stage I cam bearing journal?

[norbs]

I am thinking of welding up the groove in the cam, but i am not sure if the stage I block has the groove under the bearing, I forgot? Does anyone know if its grooved liked the 109 blocks?


thanks norb

 

[Jeff Harrington]

If it is a 14bolt oil pan than no it does not have the grove.

 

[750H.P.V6]

No it doesn't have a groove behind the bearing like the 109 production blocks.

Neal

I am thinking of welding up the groove in the cam, but i am not sure if the stage I block has the groove under the bearing, I forgot? Does anyone know if its grooved liked the 109 blocks?


thanks norb

 

[norbs]

Thanks, so i won't weld up the groove then in the cam,

 

[JDEstill]

If a TA cam bearing fits, which is grooved on the back side, you can still run a non-grooved cam if you want.

And I thought I saw somewhere or another a part number for a set of grooved cam bearings from Durabond, but it was a 4.1 part number, didn't seem like it was the same as for the 20 bolt blocks, maybe it was for 14 bolt blocks? I could be mistaken there, just a hazy recollection.

John

 

[norbs]

Will the groove on the back supply enough oil to feed the drivers side oil gallery. The goove on the back can't be very big, how can it supply enough oil to the left bank of lifters? I was thinking it cross feed the liftere valley from the back of the block with some fittings? What do you think i should do?

 

[JDEstill]

I would think that the grooved cam bearings would supply enough oil to the drivers side lifters... the old cam bearing trick of rotating the bearings and drilling new holes couldn't have supplied that much more oil than the grooved bearings could they? The hole feeding the drivers side lifters was only 0.080" with that approach, plus there was the new hole (0.125"?) that fed the #1 cam bearing in the first place. So I'm thinking the grooves around the cam bearing are at least equivalent to those small holes. My gut feel anyway.

If that doesn't give you the warm fuzzies you can always groove the block yourself, give it a little Dremel action Or maybe there's a special tool for that. I seem to remember seeing a big block Buick buildup where they did that, essentially copying the 86/87 design. Could be a hallucination of mine though, not sure.

I think it'll be worth it to do that stuff if you are going to put a lot of miles on the engine, it could really help with #1 cam bearing wear.

John

 

[JDEstill]

oh yeah, the groove behind the bearing isn't all that small. Here's the 1st design: http://pages.prodigy.net/buickv6/CarStuff/cam bearing.jpg The set I just got a few months ago had two smaller grooves instead of the one big groove though.

John

 

[norbs]

Thanks for the pic! but i am still going to feed the drivers side bank from the pass side bank with fittings behind the flexplate if i can make it fit. Or are the two gallerys already interconnected in the casting?

 

[Lee Thompson]

back

A less hassle way of doing it in the back is to install 1/4 in. or 3/8 in. (production block are 1/4 in. most Stage II are 3/8) street ell in the holes. Point them down---install pipe to 1/4 in. tubing adapters in the ells---buy a premade 1/4 in. brake line the necessary lenght. You can bend it by hand and make 180 degree bend going below the cam plug and back up to the drivers side fitting. May have to buy a couple lines to get it right. They have the double flare so less chance of a leak. Be sure to check for flexplate and convertor bolt clearance.

 

[norbs]

Guess i am not the only one who thinks the oiling design is very poor. thanks for the help I will do it that way, and this will stop the cam bearing paranoia!

 

[Lee Thompson]

Not I

I have never done that, but if I was going to that would be the easiest route.

 

[SWOOOSH]

A less hassle way of doing it in the back is to install 1/4 in. or 3/8 in. (production block are 1/4 in. most Stage II are 3/8) street ell in the holes. Point them down---install pipe to 1/4 in. tubing adapters in the ells---buy a premade 1/4 in. brake line the necessary lenght. You can bend it by hand and make 180 degree bend going below the cam plug and back up to the drivers side fitting. May have to buy a couple lines to get it right. They have the double flare so less chance of a leak. Be sure to check for flexplate and convertor bolt clearance.

i have this done on my 109 block.