Should I Have Replaced My Camshaft Bolt?

91BlckGT

Founding Member
May 24, 1999
2,386
75
68
in a van, down by the river
OK, I'm torn.

I have the engine apart right now. Just put in a new camshaft, timing chain, afr 165 heads, lunati lifters, etc. All in all I think I've dumped $4K into this revamp.

And I didn't buy an ARP camshaft bolt. I simply reused the stock one, and stuck it back on with loc-tite red. I didn't buy one from flowtech, because he wanted $15 shipping for a $8 bolt, and I forgot to include it in my original order. Now I see LMR has one w/ free shipping, and am second guessing my decision. Not because of the cost of the bolt, but what sort of damage I might cause to the cam trying to back out a heavy duty bolt and replacing it with the ARP bolt.

The second reason I'm thinking of doing it is I keep staring at the dots between the crankshaft which is at 12:00 and the timing belt which is supposed to be at 6:00, but looks a tiny bit off. Like maybe 1/8". I had the dowel facing straight down, but it doesn't look right.

So how likely is it that I might damage the threaded cam trying to pop out the bolt now that's been seated for a few days? Am I overworrying both things, and should just leave it alone? Is it worth pulling it out?

I should be clear that I don't think the stock bolt will fail, but I'm not certain if I can get the timing better aligned.
 
my 2 cents, Unless you are going to degree the cam, leave it be,

I considered it, but I don't have the tool, and don't have an adjustable timing gear set, and don't know how to degree a cam properly anyway. I definitely fall into the "engine assembler" camp, and not the "engine builder" camp. Besides, it's a show car anyway, just needs to run well on the street and have enough oomph to be fun.