 hours of messing with it to figure out what I had done. I felt pretty dumb afterwards.

try another cam first, just to rule out that-you would be suprised at some stuff, man made errors

I agree. The cam may not be straight. I can't imagine a voodoo cam being crooked, but cams are man made.

Its common on on BBC to have cam bearing alignment problems thats why GM line bores the cam tunnels with the cam bearings installed, We have line bored cam tunnels on SBC and BBC because of alignment issues.

I hope its not the case with yours.

One of the first things we do is fit cam bearings in the housing bores and fit a stick into make sure there is not a issue in that area.

Dude,
This is way more common than most people realize. I bet we have to "scrape" at least one or two bearings out of every ten blocks we do. That is why we always try a cam in the block before giving it to a cuatomer. The factory cam bores can be fairly out of line. I have always been told that the factory finished the cam bearing bores after the bearings were installed in the block. That way the misaligned bores did not matter. Chryslers are terrible. I bet we have problems with every 440 block we do :(

SO .... there is probably nothing wrong with your camshaft, just the bearings need to be "fitted".

Carl .... you beat me to it :)

I've had more blocks have the bearings installed incorrectly than cam bores. Some people, and shops, just can't do it right.

For those cam bores that are out slightly (sb & bb), I have a cam with grooves cut in the journals to act as a chaser and will take a slight amount of material out where the off bearing s riding.

had a 454 block that one of the cam bores was too small.when the bearing was installed,it was compressed.had to have it line bored.i had already assembled the short block.i now know to install the cam first.

>> "I have a cam with grooves cut in the journals to act as a chaser and will take a slight amount of material out where the off bearing s riding."

yeppers, the voice of experience talking. A cam bearing alignment tool. I used to have a real nice one of those, can't remember where I got it or when it disappeared. Probably got left behind at a shop somewhere.

Ok, Called shop today. The guy is great he told me what to do but I think I'm going to have to disassemble it all and take it to him. He told me how to make a " line boring cam" out an old boat cam I had. I punched out the rear plug and the cam will stab thru the back until the questioned bearing. I tried to line ream it myself but I found out that I had to take out way too much material with the wrong tooling. I can see if you just had to clean up one side of a "egg shape" bearing that this would have worked. He still might clean it up but I think I want to install new bearings at this point just for a peace of mind. You live and learn. Thanks for all the help.

what about some foreplay?

oh boy, here come the K-Y jokes.

good deal to have it re-done. one problem, R&R'ing cam bearings usually causes to some metal glitter to appear. be sure to blow out the block good after removing the bearings and again after installing the new. If there's any oil present in the oil galleys at all you will want to clean it with a degreaser and rinse it well with water before installing the new bearings.

What was the out come??????????

Well, I have to disassemble my long block, that's heads, pistons, and crank. Take it to machine shop and have them reinstall new bearings the reassemble my motor. I'm just frustrated as crap. I had this machine work done in 2005. I don't think I will ever make this mistake again!!!!!

I had the same trouble with my cam my guy tolled my to hone it out with a Scotch Brite Pad. i didn’t want to do it at first but it worked out good and every thing fit.
I got a thick wood dowel and stapled the pad to it "foled the pad over the staples" and ran it throw spinning it "with oil" just enough to open up the baring. Just make sure u clean out your block good!!!

Ok guy don’t beet me up but it did work and the engine is fine to this day.

what about some foreplay?

What does this mean? I'm not following.

I think some other bearing was put in the box. This bearing is cupped in the center and the others are not. I would try the scotch brite cleanup but too much material need to come out via reamming.

Any updates?

Well, Thanks for asking. I have disassembled my block and taken it back to the machine shop. I found out that while removing the crank I had a piece of something in my crank and scored the bearing and polished crank on the rear main. I know I cleaned it, I even bore brushed out the oiling holes. Start over!

I have a 71 BBC 402, New cam bearings installed by the machine shop, New Lunati Voo Doo cam 60203. I can't get the cam to stab into the second bearing from the front. What's Up? Are the bearings installed wrong? Any help please.The bearing could have been installed wrong. The cam housing bore could also be the wrong size, this happens quite often on a big blocks, if this is the case get ahold of me I will tell how to fix this, Mark