Thread: FE 390 Dowl Pin Dimensions

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Newbie with a tough question.

Anyone know the diameter and length spec on the camshaft dowel pin ( between the camshaft
and timing gears )? Dove say it should be 1 5/8” long. Dura-Bond sell a kit for the FE and the dowel in that kit
is 1.5” long. Just wondering what is the correct length?

The reason I ask, is I am installing a new Crower cam and roller timing setup. The current dowel protrudes only
0.02” past the timing gears, so not much for the eccentric to catch on. How far should the dowel pin extend
past the timinging gear? The pump eccentric is about 0.12” thick so I would have though the dowel pin would
want to extend about 0.1” into the eccentric?

Any help appreciated.

Yep the original Ford pins were longer than what you get now. My dowel pin that came with my Rollmaster timing set is also 1.5". Add also that some aftermarket cams have the dowel hole drilled a little deeper and this adds to the length coming up short. You want the dowel to engage the eccentric and also be sure the cam bolt washer covers part of the hole so the dowel can't walk out. Those dowel pins are hardend tool steel. You can try a few machine shops or GOOD hardware store to see if they have anything. longer and or something make your own. Use a little blue loctight on the dowel pin and cam bolt for final install. End result it's a pretty common thing to find with the non correct hardware we get. Even the ARP stuff is not the exact same size as oem. Good luck.

Thank you FFR428. Will see if Dove will ship me one of their 1 5/8" dowels.

Not as easy as it looks (BTW Hi Glenn). The dowel length will be different depending on whether you have a 1 or 2 piece fuel pump eccentric. The 2 piece has a little tang that pokes into the dowel hole - and a shorter dowel.

Originally Posted by Barry_R

Not as easy as it looks (BTW Hi Glenn). The dowel length will be different depending on whether you have a 1 or 2 piece fuel pump eccentric. The 2 piece has a little tang that pokes into the dowel hole - and a shorter dowel.

Hi Barry nice to see you here.

Originally Posted by Barry_R

Not as easy as it looks (BTW Hi Glenn). The dowel length will be different depending on whether you have a 1 or 2 piece fuel pump eccentric. The 2 piece has a little tang that pokes into the dowel hole - and a shorter dowel.

Hello Glenn, and thank you for clarifying that there are two types of
eccentric.

That makes sense of the picture I saw on the Dura-Bond site. However
with the cam I have, 1.5" would put the dowel pin at the exterior wall of
the cam sprocket. So there would be no where for the pump eccentric
little tang, to fit into. That said, the dowel could always be ground down
( much easier than extending it........... )

Interesting how such a little part can slow down a job.......

I decided to go the electric fuel pump route and omitted the eccentric.
Lots of loctite on the bolt should see it staying there. I did read on the
Dove site that even when not using a mechanical pump that the eccentric
should be fitted or the bolt will come loose. This did not make sense to me,
or maybe I do not understand their reasoning.

I fitted a washer the same thickness as the eccentric and used some strong
loctite and torqued the bolt to its spec.