I fit the cam into the block, but it binds in one spot while rotating. should I scotch brite the bearing til it rotates freely or is it no big deal and leave alone?

I can still rotate cam, just snug in one spot.

Sometimes I take a bearing knife and cut the shiny spot off until it turns free and sometimes I just run it. I've never had a bad experience, and some of them I thought were way too tight.

OK, sounds like no big deal. Thanks

If you know where the spot is... clearance it..
it should spin freely with just using your hand
and spin a few turns

Yes, when I pulled the cam out I did find marks on the upper part of front and rear cam bearing only. I can scotch Brite them. It's all I have for dressing bearings

Make yourself a reamer by making diagonal hacksaw cuts in each bearing journal of an old cam.

I have one of these sizer cams but its for a SB.. nothing
for a B or RB

OK. That's interesting. Why can't I just use a scotch Brite pad and rub out the wear spots? Shouldn't take much.

It will take a while with the Scotch Brite.DAMHIK...

Not rubbing bad. Never had the issue before. The shop was suppose to fit the cam. Guess they didn't.

because scotchbrite is an abrasive and will leave minute particles of that abrasive in the bearing surface also you will need to wash the block out again if you haven't already done so,,a bearing knife is the proper way.

Ok

It sounds like you have bent cam to me, especially if it is a Mopar brand cam Set that rascal up in a set of V blocks with dail indicator and see if it is bent

That's what I first thought, but I remembered moparts usually have cam alignment issues with the
bearings. It is a comp solid flat tappet that has been nitrated.

Check it first and go from there Let us know if it is warped or bent

ok

Scrape the bearing with a single edged razor blade. You only need to take off a little and the shiny spots will show you where. Or you could blue all the bearings, install the cam, rotate it a couple of times and see that way. It's possible that when you get the first areas scraped, there will be contact somewhere else.

Keep the razor blade about perpendicular to the surface.

Scotchbrite has those particles, but it also isn't very precise and that's what I worry about.

R

ok, I checked the cam for straightness. looks like .0005-.001 out. I scraped the bearings with a sharp pocket knife and blended with scotch brite pad. spins good now without binding, but is a snug fit.

I thought it had to be bent some to not rotate freely. I have heard of some people straightening them with a hammer and a dull chisel, NOT ME though You should be good, I have had to scrape more than one new cam bearing due to Mopars poor machining of the cam tunnel not getting one or more of them not the proper I.D. One of the better machine shops I use to use in SO CA would use a small cylinder hone to enlarge them

According to E-booger the factory align-bored cam bearings after installation.

You really have a hard on for the scotch brite pad , its not something that should be used on an assembled motor , nevermind a bearing ...

What do you mean by it spins good ? Put a gear on it and spin it , does it stop immediate is you try to spin it fast and let go or does it do a revolution or 2 ? If it stops you still have high spots ... more scotch brite ...

You really have a hard on for the scotch brite pad , its not something that should be used on an assembled motor , nevermind a bearing ...

what do you mean by it spins good ? Put a gear on it and spin it , does it stop immeadiate is you try to spin it fast and let go or does it do a revolution or 2 ? If it stops you still have high spots ... more scotch brite ...

I put oil on the pad and it contains the grit to the bearing. just whip of. don't take much rubbing to blend. if I spin the cam it will not continue to spin half a dozen revs on its own. the 20/50 I put on the jounals drags it down.

According to my old machinest you can't align hone the cam tunnel on any modern day(1951 to current production as of 2003) Mopar V8 due to the tunnel has five diofferent sizes, just like the cam journals have Maybe Ebooger thought they honed them after installing the bearings on the blocks that the cam would stick in
It never ceases amaze me to hear urban myths repeated over the internet, supposidily from a relaiblle source

Why wouldn't the factory simply have a hone with 5 different diameters on one solid honing bar?
Or maybe they also just used a stock camshaft with grooves cut into them for quick clearancing...

odd thing is the front and rear bearing were showing shiny spots that needed clearancing while sitting on the tailgate of my truck. once on the engine stand only the front bearing was an issue. all is well now as it fits like it should.

So installing the engine stand bolts and putting the block on the stand letting it hang of of the bolts deformed the back of the block enough to affect the rear cam bearing hole
Many opportunitys in life to learn

yeah, I cant hardly believe that would make any difference. whatever, cam has no binding and spins freely. I happy with it.

Sure you can, just use a boring tool with five different cutter diameters. Don't confuse align-boring with align-honing.

He used a Sunnen CK10 for both align boring and alin honing as well as cylinder honing

Most any shop that installs many BB Mopar cam bearings will have a "cutter cam" like the one shown above. Nearly impossible to get them in and not have a tight spot somewhere. Common problem. I also agree with the others. Scotchbrite is not your friend

ok, now that I know a pocket knife works good for scraping bearings, theirs no need for scotch brite.

As said common issue with bb mopar. Don't sweat it. Ive seen cams that would barely turn with a wrench on the bolt, after some run time it turned like it was on roller bearings. If you only had to massage just one spot on one bearing you got a good block...

I never did understand why they made each bearing
size different... my 50mm rollers works just fine
with all of them being one size

front and rear bearing. front was the worst.

I install my own cam bearings, I do them one at a time now and check the cam fit with the cam going into that motor on each bearing,I corrrect(scrape them with a bearing knife) as needed before installing the next one