Sounds like a bearing issue...

 

i ran into this with a sbc the machine shop said my new roller was bent when he installed it didn't go past the third or fourth bearing. he started fussing because i didn't buy his cam.. well he had a used cam where he had a pie cut on the end where it cut or enlarge the bearing. he drove it in turned it to make clearence and couldn't get his cam to work either so i went and got my old cam and it fit surprise. i guess it had more wear ,but his didn't fit either so mine couldn't be bent or his was too he had to run into this before he had the cam all ready cut to do this he finally honed the bearing out to fit after a few hours of trial fitting later. found out the blocks move around and or not cut straight through cam holes talked to other people and they ran in to the same thing hope that helps

 

Ran into the same thing as well, be careful about the hone job....mine had crappy oil pressure at idle when hot.

 

If its a OEM block I have had to blue print quite a few of the cam tunnels on those blocks do to misalignment and journals not at the correct size.

 

thanks for the inputs guys

 

If it is a solid roller cam it takes WAY more than just laying it on it's side to bend it. I recently ran into this with a BBF roller cam. Had to pry it out of the block but figured it was a cam bearing issue. After freshening up engine we go to stick the cam in and it won't go into the last bearing. After trying 3 sets of cam bearings, measuring cam bearing clearance I set the cam on a flat table and saw it was bent. Not just a little bent but .030" We ordered a new cam and while waiting I tried to straighten it. cold or heated up I tried over-bending it clamped down to my mill, tried beating on it with an air hammer but would not straighten out. I'm talking LOTS of force put into it and it didn't want to bend and stay. My guess it that it was in an engine that blew up really bad and it bent there. Otherwise someone ran it over with a forklift...

 

Tell him to put it in backwards... If it's bent, it'll hit in the front instead of the rear.

 

Has he tried another cam?

I have seen on more than one occasion where someone who didn't really know what they were doing installed the cam bearings and swaged the edge of the bearing a bit.

 

I had a bent camshaft for my BBC. Its pretty easy to check with a couple v blocks, if you were local I would check it for you. I also straightened mine. I have also had a tight bearing in a different BBC it too was the last journal.
good luck.

 

how did you straighten it?I have a bent cam for bbc roller and I'd hate to toss it.Its a good cam and I want to try it in this new motor.

 

I had a BBC stock 2 bolt block that the rear cam bearing bore was .010 too small. When you knocked that bearing in, the bearing bore was too small so the cam wouldn't go in. This motor came out of a running truck so that freaked me out. I made a mandrel and cut .010 off the OD of a cam bearing and it worked fine after that. I never replaced the cam bearings in that block again. RM

 

I dont think leaving it on its side (thus on all of the bearing jurnals and supported equally) would bend it.. but I bet if you dropped it it would bend

 

I straighten them in a bench center, you could do it with a lathe between centers as well.

I use an impact gun with a copper tipped hamer that I made a few years ago.

Just chuck it between centers and look for the high spot on the bearing races with an indicator and give it a pop or two with the gun, don't get carried away and wail on it with the impact gun one or two pops at a time and then re-indicate; make sure your centers stay tight as well.

Once you have worked all the way down the shaft repeat the process all over and keep repeating it until all the bearing journals check where you want them.

DO NOT use the impact gun with the indicators plunger resting on the journal.

Drag out an old used up cam and play with it first, but don't try and compare the force needed from cam too cam, it varies a bunch.

All that having been said this is how I do it and may not be the preferred method but it has worked for me many times.

 

Thanks man.I may just send it back to crane and see what they say.I don't have access to a bench center.

 

Couldn't you just put the cam in a lathe between centers? Shouldn't take but a minute to know if the cam is the culprit.