Hit an unexpected glitch during engine assembly. When the
cam gear is tightened down, it binds on the thrust plate. The reason appears to
be that the spacer on the front of the cam is thinner than the thrust plate,
when it needs to be slightly thicker to provide clearance for the cam to turn when the gear is torqued down. I've installed quite a few cams from different manufacturers in my Mopars, and this has never been an issue. As a matter of fact, I've never bought a cam that uses a spacer instead of a shoulder on the bearing journal.
I could make a shim to place between the cam and the spacer,
but I’m not thrilled by the idea of having a thin piece of metal installed in
that location. Looking at the cam journal side of the thrust plate, there has
been some minor wear, though probably no more than a couple thousandths. I doubt
the wear would be enough to damage a steel shim to the point of coming apart, but I’ll
need to think about it and solicit some expert opinions.
Another alternative is finding or machining a different
spacer. Since I don’t have the tools necessary to make one, I’ve been searching
the Internet for a part that would work, but no luck finding anything yet.
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