Hi Len -
Opinions are like noses - everybody's got one but they are not all the same! On balance, this is probably a good thing. One of the best things about this list is that we can seek and receive a variety of sincerely offered opinions. Yours is offered from your experience, which very likely exceeds mine, and I am grateful for your observations. I suspect Gene is, too!
Item #1: Gene was asking how hard it would be to do the job without in situ, because he would like to avoid pulling the engine. My approach to responding to him is how does the average home mechanic go about doing such a job in their own garage? Most of us probably have to do it laying on our backs on a creeper or a drop cloth with the car up on jack stands. These days some have home lifts, which might make it a little easier, but like you said: it is not fun nor is pulling the engine.
Item #2: You are quite right: I was thinking "oil feed and locating screw holes" but only typed "locating screw holes." Mea Culpa! Still it is possible the inadvertently install the center bearings upside down, and then the center cam journal will not be lubricated even though both holes appear to line up. It might be a bit easier to verify that the holes are both lined up and correctly oriented with the engine on the bench. I'm also remembering that I've always installed the cam and cam bearings in a bare block before installing the pistons or crank simply because doing it with the crank and connecting rods in the way makes it harder. Doing it on my back from underneath would make it harder still.
Item #3: It may be safe to say that most XPAGs have been apart one or more times in their lifetimes. I have torn down and built several of my own XPAG engines, but have also assisted others to tear down their own engines, as well as junk yard or otherwise acquired donor replacement engines. A surprising number of the engines that I have assisted tearing down were missing the circlip at the rear of the cam. Two were missing the expansion plug and must have leaked like a faucet if it was missing when the engine was still running! so the possibility of popping out the expansion plug behind the rear bearing is not completely remote. A friend complained of a ringing noise in his newly rebuilt engine and it turned out to be a loose expansion plug behind the flywheel. How it came loose is anyone's guess - it could have just been poorly installed, or maybe not even the correct diameter plug in the first place, or maybe he or the machine shop left the circlip off his camshaft!
So taking all the above into consideration the opinion I offered Gene was that, on balance, it might be less hard (maybe even faster and safer) for him to do the job he is contemplating by pulling the engine and doing it on the bench. It is just one of many that he may receive.
Cheers!
- Mike Hughes - -
'37 TA 0512
On Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 7:41:40 PM EST,
laf48@aol.com [mg-tabc] mg-tabc-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Mike, while I do greatly appreciate your vast knowledge on this list I do disagree on a few of your statements. 1) No I do not pull the engine for a cam replacement only, not fun but neither is pulling the engine. 2) When installing the cam ALWAYS check the lubrication hole, ONLY of the center bearing,this is done by inserting a paper clip or wire wire into the oil galley blanking plug then rotate the engine as you are rotating the engine if alignment is correct you will see the wire/paper clip wiggle.Not almost impossible, but again not fun, BUT much easier than installing # 2 piston in situ! 3) The C clip before rear cam journal prevents the cam from knocking out the expansion or core plug as the rear bearing / bushing is already locked in place. Wrenching since I was 12 yrs old. Len Fanelli Abingdon Performance Ltd.
-----Original Message-----
From: CHARLES HUGHES
hughes.c.m@att.net [mg-tabc] mg-tabc-noreply@yahoogroups.com>
To:
mg-tabc@yahoogroups.com mg-tabc@yahoogroups.com>; Eugene F Gillam anngene@bellsouth.net>
Sent: Tue, Feb 12, 2019 6:56 pm
Subject: Re: [mg-tabc] Cam Replacement
Well.... You've got chunks of oil pump gear and probably cam gear loose in your oil pan - not good. The dizzy runs off that cam gear, too, so you'd better pull it and check it as well. You should be able to pretty easily see the state of the cam gear when looking down the dizzy orifice.
The cam comes out of the block from the front. So this means that you will have to remove the bonnet and radiator to access the front of the engine. The big problem with retracting it in situ is that the center cam bearings will come apart and drop into the pan while you are extracting the cam. They are too large to fall down below the windage tray in the pan, and you DON'T ant them to get caught between the crank and any part of the block, or you will be buying yourself a new engine! So you are going to have to drop the pan to deal with the loose bits of of gear and the center cam bearings, and the only way to insert the center cam bearings is from inside the crank case. So now you have taken apart almost all of the engine compartment except for undoing the intake and exhaust manifolds, flywheel housing and clutch fork. Might as well just pull the engine!
When installing the new cam It is almost impossible to re-insert those bearings and line up the locating screw holes with the engine in the car. AND you don't want to insert the cam TOO far into the block or you will pop the expansion plug behind the rear bearing out of the block and into the flywheel housing. The loose expansion plug can wreak all sorts of havoc in there if it gets caught up by the flywheel. If you pop that expansion plug you are going to have to pull the flywheel to fit the new one, which means the engine is coming out anyway.
I'm not saying someone with teeny fingers and limitless reservoirs of patience couldn't eventually pull it off, but in the end it would be faster and safer to pull the engine do the job on your work bench.
- Mike Hughes - -
'37 TA 0512
On Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 5:23:23 PM EST, Eugene F Gillam
anngene@bellsouth.net [mg-tabc] mg-tabc-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
How hard is it to change out a cam with the engine in the car? I was warming up my engine in the garage the other day, temperature coming up nicely, oil pressure running between 65/70 (normal this engine) when all of a sudden there were loud noises and the oil pressure dropped to 0. The engine kept running normally.
I pulled the oil pump yesterday and found the oil pump gear that meshes with the cam was missing a tooth and several other teeth were damaged. I ve ordered an endoscope so I can look at the cam in the engine but I m expecting the worst.
I ve built several engines from the ground up outside the car but want to avoid having to pull it if not necessary.
Thanks in advance,
Gene Gillam
Saucier, MS
Sent from my iPad
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