Why did my cam walk forward?

[Nikkormat]

I understand your concern but a phone call to the builder this morning says other wise. He said "If its that simple a fix go for it".

[fulsizjeep]

If this was me, I would take it to builder and arrange to watch the disassemble with my own eyes. Everything you think, dream and talk about on this problem is just hearsay until you get inside and see the truth.

[Cheap Hobby]

ok, so you get the tc off and the chain and gears are lined up and no cocked and the bolt is not loose or protruding then what?
If it is loose do you just tighten it up or do you take out the bolt and chase the threads, change your cam drive gear? Is your eye good enough to tell if the timing gears have any damage?

This mornings response tells me your builder is not interested in finding the problem, even if it is that simple. My mechanic would of had a tow truck at my house before I hung up the phone.
When you drive past the shop do you see the same vehicles there all the time? That would raise the question crappy mechanic or crappy customers.

Since you are going to jump in and run a chance of voiding your warranty before you pull any thing else have you tried rotating the crank with the water pump off?

[Nikkormat]

Pictures don't lie.

[Tatsadasayago]

Looks to me that the cam wasn't tapped properly or there was some metal shavings stuck in between the threads when the bolt was installed. Notice how there are some good threads in between the galling? It's possible that bolt was never tightened and it was wobbling around in the hole banging the daylights out of those threads...then got hammered upon removed.
Something not right there.

[Cheap Hobby]

Great, now it is time for a shop vac and bottoming tap. Do you have another bolt or piece of all thread to check the cam threads with? Don't want to trash another bolt. You can also set your tdc / initial timing before you put the cover on

[Stuka]

Did you pull it apart, or was this at the shop?

[serehill]

I understand your concern but a phone call to the builder this morning says other wise. He said "If its that simple a fix go for it".

Yeah I can definitely see him saying that. Smart move on his part. Since there are no disassembly pictures I suppose we get to speculate. The bolt was loose & pushing against the TC smashing the bolt into the threads. So the mechanic did not tighten the bolt properly. Right??

Most likely he didn't have the fulcrum seated properly when he tightened it.

Is the cam just as trashed as the bolt? I'm betting yes.

[Nikkormat]

Pulled itnapart in the driveway of the shop who i installed the motor with. The bolt was loose amd riding against the cover.

Shop vac (shop air powered wetvaccum but that doesnt matter) and bottoming tap done. The hole wasn't tapped all the way and so as the cam brushed up against cover it backed out. Its tapped deep as I can now, and the threads look fine. I cleaned it with some pipe cleaners and brakleen to just to be sure. Then I reinstalled it with red lock tight. It may never come out now!

Can was fine lucky for me. And thanks to the amount of assembly grease I had on the dizzy gear and the bolt head none of the metal shards left the area.

Didn't have to drop or droop the pan. It was surprisingly easy to do.

[serehill]

Wow interesting Good luck. That's what it looked like. Fingers crossed here.

[fulsizjeep]

DAMN.

That is all I got. If you are not pissed off yet, I will be for you.

[carnuck]

Had the gear popped forward on the cam, the response would be mostly 4 letter words!

[SJTD]

So a bad cam and a mechanic that can't tell the difference between a bolt bottoming against the sprocket with the immediate increase of torque and a bolt jamming in the partial threads and the torque increasing for four turns and never hitting the sprocket. I wonder if he used a torque wrench.

[jaber]

So a bad cam and a mechanic that can't tell the difference between a bolt bottoming against the sprocket with the immediate increase of torque and a bolt jamming in the partial threads and the torque increasing for four turns and never hitting the sprocket. I wonder if he used a torque wrench.

If time permitted, this thought would make me want to tear the whole thing down, plasit-guage the bearings and check the oiling passages as "I" reassembled it.

[68glad]

And thanks to the amount of assembly grease I had on the dizzy gear and the bolt head none of the metal shards left the area.

Didn't have to drop or droop the pan. It was surprisingly easy to do.

Agreed with the "can't tell the difference between a torqued cam bolt & 4 stripped threads" comment. No metal shards left the area huh? How do you know this? YOU greased the bolt head???? C'mon.......who greases a bolt head. I thought you had a builder. Please stick some magnets to the oil filter. Prayer said that I never end up with this engine

[Stuka]

You need to pull the pan. It's impossible to see if metal went through the engine without looking.


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

[Nikkormat]

No metal shards left the area huh? How do you know this? YOU greased the bolt head???? C'mon.......who greases a bolt head.

I've got a couple neodymiums stuck to the filter. I had a builder for the cam bearings and rings. I did the heads, intake, timing cover, and oil pan as well as rehabbing the cylinder walls. The motor had been in a bad flood a year prior.

Moly assembly grease is for that purpose exactly. And being as there is a potential for metal on metal contact on the timing cover I unloaded a whole mess of viscous grease on everything. Timing chain, pump eccentric, cam gear and yes; even on that darned bolt. The pattern of the grease when I removed the cover and the fact that the area hadn't been washed down with oil yet meant that I could confidently say no stray shards existed. I did drain the pan just to be safe and found no aluminum or steel there either.

[Nikkormat]

So a bad cam and a mechanic that can't tell the difference between a bolt bottoming against the sprocket with the immediate increase of torque and a bolt jamming in the partial threads and the torque increasing for four turns and never hitting the sprocket. I wonder if he used a torque wrench.

I'll wager he didn't on the cam bolt. Likely a power tool was involved...

[Nikkormat]

DAMN.

That is all I got. If you are not pissed off yet, I will be for you.

Had the gear popped forward on the cam, the response would be mostly 4 letter words!

I was trying to self censor, the last thing I needed was to get kicked off here for getting mad about a problem only you all could help with. That would only lead to more problems!

[carnuck]

So a bad cam and a mechanic that can't tell the difference between a bolt bottoming against the sprocket with the immediate increase of torque and a bolt jamming in the partial threads and the torque increasing for four turns and never hitting the sprocket. I wonder if he used a torque wrench.

I'll wager he didn't on the cam bolt. Likely a power tool was involved...

You're 1/2 right! Since it wasn't seated, I doubt power was used.