Machining or Grinding Cam Journals???

[nittanylion45]

Hello,

Does anyone know if camshaft journals can be machined or ground?

I purchased a 65 mustang conv. in pieces. The engine had been rebuilt and has 0 miles on it. The cam was a stock 289 cam... I pulled this cam to upgrade to a Ford Racing torquer cam (actually a Melling knock off). When I installed this cam, the fit was very tight and the cam bound. I reinstalled the old cam (brand new stock replacement) and this turns easily by hand. I miked the journal diameters and the new Melling cam is right in spec. The stock cam has journal diameters about 0.001" smaller (and slightly out of spec on the low end... even though it is brand new). I am thinking that since the journal bearings were replaced in the block, there may very slight bearing misalignment. To cure this, can I just machine or grind the cam journals down 0.001" (to the size of the stock cam journals) or are they hardened? I wouldn't want to machine away the hardened surface.... I also don't want to go through a bearing scraping procedure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated... as always!

Regards, Jim.

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[68RustBucket]

i can imagine that without EXTREME care and precision, grinding up cam journals can have very expensive consequences. It'll likely be much less risky to replace the cam bearings or get a new cam altogether.

You might want to call Ford Racing to see what cam bearings they recommend using with that specific cam, just incase something is off about it. That'd probably be the first step.

 

[chromedog]

if it wasnt done when the engine was rebuilt, you are probibly going to need to have the cam bearings line honed...this will take care of any misalignment of the bearings, also...

 

[mustangdave]

if it wasnt done when the engine was rebuilt, you are probibly going to need to have the cam bearings line honed...this will take care of any misalignment of the bearings, also...

I think you mean the cam journals, not the bearings. If the journals are off, no bearings will seat right. Then again, it could be that the bearings are cocked eyed.