In my ongoing quest to make every mistake possible on this project, I am swapping the cam in my 455 and put some scuffs in the bearings pulling out the old cam. I felt I was being extremely careful... but the evidence shows otherwise. The worst is at the bottom of the front bearing (see pic), you can feel it with your finger and just barely catch a nail on it.

Anyway, wanted to see if anyone could suggest a best course of action. Opinions across the web vary from "no big deal, run it" to "you have to swap it and if you are going to swap the one, you've got to swap them all."

Your input, as always, is much appreciated.

 

Personally, I would have no trouble running that as is. Cam Bearings do not take anywhere near the amount of abuse as rod or main bearings. Think about the force that the pistons transfer to the crank vs. the amount of force transferred through the valve train to the cam. Of course, if you are really concerned, replace them. It also depends how you are building the engine and what your plans are when done. Are you doing a simple rebuild for a fun cruiser? Are you having everything machined with all new parts for a motor you plan to thrash on regularly at high RPM? If a simple rebuild for a cruiser, I would put the cam in and forget about it. If it is a track car you will be running hard you may want to replace. I have rebuilt a lot of engines over the years and I generally do not replace cam bearings on a basic rebuild/ refresh.

 

Test fit the new cam completely by itself by rotating it for any binding, if no binding great. If there are any raised areas by the marks on the bearing remove them being careful not to go wider than what you are trying remove nor deeper than the rest of the bearing. In short, no binding...clean it up and run it you will be fine.

Good luck!!!

 

Id say that describes my build perfectly.


Thanks for the replies: exactly what I was hoping to hear! I will forge ahead... and try not to bang the new cam around putting it in.