TR6 '74 TR6 Stubborn cam shaft

[2wrench]

Installing cam shaft and it stopped and bumped.

Recognized distributor gear was in the way.
Wife held up gear (cool wife, huh?) and cam went in all
the way except for about the last few inches.

Could it be the gear might have been interferring again
or is there some other part I don't understand?

I ran short on time and had to abort. Thought I'd put this
out to you before I try again.

Thanks,

 

[trboost]

Wrench,

I would remove the dist gear. If you want, note the orientaion for later or just reinstall using TDC on #1 piston & dist rotor. I'm not being silly but make sure the propper end went in first. Use assembbly lube. There might be a remote possibility that your motor had cam bearings installed (PO) and your butting against the last one. Try rotating the cam. If none of this helps remove, check for burrs or straightness.


Remember, when the last portion is entering the block all the bearing surfaces are seating in the bore and it is pretty snug. It should not require a hammer but gently tapping is accepable.

 

[2wrench]

Thanx, Boost. Cam is oriented flat end first with
the spigot end following. I'll try removing the
distributor gear entirely. Cam is new.

Got to leave for work soon. Have to try tonight or....?

Thanks again,

 

[bash]

Probably too late (I seem to recall you already have your crankshaft in place?) but I just put my camshaft in before the crankshaft - there was no reason I could see not to, and it made it incredibly easy to support the camshaft as it was inserted (I actually did it with the block vertical to allow gravity to do the work). I was worried about scratching the lobes on my new GP2 camshaft. Went in with out any kind of hammering or problems - there wasn't anything in the way, though, as the camshaft was the first thing to go into the bare block.

Even with gravity on my side I found that I needed to rotate the shaft as it went in to make sure the lobes didn't hit the bearing surfaces (not really bearings, but you know what I mean).

Once in place not having a crankshaft in the way also made for easy access to the lobes to apply plenty of cam lube.

Hope that helps someone.
Cheers
Alistair

 

[AweMan]

Probably too late (I seem to recall you already have your crankshaft in place?) but I just put my camshaft in before the crankshaft - there was no reason I could see not to, and it made it incredibly easy to support the camshaft as it was inserted (I actually did it with the block vertical to allow gravity to do the work). I was worried about scratching the lobes on my new GP2 camshaft. Went in with out any kind of hammering or problems - there wasn't anything in the way, though, as the camshaft was the first thing to go into the bare block.

Even with gravity on my side I found that I needed to rotate the shaft as it went in to make sure the lobes didn't hit the bearing surfaces (not really bearings, but you know what I mean).

Once in place not having a crankshaft in the way also made for easy access to the lobes to apply plenty of cam lube.

Hope that helps someone.
Cheers
Alistair

The way I always rebuild engines too, camshaft first. And for the exact reasons stated. Although I do take great care not to "Nick" a lobe, I worry more about nicking a bearing.

 

[TR3driver]

Mmm, if you left the dizzy in ... any chance the fuel pump is still in too ?

 

[Guest]

You took the words out of my mouth....

 

[DrEntropy]

:lol:

Cam first in these iron lumps with pushrods. For all the reasons Alistair stated. And ~if~ there are babitted bearings in it, Kerry stated another reason. You can scrape a gouge out of a soft bearing with a lobe so easily you'll not even notice it.

 

[2wrench]

It's all about experience. So now I know I can install
the cam first and cannot install the distributor gear.
School of hard knocks.

Hope I didn't already screw something up. I've tried
to be a bit ginger.