Thanks for the response. Just sent an email. Let me know if you do not get it.

-Michael

 

Interestingly, I have been told that some Olds based recent Facebook discussion has brought attention back to the run of these plates I produced back in 2017. It took me a while to remember were I stashed them, though found three left in stock from the original run. Now all of a sudden the last of these plates have sold out in the last few days.

Soooo..... the question is should I get another batch in motion? These certainly were not cheap to produce, so this is not a profitable item for me. Let me know if you guys see any possible further interest in these and I may consider putting another batch into existence. I was surprised to see over 5500 views, though puzzled that out of all of those views, nothing really came of it.

Let me know what the interest level may be these days, and I will then possibly run another batch.

Paul M. Clark
Hydratech Braking Systems
www.hydratechbraking.com
admin@hydratechbraking.com

 

 

 

Being a low demand item (so far), I have only machined a batch of these into existence here and there. I have obtained enough of the special heavy duty bearing grade bronze material to run a double batch on this next run, but currently do not have any left in stock at this time. The machinists have been instructed to run these as a filler job in between some of their other machine work. The problem is they have been super busy running production parts for John Deere, Whirlpool, Parker and such, so this small run of these cam thrust plates is back burner work for them. I will be speaking with them this week about a large Hydratech order I am placing with them, and will see if I can get them to also run these cam thrust plates as part of this production order.

The word ASAP is not a problem when I have these in stock, but since they are currently out of stock, I will have to get back to you once I hear back from the machinists as to a possible time frame.

 

I picked one of these up back in 2019 (thanks for doing this by the way) and the world went to poop afterwards :-) I'm finally putting the 455 together and pulled this out of the parts stash. Have you gotten any feedback from those who bought and installed? I was wondering if anyone had issues or if there was a slight redesign from back then.

Thanks,
Hutch

 

Hi Hutch, you are one of the lucky ones that has one in stock! We have been SO incredibly busy with Hydratech, running a 90+ day back log of orders, that we have just not been able to free up any CNC booths to do another run of these special cam thrust plates. I have mentioned it in passing a few times with the machinists, and they always say this is a "Saturday project", which means it is not on the Monday through Friday "Hot List". Well... I have enough guys now patiently waiting on the next run of these to be completed that I have insisted these now be moved in the "Hot List / Monday through Friday" priority status. I am doing a double run this time, though not sure what the exact count will come to out of the double sections of bar stock just yet (hoping for 50+).

At any rate, everybody that has received one of the first 50 run (two runs at 25 each) has reported back with two thumbs up. I recently had to tear my 488 stroker back down to get rid of the garbage Eagle "cast steel" crank, finding only the slightest witness marks on my thrust plate after 500 miles. I had one customer who's cam thrust flange in the block was wasted, which required the machine shop to carefully spot face machine off about .030" (if I recall correctly), then install an aftermarket repair thrust washer between the backside of the cam and the block to get it fixed back up. That was not a factor in whether or not the cam thrust plate was proper or not, instead being a heavily worn block. I have had two other guys come back and say that they ended up having to buy new replacement front oil galley plugs as their originals did not want to thread down snugly enough for their liking before torquing down against the cam thrust plate. I feel those two cases could've been alternately handled by surgically cleaning the front oil gallery plug holes / threads and then treated with some Loctite 262, though these were running engines that were torn down specifically to be updated to roller cams. With that being the case, oily areas critical to cleanliness, I can see where their concerns of the Loctite bonding down and holding perfectly may not have been as confidence inspiring as having two brand new reproduction front oil galley block plugs (providing a tighter thread interface). Please note to never ever use Teflon tape, as shards of this can break loose and then swim throughout the oiling system causing havoc. One further customer was bummed to find out that he couldn't run this cam thrust plate with his Milodon front gear drive package, and another didn't catch the fact that these will not work on a 403 as they have higher oil galley locations in relation to the cam centerline. The same has been found with the aftermarket Rocket Racing blocks, as they also have raised oil gallery locations. I have not considered doing a secondary design for the 403's, as I have not seen any particular demand, and I do not have a $$$ Rocket Racing block on hand to R & D a plate design for it. No timing chain sets of any brand found to interfere, no other problems reported.

