grendal

Hi guys,

I'm working on a cam install and I got the cam out today and found some tiny slivers of metal which I presume to be bearing material...

How screwed am I? I already put the new cam in with lots of assembly lube, but obviously the stock cam had only a thin layer of engine oil on it, and it was a little stubborn to come out too.

Do you think my motor is gonna grenade shortly or might it live a while?

Thanks,

Michael

grendal

ttt.... no insights?

385LT1

have you drained your oil and check for metal?

have you cut open your filter and looked to see how much metal is inside.......?

have you inspected the lifters for excessive wear?

If you find more metal in the oil, i would consider dropping the oil pan to investigate further.....

if you find bigger clumps of metal in the pan..... then i would say be worried.

Smoke T/A

I would drain the oil and run your finger through it. If you see a trail of metal shavings where you run your finger then most likley your bearings are clost to being shot. What is your oil pressure before the cam swap?

grendal

Oil pressure before cam swap is in normal range, about 20psi idle.

I haven't finished the cam install, so the car hasn't been cranked yet. I'm fairly sure the metal shavings are from scraping the cam gear on the bearings on the way out. I can't see how this can be avoided unless you lube up the cam gear, which I had no idea I should even do... I guess that wouldn't be a bad idea to drop some assembly lube down the oil-pump-drive-shaft hole into the cam gear, because that **** is SHARP and so are the cam lobes. I have cuts on my hands from the lobes of the cam itself.

So... I can't check the filter, etc, yet because I haven't put it back together to crank it. Plan is to put it back together, fill with oil, run for 20 minutes, drain oil, put in new oil & filter and then change it again after 50 to 100 miles. I guess at that point I'll cut open the filter and see what condition I'm in.

Assuming the slivers I have are just material scraped from the cam bearings during cam removal (I'm 99% sure of this), then what would anyone estimate the lifespan of the cam bearings to be? They don't take as much pressure/force as the rod or main bearings right? Should I run synthetic? I'd like to get 30,000 miles more out of the engine before a rebuild if possible....

Thanks,

Michael

grendal

I thought I'd add that the only place I noticed the slivers of material is on the last cam journal, after the gear... damn sharp gear.

Any more final thoughts? My friends tell me it will probably be okay, particularly since I only expect 25,000-30,000 more miles out of this engine before rebuild

Thanks,

-Michael