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440- cam wont fit #3005752
01/15/22 10:04 PM
01/15/22 10:04 PM
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wine country
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8urvette Offline OP
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I have a running 540", i am swapping the cam.

I pulled the motor and pulled existing cam out. The new cam will not slide into the engine all the way. It stops at the last cam journal. I am sure i can force it in, but it will not slide in. I tried putting my orginal cam in and it slides in just fine, all the way in. Tried the new cam again, and it stops at the same spot, about 1" from being installed.

I have read all about how cam bearings can do this or that once installed, but they all address new engine builds where the cam does not fit. Not a running engine and a cam swap.

What do I do?

Is it a bad cam?

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: 8urvette] #3005753
01/15/22 10:11 PM
01/15/22 10:11 PM
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 911
London, England
mopar_mark Offline
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I would measure cam journal size on old cam & new cam, so you have a comparison. Just in case there was incorrect machining/grinding performed on new cam.

Should be no reason why new cam does not fit, other than size interference

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: 8urvette] #3005755
01/15/22 10:12 PM
01/15/22 10:12 PM
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S.E. Michigan
ZIPPY Offline
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Measure old vs new bearing journals

Check the cam to see if it’s bent/a lathe and an indicator or V blocks and indicator

Really all you do is try to find out why


Rich H.

Esse Quam Videri




Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: ZIPPY] #3005757
01/15/22 10:16 PM
01/15/22 10:16 PM
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Granite Bay CA
Kern Dog Offline
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People forget that when new, the factory installed the cam bearings then actually "line bored" the whole she-bang. New bearings take you back to square one.
I've had this same situation happen. I pulled out a '509 to put in a Lunati Solid and while the '509 fit easily and spun with almost no resistance, the Lunati would not fit. I had to make THIS:

Cam bearing tool 2.jpg
Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: Kern Dog] #3005758
01/15/22 10:18 PM
01/15/22 10:18 PM
Joined: Feb 2010
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Granite Bay CA
Kern Dog Offline
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That was an old stock cam. The diagonal grooves were packed with wheel bearing grease. I installed the white cam, spun it slowly and removed it to clean the shavings. I did this numerous times until the Lunati spun as easily as the '509 did.

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: Kern Dog] #3005763
01/15/22 10:36 PM
01/15/22 10:36 PM
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Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: BloFish] #3005766
01/15/22 10:49 PM
01/15/22 10:49 PM
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Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: ZIPPY] #3005772
01/15/22 11:19 PM
01/15/22 11:19 PM
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Bend,OR USA
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Originally Posted by ZIPPY
Measure old vs new bearing journals

Check the cam to see if it’s bent/a lathe and an indicator or V blocks and indicator

Really all you do is try to find out why

iagree wrench scope It doesn't fit for a reason, find it up


Mr.Cab Racing and winning with Mopars since 1964. (Old F--t, Huh)
Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: Cab_Burge] #3005847
01/16/22 08:56 AM
01/16/22 08:56 AM
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usa
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lewtot184 Offline
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been thru this a few times. used to do the "bearing sizing" with an old cam but would rather not anymore. i think the issue is journal run-out or size on the camshaft. the only way to really know is check size and run-out on the new cam. the last one i did for myself was a little odd. i had 3 cams i could use for one engine and the first i tried wouldn't go in but the second fell in. i didn't want to cut the bearings so i just ran what fit. the bearings are soft and have a lot of conformabilities. checking the new and old camshafts journals and run-out will tell the story if cams or bearings are the issue.

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: lewtot184] #3005853
01/16/22 09:52 AM
01/16/22 09:52 AM
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Rogue River, OR
Jeremiah Offline
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Once you find the interference by measuring you will know. Although the old cam with grooves trick works it makes I cringe for a number of reasons. Unless you pull down the engine that is likely to be your solution if you dont find iszue with the cam journal size. In my experience there usually a few tight cam journal bores towaed the back of the block.



Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: Jeremiah] #3005855
01/16/22 10:08 AM
01/16/22 10:08 AM
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Southington Ct.
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turbobitt Offline
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I hear that undersized cam housing bores and bearing scraping is common on mopar big blocks.
And just for reference, my old mega block had the 2nd and 3rd bores .001-.0015 undersized and had to be corrected.

AG.


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Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: turbobitt] #3005857
01/16/22 10:25 AM
01/16/22 10:25 AM
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Ontario, Canada
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Stanton Offline
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The first engine I ever built had a tight cam bearing but what did I know. Bolted up the motor and away I went. A year later I had reason to tear it down again ... and found the bearing seized to the cam and spinning (quite freely) in the block.

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: Stanton] #3005895
01/16/22 12:24 PM
01/16/22 12:24 PM
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fredericksburg,va
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cudaman1969 Offline
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I don’t like the idea of scraping off one side then leaving a big gap on the other side, how do you know the cam with the cutting grooves is not bent?

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: 8urvette] #3005963
01/16/22 02:50 PM
01/16/22 02:50 PM
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Rittman Ohio
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Has the OP even measured the journals against a "known good" cam yet to determine if the cam is an un- finished cam? He had a cam in the block already that turned smooth so why do so many people think the block or the bearings are at fault ? All we need to do is whip out even a cheap HF digital caliper and check it out shruggy
Have seen more than one cam with wrong size journals twocents

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Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: fourgearsavoy] #3005973
01/16/22 03:48 PM
01/16/22 03:48 PM
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Michigan
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FEC21B17-232E-42D3-9CCE-8E5ED0059E12.jpeg
Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: A727Tflite] #3005981
01/16/22 04:24 PM
01/16/22 04:24 PM
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Kirkland, Washington
Pacnorthcuda Offline
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Yep….I wouldn’t be cutting on cam bearings that are already used and known to be good with a previous cam.

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: Pacnorthcuda] #3006096
01/16/22 11:43 PM
01/16/22 11:43 PM
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Posts: 781
wine country
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8urvette Offline OP
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im going to take it to my machinst to check for run out, and see if the cam bearing journals are the correct size.

Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: 8urvette] #3006099
01/16/22 11:54 PM
01/16/22 11:54 PM
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Posts: 1,800
North Dakota
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North Dakota
I had this problem also. Took out my older Hughes cam to swap in a new Comp cam and it did not fit. Grabbed a used Mopar 484 cam I had on the shelf and it slid in no problem just like the Hughes cam. Started measuring the cam journals and found the older cams were at the low end of the spec. and the new cam was at the high end. Also found the new cam was slightly bent. I took it to the machine shop and had him straighten the cam and polish the journals and after that it fit good. Just cause it is new don't mean it correct, I would be checking your new cam over good before I would start messing with the bearings. twocents


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Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: 8urvette] #3006126
01/17/22 06:56 AM
01/17/22 06:56 AM
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Holland MI Ottawa
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2boltmain Offline
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Saw a recent build on a guys YouTube channel and the journals on the new Comp Cam were oversized. Tech support reviewed the records and admitted to this mistake. The journals were corrected for free all though the builder obviously was out the time for having this all corrected.


Keep old mopars alive.
Re: 440- cam wont fit [Re: 2boltmain] #3006167
01/17/22 11:47 AM
01/17/22 11:47 AM
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Nebraska
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4406bbl Offline
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Nebraska
I just got a comp solid big block cam, that was nitrided and it also would not slide in the block. The block has new coated cam bearings, every other new cam I have did fit, comp was about a .0012 too big, it was straight just too big.. Common problem now it seems like.

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