Other than possibly needing new reproduction oil gallery plugs depending on what shape the block threads and oil gallery plugs are in, everything has checked out perfectly with everybody that is running one. Dick Miller Racing is waiting for me to send one over to them to play with, and if they choose to carry it, I will take production to the next level and run a couple hundred of them. I haven't really considered marketing these, though demand is ramping up as somebody on social media somewhere REALLY liked it (heard that from a couple of guys in the current waiting list).

So this is now time tested, with the original design / specs proving to be right on the money. The 2022 version is unchanged from the 2019 version, so go ahead and install with confidence.

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

That's fantastic news about another production run! I hope the DMR team-up happens so you can see this project grow some legs and run.

All the best. Hutch

 

I have been getting some inquiries about price and availability now that this thread is moving again. The part is $115, but I will need you send along your shipping address so that I can calculate what UPS Ground costs will come to – typically $20 +/- for the lower 48 states. From what I can tell as of this writing, I should have live parts (finally) back in stock within the next two weeks (fingers crossed). I will hold price on this run, as I see that I was lucky to have purchased the heavy duty bearing grade certified bar stock early last summer. Checking on the same bar stock again just now made my eyes cross. If DMR and a few others evaluate these and want to bring them into their line up of offerings, I am hoping that running a considerably larger batch on the next run can keep a lid on costs.

 

Hi Guys, I have another batch of these cam thrust plates now available. These are moving quickly, as there were quite a few people on a waiting list already. Send me an e-mail to admin@hydratechbraking.com and we can make arrangements from there. Please scroll back through all of the previous threads for further information. $115 each plus typically $20 +/- UPS Ground.

Thank you for your patience!

Paul Clark

 

These cam thrust plates are moving quickly - there are now only 6 left out of this last run.

If you want one, you had better get with me pretty quickly, as I expect these will be gone in about 2 weeks.

I do not know when I may be running another batch of these again. At this point, it depends upon whether some of the big names I have sent evaluation samples to check out are going to want to carry these or not.

Just to say it again for those that may be fresh to this - this cam thrust plate makes the little thrust buttons look like child's play, providing complete cam control once and for all in a simple bolt on part compatible with all camshafts and timing chains tested.

$115 plus about $20 +/- UPS Ground depending upon your exact location.

Let me know -

Paul

 

Please maybe check your junk e-mail, and PMs. I sent you an email back on Feb 13th per your request. Haven't heard anything back.

 

Are you Mike? If so, I see an e-mail from you on the 13th, and I responded back on the 18th, so maybe check your spam / junk mail folders. Go ahead and send me a PM on this site to be sure, and I'll get you covered.

EDIT: I think I have this nailed down now - I sent you PM just now to be sure.

 

This run of cam thrust plates moved a LOT faster than I expected. I only have one left out of this latest run now. If you want it, I suggest you get with me ASAP, as I am not sure when I will be running another batch... The next batch will unfortunately have to be considerably more expensive, as this particular extreme duty billet bearing grade bronze these are machined out of has doubled in price.

Thanks much - let me know.

Paul

 

Due to demand on these, I have officially decided to do steady runs on these cam thrust plates now:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284698060320

Right now I only have two left for this listing, but have another batch already in motion.

Thanks for all your help in bringing these back into existence!

Paul

 

FYI - The machinists are telling me we will have the next batch of 50 ready Monday, April 4th. You can either contact me directly at admin "at" hydratechbraking.com (providing your shipping address so that I can calculate UPS ground shipping costs) and I can send you a PayPal invoice (which can be paid by credit card even if you aren't a PayPal member). This is a little bit of a slower way to process, as I have to generate an invoice and send it back to you (some back and forth involved), OR you can just buy it quick and easy through this listing:

Olds second gen V8 Cam thrust plate

I have a Rocket Racing block coming in, so we will be developing one for this design, and also have a 403 here now too so that we can design the specific plate needed for this engine (both the Rocket block and the 403 have different oil gallery locations, which require a redesign of these plates to specifically accommodate).

Thank you kindly!

