I was in process of shorting my 289 today and found that the #1 cam bearing was stiff when the cam was in. I know its #1 cause i can flip the cam around and just that one journal is tight. i wiggled the cam back and forth 18 zillion times, spun it, wiggled, gave love taps with the hammer, etc.... its loosened up some, but its still dragging on it a little bit. what im wondering is will i be able to run it and everything will be fine, or will it heat up and wipe itself out causing crap to go thru my entire motor? to better describe how stiff it is after working at it - if the journal is half way in the cam bore and the gear is on the cam i can spin it and when i let go it still spins freely for quick second. when the journal is all the way in the cam bore and i spin it over it will no spin freely when i take my hand off it.


do i let her go or do i rent a cam bearing tool and buy a new set for the one bearing? advice by tomorrow would kickass so i can get back to work =)

 

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If you know the block is good have a machine shop put in new ones clean up the bores and go .10 on the crank.
Start with a fresh foundation. Those lil 289 outlast the energizer bunny, Mine is sitting in the shop waiting to go in its 3rd mustang.
I did a rebuild 12 years ago and its still just as strong today.

 

Does it have new cam bearings right now? Have you measured the camshaft journal to make sure the diameter is correct? Checked the cam for straightness? If it is #1 you should be able to look at the bearing itself to see if it has a ding in it. Likewise on the cam. If it were my engine I would pull out my dial bore gauge and measure the inside diameter of the bearing and compare all of te measurements to specs to see if the problem is the bearing or the cam before deciding what to do. If you don't have a dial bore gauge, a good enine shop should be able to measure it for you.

Hope this helps,

John B

 

its the bearing for sure, and cman the motor is all fresh, .030 / zero decked / rods done / crank done / balanced / etc....

i spoke to two different builders i have worked with this morning, they both said the same thing, which was if i can work the cam around backwards (with the cam sticking out the block backwards and the #1 cam journal in the block only) and get it to spin without being too stiff then it shouldnt be a problem. i'm going to work on it a bit more today and they just run with it as these guys have each built more motors than all of us combined.

 

Your call on that man. Do now for a fact sometimes the kits can have a bad component in them.
I found out that one on a 454 chevy motor one time the mains were fine except for #3 was something from another application it just got mixed in some how.
I like the other guys solution measure and gage both cam and bearings. Nothing should be that tight that you cant hand turn any bart of the engine or something is wrong.
Solving it now is better than tearing it down in a couple of weeks when the bearing goes.
Not just being a pecker ive been there and just wanted her done. Just to pull it all back apart.
The 72 Chevelle I had the main problem with I did just that put it together it was too tight ran it any way a month later I was having the crank turned and new mains put back in.
Good luck any way you go with it.

 

Is it tight with the #5 camshaft journal in the #1 bearing? If yes then I would agree that it's the bearing, but if not, the I'd have tolean toward the cam. If it is the bearing, I have in the past polished bores like this with a slot cut in the end of a wood dowel and a srtip cut fromfine scotch brite pad.

 

What are you defining as tight? The cam shouldn't turn real free, it will have some resistance. You'll have a difficult time turning the cam installed in the block with justyour fingers on the bolt or dowelunless you have the cam gear installed (or something else to give you some leverage).

 

overthinking the situation FTL.....

it was the bearing, i knew it was the bearing. i worked on it for awhile and when i decided it was good enough to run with you could hardly tell there was any drag on it at all. i'd say it was about 95% perfect when i went ahead and stuffed the cam in there.

the problem was when the #1 bearing was knocked in it was a tad crooked, and then was given a couple love taps to straighten it out. well, that was enough to give somewhat of a highspot on the back of the bearing. if i had a bearing scraper on hand i coulda had the problem solved in minutes, but i had to do things the ol fashioned way.

everything is good to go, motor is assembled and waiting for me to weld up my fragged oil pan so i can button up the bottom.