I think I ruined a cam bearing in my 400 build

[Donniejr81]

I did a good one today. I gouged the center cam bearing in my 400 putting it back together. Its not a bad gouge though it is enough to hang my finger nail on. Guess this means ANOTHER set of bearings that I have to order, then putting the bearing in. This thing has been one setback after another. Now that I have all my parts collected, this happens. WTF!! :angry1:

 

[IQ52]

Maybe not. You may be able to take a small, sharp knife and remove the proud metal from the bearing surface. I've done that with no ill effects. Scrape it down carefully and see if the cam will rotate. If I am unable to have the cam bores in the block align honed, I have an old cam that has grooves ground in the bearing journals. I use it to lightly cut the cam bearings to get the cam to rotate in new bearings.

 

[Donniejr81]

My Dad mentioned doing almost the exact same thing. He said to take a tiny crafting file and give it a light pass or two to see if anything is sticking up and that a gouge with no raised edges shouldn't affect cam rotation.

The gouge doesnt go all the way across the bearing, just about half the width.

 

[Photon440]

Your dad, and IQ52 are giving you sound advice. Be careful, remove any protruding bearing material, and you should have no problems.

 

[Jasoncoronet]

It happends all the time. The bearing material is very soft. Try some really fine sand paper like 2000 grit then maybe some scotch brite material. The key to this process is whatever you do make sure you clean it good and dont leave any scraped off material in the block. Clean, clean, clean.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Agreed. Just deburr that area. Bearing scraper tools and techniques have been around for a long time.
http://www.neme-s.org/Model_Engineer_Files/2858-How to use Scrapers.pdf

 

[Cranky]

And if you do use an old cam as a bearing tool, make sure it's straight. I've checked a lot of cams over the years that had run out with some being as much as .005"!

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yup. Old guys rule.

 

[D575]

Scrape it with a razor blade, In the old days we would blue in babbit bearings.

 

[Donniejr81]

Thanks for the input everyone. Today Im going to give that bearing a light scrape and file and rub with some 2000 grit, then clean like there's no tomorrow. With any luck the cam, lifters, and timing set should be back in today.

 

[Meep-Meep]

And if you do use an old cam as a bearing tool, make sure it's straight. I've checked a lot of cams over the years that had run out with some being as much as .005"!

Boy you got that right! Been there.