Paul

 

These camshaft thrust plates are now back in stock once again. The machinists came in sooner than expected, but it turns out that the last of the run didn't spec out properly during the final quality control check, so 14 of them had to sadly get scrapped. Apparently one of the replaceable carbide cutters in this large (multi carbide) 10" surfacing cutter started coming loose, which tore up the last few on the CNC table - WAY beyond any repair. Once metal comes off, it doesn't go back on. I am glad it happened at the tail end of the run, with 36 coming in on proper spec. Don't worry, if it isn't perfect, it isn't going to get passed off as close enough. The 36 available are ISO 9000 shop certified, so rest easy that even though there was a problem in this run, it was literally the very last machining move before completion, and I consider myself fortunate that 36 out of 50 came through perfectly.

Not as a result of the machining problem, but due to rising material costs (Bronze is skyrocketing), I have had to raise the forum member cost up from $105 to $115. I have managed to keep the Ebay listing price unchanged, but the next run may require a price hike. (thanks to Mr. Putin trying to start WWIII).

Thank you kindly!

Paul

 

Thumbs up! High quality part for sure. If you need/want one, t's worth the coin.

 

I found this post and wondered if anymore will be available

 

YES - another run of these IS in the works, but the machinists are buried stupid silly and I cannot confirm a promise date as of this writing. I am hoping to have these back in stock again before the year is out if all goes well. These started selling faster than I had anticipated, so I'm behind the eight ball in getting more of these back into existence!

Stay tuned - I will let everybody know when the next batch will be ready.

For all that have sourced these, thank you kindly for trusting me with your builds!

Paul

 

I posted this pic many years ago on ROP when someone asked how the 307 thrust set up goes together.

where did you find this? it’s probably from 15 years ago

 

In my realization that the OE GM cam thrust plates had completely evaporated, I set out on a quest to locate any possible last remaining ones that I could find. During these heavy duty searches, I studied what seemed like thousands of pages of information and images. Every time I ran across something seemingly noteworthy on the topic, I'd add it to my research file. Where did I score some of this information? Hard to say, just surfing around all over the internet glomming onto anything and everything I deemed noteworthy. If I recall correctly, what grabbed my attention to save the image was how goofy it was of GM to have gone about their initial 307 factory roller cam designs, what with the separate front cam flange in conjunction with the extra long dowel pin and the secondary smaller pin.

Flashforward, it VERY interesting that you are the one that produced this image. It also happens to me a lot, in that I will run across images of my own wondering how in the world they have flittered all around the internet into places I would have never expected.

I have a mint '86 model year 442 engine sitting here pulled out of my car at the 69,000 mile mark. While it has everything I would have needed to observe and document the parts you illustrated, this engine is so original it has never even had the valve covers off, OE timing mark still on the driver's valve cover... I did not want to tear into it for that reason, instead finding everything I needed on the internet, including your image!

I say again, the internet is a wonderful world library of information at times (BUT also a huge amount of misinformation too!)

Thank you for posting up that image at some point many, many years ago. I'm sure you chuckled when you saw it again!

Paul...

 

I tried to go online and order 2 from you but is says it is no longer available. Would I be able to place an order directly with you for 2 of camshaft thrust plates?

 

This is an old thread and I dont think he is making any more right now. You could try sending him a PM

 

Ok, thanks.

 

UPDATE: The special bearing grade bronze material has come in and the machinists now have it cut into the appropriate section sizes. What we need to do now is wait for one of the CNC booths opens up to get this next run machined into existence. The machines are constantly booked solid, but every once in a while, something comes up to where a filler job can be slid into production (such as these custom cam thrust plates).





Stay tuned - I am hoping to have these available again for you before the end of May.

I see that I should schedule in larger batches of these and / or have them run more frequently!

I will come back in and let you know when this next batch is ready.

Paul

 

I need one...put me in the list thanx!

 

I would like one as well. Thanks!

 

Just trying to sign on to the waiting list. If you'd let me know when these are ready I'm in the process of building a 455 with a roller cam.

 

I too would love to purchase one of these also when they are ready.

 

If you are making any more I would like a couple

 

. I’m looking to buy one