Thrust bearing needed for RB Timing Gear if using a Roller Cam?

[hangn0ut]

Not long ago someone was marketing a bearing to replace that bushing.

 

[383man]

When I ran the Torrington bearing behind the cam gear on my buddies 460 Ford eng I had to have the cam gear machined some at the machine shop. The gear set had instructions of how much to machine the gear and I gave that info to the machine shop who did a great job on it. His eng ran a camshaft thrust plate like the smallblock Mopars do and thats one reason the owner of the eng bought the bearing setup at the thrust plate as from what I remember thats where I set the cam end play since it did not use a cam button just the thrust plate and bearing from what I remember. It was about 8 years ago when I built that Ford eng. Ron

 

[hangn0ut]

Your machinist can make it,very easily.

 

[Brewzer67]

Your machinist can make it,very easily.

Unfortunately he said he can't. He doesn't have access to any shim material with a .485 id. That is what I am hoping someone can point me to.

 

[hangn0ut]

Okay,I get it now. That is a bit more difficult. I was thinking of just a washer to take the down force exerted by the gears. Taking one or the other I believe the washer would be a bigger benefit.

 

[Hemirunner]

McMaster Carr has them. I usually run a .005" shim under them.

 

[not so famous bob]

I know where your going and well,you dont really need it. What you will be doing is checking on that gear. Cause sometimes they last and sometimes they dont.

roller cam endplay, (or thrust) .008- .010

 

[Brewzer67]

McMaster Carr has them. I usually run a .005" shim under them.

Thanks for the source! You would wouldn't by chance have a part number would you? I am poking around their site but they have a LOT of stuff to wade through. Just when I think I might be on the right track I come up empty.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hemirunner]

 

[Hemirunner]

They have them from .001" all the way up to .125 thick which is the flange thickness of the distributor bushing. I've used these in several thickness over the years. The torringtons that I used under the gears came from here as well. They were a combined thickness of .125 and we just turned the flange off of the bushing to use it.

 

[Brewzer67]

Thanks, Hemirunner. I have gone to their site and ordered a pack.

 

[Brewzer67]

Bushings already came today. Almost as fast as Amazon. So I started taking things down today. Amazingly nothing fought me so far. Old heads are off, gasket surfaces are cleaned. Oil pump and fuel pump are off and gaskets cleaned. Timing chain and cover comes off tomorrow and the cam goes in. I'm nervous about piston to valve and spring clearances. Cam is .701 net lift on the intake. Trick flow springs are supposedly good to .700 so I might need different springs. I'll find out when checking things.

 

[not so famous bob]

Bushings already came today. Almost as fast as Amazon. So I started taking things down today. Amazingly nothing fought me so far. Old heads are off, gasket surfaces are cleaned. Oil pump and fuel pump are off and gaskets cleaned. Timing chain and cover comes off tomorrow and the cam goes in. I'm nervous about piston to valve and spring clearances. Cam is .701 net lift on the intake. Trick flow springs are supposedly good to .700 so I might need different springs. I'll find out when checking things.

minus the lash, sounds like it`ll work.

 

[Brewzer67]

minus the lash, sounds like it`ll work.

Unfortunately that is minus the lash. Gross lift came out to .715 and the lash is .014 on the intake and .016 on the exhaust. It was supposed to be .700 gross but apparently there was a miscommunication. Hopefully there is a little fudge factor left in the springs.

 

[Hemirunner]

Check the coil bind. Don't forget to account for the step on the retainer when checking the inner spring.

 

[Brewzer67]

Check the coil bind. Don't forget to account for the step on the retainer when checking the inner spring.

Will do. Thanks for that, it's a good tip.

Not too much progress today. I couldn't find my harmonic balancer puller so had to chase one down. Once I got my hands on one I couldn't get it to budge. Once the kroil worked it's way in I was on my way again. I was disappointed to find that the shop that assembled the motor had the old cam 4 degrees retarded. Now I know why it was never as snappy as I thought it should be. Tomorrow I'll pull the grill so I can get the cam out.

 

[Brewzer67]

Didn't make as much progress as I would have liked. Grill fought me all the way coming off. I have now switched all screws for it to stainless so I won't ever have to fight that battle again. I managed to get the cam in but ran into a problem with the cam button. The center of the timing gear is too small for the cam button to fit so I have to machine the two of them. The second issue I ran into was the fact that the ARP bolts were too tall and hit the new CVR timing cover so I went to the hardware store and just bought some grade 8 bolts and ground on the heads a little bit to get them to fit. Then I found out that my degree wheel is too big to degree the cam in the car so I had to fashion a homemade tool so I could use it. I bought some threaded stock and made a 6" extender from the crank snout so the degree wheel doesn't hit the K-frame. More to go tomorrow if I get some time. The Car Craft Nationals are in town so I'll be going to that in the morning.