Ford 390 FE help

[Rory McNeil]

Robbie, if the obstruction is indeed a cut down bolt, in the cam dowel hole, how about trying to knock it out by removing the camshaft, and tapping it nose down against a bench or other hard surface. If that won`t remove it, you could always try drilling it out, at least enough to get a safe amount of pin engagement. It sounds like the dowel pin in your cam was the shorter 2 piece eccentric version, being used with a 1 piece eccentric.

[Robbie Welch]

The cut off bolt came out when I took the cam out. The cam dowel hole is .640 deep now I thought the .325 wasn't deep enough. The only problem now is the dowel hole has a small amount of movemment in it. Like I said it's a street car and he doesn't need the valve train noise. Thanks again for the help Robbie

[BlueOval Ralph]

You can save a cam with a broken dowel pin or bolt by have them burnt out called eloxing not sure spelling is correct not cheap and it will not change the size of the hole. I have had a lot of this done in the past. Hand a broken tap removed form a small block Ford oil galley.

[rawhide]

Originally Posted by Robbie Welch

The cut off bolt came out when I took the cam out. The cam dowel hole is .640 deep now I thought the .325 wasn't deep enough. The only problem now is the dowel hole has a small amount of movemment in it. Like I said it's a street car and he doesn't need the valve train noise. Thanks again for the help Robbie

Robbie,
The dowel pin needs to be snug in the cam. This is important in Fords due to the bolt being in the center of the cam. If it had three bolts off center like a Cheby it would not be as important. If the dowel is loose it will allow the timing gear to move enough to loosen the bolt. When I was building engines I used two dowels in most applications although this was mostly 429/460 style engines.
regards

[Mike Taylor 3601]

Technically .325 is deep enough pin is .312 dia. it was deeper than the dia.
The dowel pin does'nt keep gear from moving. The bolt/washer clamp the gear and cam together if dowel breaks something else is wrong,the dowel is only to line gear and cam up not to keep from rotating .Cloyes told me that and I did'nt think that was right,so I checked w/Tim @ bullet/ultradyne and he said that was right.
So then I started to think about it alot of 4.6 dohc fords don't have anything in keyways of gears that run between cams,LS1, LT-1 and lot of other engines don't have keyways&keys for the balancers(dampners)so then it started to seem more correct,then I got to thinking how does dbl. key crank on blown engine work?
You know the tiny woodruff key could'nt keep the spider from turning on the cam adapter on Jesel belt but the clamping pressure/taper keeps them from rotating

Don't try to drill broken pin completely out, drill and tap hole in the pin then use a bolt& nut w/ a spacer that your pin will fit inside of,and tighten nut against spacer to pull broken pin out. You can also do this on broken pressed in rocker stud,etc.

To make long story short make sure your dowel is'nt holding anything from sitting flat,that washer,bolt etc are all stong enough and torqued enough.
Mike Taylor 3601

[Robbie Welch]

Thanks to all for the replys and the great info. I just need to get the correct lenght dowel and put in back together. Thanks again Robbie

[Capri]

Robbie,

If we can help let us know.

monymkrssla@aol.com

In case you have to change cams n lifters.

Tony

[Robbie Welch]

Thanks Tony, I think I've got it now. Not sure why the balancer/pointer where off 8degs (balancer problem?) but I redrilled the mounting holes for the pointer and its good now. How's your dad doing? Robbie