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Camshaft will not budge

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BEECHFRONT

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
My cam will not budge, pistons, rods and crank are only thing left on motor.


this is a mark IV BBC, i tried turning cam, tried turning crank,tried prying behind the timing gear will not budge even broke some teeth on gear trying to remove it :(

also it seems like the cam binds a little, should it turn pretty easily?
 
#6 ·
I ain't never heard of a cam not rotating or having a difficult time removing it unless it's seized in the cam bearings.....What's the history of this motor?.....You may have to remove the welch plug from the rear and whack it out with a sledge hammer!
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
The motor was built back in 04, then i broke it in and it sat in car pretty much while i finished another project, It was ran to get the car on and off trailer for paint and started once and a while. It developed a oil leak so i removed it to fix and decided i might go retro HR and this is were i am now!
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
oil pressure always seemed fine everytime i started it.

filter and oil looked ok.

lots of sludge in oil pan when i removed (thought it was from the thick lube the builder used for breakin) but no metal that i could see,
 
#10 ·
did you install the cam the first time. if so did it spin free. i have seen cam bearings that have to much crush when they are installed and are to tight . i think most cam bearings are all the same size but when they are installed at gm they have different ones to choose from to get the right amount of crush. i ran in to that same problem on my dads 427 and a local machine shop had a hone just for this fix .they miced the block and honed it out .002 and all was good with the next new bearing.if they are tight it wont matter if they have oil or not they will melt and sieze up. i hate to say it but i think i would pull that engine and tear it down and see what you are dealing with in case some of the crank bearings were damaged also. sorry to here that. good luck........mike
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
yenkomike said:
that sludge can be from the cam bearings not that they are melting to copper just wearing and burning oil from overheated bearing/cam .
Click to expand...
You were spot on MIke,

Thanks for all the suggestion's,.

I took out the rear plug and as soon as i got it out i found the problem, ground up bearing metal .Had to beat it out all the way , also can see the front bearing lip on gear side is mushroomed , took off one crank bearing and one piston rod bearing all shot, guess i will have to start over. This sucks as this was built 2004 and never even on the road.

To late for recourse i guess from the builder

Glad i had a oil leak and found this out now instead of later on the road.
 
#14 ·
BEECHFRONT said:
quick question on the cam bearings

standing at the rear of the block looking towards front the bearing holes are located just left of 6 oclock position, is this correct?
Click to expand...

NOT!:noway:....And this explains the cam bearing failure!:yes:.....The oil holes in the cam bearings are not lining up with the holes in the block, therefore a lack of lubrication!
 
#17 ·
BEECHFRONT said:
lots of sludge in oil pan when i removed (thought it was from the thick lube the builder used for breakin) but no metal that i could see,
Click to expand...
Did you not change the oil after cam break-in? Oil is not always filtered - the bypass on the spin-on adapter allows some oil to bypass the filter, particularly at start-up when it's cold. The small particles of metal that are ground off of the cam when it's broken in are plenty to cause problems. I'm not saying that's the specific problem, but your comment makes it sound like the oil hadn't been changed.
 
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Discussion starter · #18 ·
Busted Knuckles said:
Did you not change the oil after cam break-in? Oil is not always filtered - the bypass on the spin-on adapter allows some oil to bypass the filter, particularly at start-up when it's cold. The small particles of metal that are ground off of the cam when it's broken in are plenty to cause problems. I'm not saying that's the specific problem, but your comment makes it sound like the oil hadn't been changed.
Click to expand...

Oil was changed after break in, Im sure it's something the builder caused after seeing the front edge of the front bearing lip mushroomed over.

Plus i just saw a chunk of metal just hanging on the bottom of one the cylinder walls just waiting to break off, looks like he hit it while honing and did not chamfer the edge?
 
#20 ·
Check your rocker arms for wear too.
I've heard of two BB engines not getting oil to the rockers, one had no oil to the left side rockers, the other I didn't hear which side. The rocker balls were producing shavings which fell down in little piles onto the rocker studs. I don't know if the cam got oil on these two, didn't hear back about them. You might blow some air through the oil galleys just to see if lube was making it to the camshaft.
David
 
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