Help with 383 teardown

[MadScientist]

Hi all,

Im tearing down a stagnant old 383 and am having trouble getting the Cam out.  Everything else is out of the block, but it seems the cam is getting stuck on the remaining journals it has to pass through. I dont want to mar anything. Ive lubed it up (it was pretty dry in there but still lubed) but still no dice. Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

MS

[TylerCharger69]

Old cam bearings sometimes are a pain.....You just have to be persuasive.  If your tearing it completely down,  you'll want to replace those anyway.  Try a bit of lacquer thinner to break up the deposits on the journals that come with age.   It worked for me.

[John_Kunkel]

The rear cam bearing bore is the smallest, each bearing bore gets larger as you come towards the front so each cam journal should easily pass through the bearing if front of it.

Sometimes you have to juggle the rear of the cam up/down/sideways to get the lobes to clear the bearing bores as it comes out the front.

[MadScientist]

Ok, then I can be "persuasive" with this thing if Im doing a complete rebuild on it anyway?  Sounds like a plan. I thought I may have been to "careful", not wanting to mar any of the machined surfaces. I will continue the wrestling match this weekend....

[frederick]

I assume you haven't forgotten the fuel pump pushrod?

Frederick

[ITSA426]

After you've taken out the fuel pump pushrod, thread a long bolt into the end of the camshaft to use as a handle.  Sometimes it helps keep from tearing things up.

[MadScientist]

Good point on the fuel pump push rod. I took that out when I removed the fuel pump early on.

I need to put a longer bolt on there as well. Its a leverage thing huh?

I can see that when the cam is coming out it gets hung up just at the cam journals pass though the adjacent bearings. Hey, they had to get this thing in there somehow....