Did I screw this up or not....

boise-nic · Post by **boise-nic** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:59 pm

*(posting for my buddy who is doing a similar 4G build)...*

Hi guys, I'm new to this site but have been around 4g's for many years. Having said that, you would think I'd kjnow better that to do what I just did...

I'm building a motor on my engine stand. The head has been completely rebuilt and I am in the process of mating it to the block. I put in new lifters, replaced the rockers, and replaced the cams. I torqued down the bearing cap bolts (or that what I'm calling them) for the cams to 14 ft-lbs when it occured to me that I didn't bother to keep them in the correct order (i.e. which aluminum cap goes to which bearing spot on the cam. I can't believe I did this but I am wondering if it makes a difference at all or what I can do now to fix my mistake. Is the order of the aluminum caps absolutely critical?

Thanks for the help guys

turbostellar · Post by **turbostellar** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:45 am

yes it is critical to keep each cap in its original location, i have heard of people that have had seized cams because of this. hell i even put pushrods and lifters, rockers in its original place on any motor to prevent any sort of problems.

Bill Hincher · Post by **Bill Hincher** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:25 am

just get some 'plastic guage' at your local parts store and check your clearence and you can match things back up

its just a string that conforms to the clearence when crush by torquing the cap bolts on the cam, when taken back out, you can measure the width of the string to see how far it crushed down and the width will tell you the clearence

DoubleJ · Post by **DoubleJ** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:47 am

Isnt there an order in the manual as well? (chiltons etc)

77amc · Post by **77amc** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:26 pm

Don't the cam towers have identifying marks or numbers on them?

Did you or the shop assemble the head? If they are freindly, i'd say to go back to them and ask them to help you out.

Just my .02 E

boise-nic · Post by **boise-nic** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:12 pm

I'm familiar with the plastic gauge string. I used it on the crank bearings for another engine. Good suggestion. I'd assume all we need to do is find the tollerance / clearance for the bearing surface and match them up accordingly. As long as the cams haven't been rotated, We don't think I've hurt anything by tightening them down (I hope). I'll let you know what we find.

89coltgt · Post by **89coltgt** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:38 pm

The cam caps must be put back in the way they came off, the caps were machined with the head. Errol is correct, they have id letters, numbers and arrows to tell you where they go. Iirc, they have a letter designation I/E or intake exhaust and then #'s for the order and arrows to show you which direction they go.

Hopefully you did not damage/distort the caps or damage the cam journals.

mr.andaya · Post by **mr.andaya** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:01 am

i think there labeled L# and R# i was at the yard today and a dohc head had the R's on the intake side and the L's on the exaust

boise-nic · Post by **boise-nic** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:32 am

The intake has an I1-I5 stamped on them and the exhaust have an E1-E5 stamped on them. They count up as you go away from the cam gears. Not too hard. It felt like they all cranked 'flat' with very little effort until the very last turn of the bolt so I don't think there was much distortion or bending if I did manage to put them on wrong. Whew! I apologize for my dumbass-ness.

OLDIE · Post by **OLDIE** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:30 pm

I always use an ink pen to mark anything that needs to go back in the correct order .Saves stuff ups