# Cam removal



## orelog (Dec 21, 2011)

I have a 1967 400 that I have just torn down but can't seem to get the cam to come out. I have torn down several general motors engines in the past and the cam always came out the front without too much trouble. I have a 10" long fine thread bolt I screwed in the front end to balance the cam on its way out but it just won't come out. Anyone else had this problem in the past? The cam will rotate just fine but seems to be stuck at the back of the block. The front plate has been removed and all of the lifters are out.:confused


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Is the distributor out? Try turning the cam as you push in and pull out. Probably a little varnish on one of the journals, forming a small ridge. At least you know your cam bearings are probably ok!!


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

:agree What he said... Lift the distributor up if you haven't already. Be sure you remove the cap first and mark where the rotor's pointing so you can reinstall it in exactly the same position.

Bear


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

*with the dist out*



orelog said:


> * the cam on its way out but it just won't come out.* Anyone else had this problem in the past? The cam will rotate just fine but seems to be stuck at the back of the block. The front plate has been removed and all of the lifters are out.:confused


If the cam comes out at all and you can see any of the cam lobes on the outside of the engine, then keep turning the cam as you pull, it should come out. Sometimes when the cam bearings get wore badly they will get concaved in the center of the bearing making removal difficult. You may be able to reach in through the top of the lifter valley and use a pry bar or large screw driver to help pry it out as you turn from the front.


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## orelog (Dec 21, 2011)

The motor is empty except the cam. Just a bare block with the cam stuck in it. I think a lot of twisting and pulling will be tried tomorrow and I will report back. Thanks for the advice.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Alrighty then - unless there's something badly broken inside, it's probably just tight cam bearings. Try liberal application of some lube and twist/pull. You could put the cam gear back on for some additional leverage. The only other possibility that comes to mind is, if you have it on an engine stand and it's upside down, at some point in the past someone may have ground the retaining 'ears' off the bottom part of the oil pump drive shaft (so they could install it from the top after they discovered they'd left it out) and it has gotten "up" into the cam and gotten wedged. You should be able to see that problem through the distributor hole, though.

Bear


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Bear, that's a really good point that I didn't think of...and I should have, since the shaft in my ragtop has no ears on it....a definite thing to check if the block is inverted. Some carb cleaner on the journals may brake up any varnish, and the idea of installing the gear and using a couple of ladyfoots or screwdrivers to press it out is a good one, too. If worse comes to worse, you can remove the rear freeze plug and use a drift to drive it out....but we hate using force on this type of thing!


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## orelog (Dec 21, 2011)

OK, I got it out!! I had to build a slide hammer to use on the front end then after a lot of hammering and rotating it moved out of the rear bearing. That wasn't the end of the problem. It was real tight coming out of each bearing. For the last two I knocked out the rear plug and beat it out with a 1" steel rod inserted from the back of the block. The cam bearings were really chewed up and the babbit was flaking off. It looked like the oil holes in the cam bearings were not lined up with the holes in the block. Some fun, NOT.


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