Thread: 51 Moredoor

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"......I couldn't find the right oil pump pickup for the rear sump pan anywhere as it's out of production ......"

Bummer, I thought I might be able to help you out but when I checked the outfit that helped me out with some of the hard to find 440 stuff when I was working on the 76, even they show it discontinued. Here's the site anyway, just in case you haven't come across them before.

BPE Big Block Truck Installation Kit


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Thanks Mike, that's a good site. I just bought a dipstick tube from him for the rear sump pan.

If it came down to it you could probably build your own pick up tube and pan. I've had to do that on these tight 5.9 swaps I've done. But it looks like you have found a pan so that's a good deal.

I got all my pistons in, went to put the cam in and it got really, really tight when slipping it into the last cam bearing. You cant turn it by hand with the gear on it so something is wrong. I'm using one of Jeg's house brand cams; I guess I'm going to call their tech support and see if maybe one of the cam bearing surfaces could be a hair oversize. I think that's probably more likely that the new cam bearings being wrong?

Mic the cam bearing surface on the cam closest to the gear, it is the last to go in.

On some fords and mopars--I install the rear bearing, put the cam in and check-Done vertical with a shop cam- then do the #4 bearing and check the cam-then 3, 2 and last 1 checking the fit after each bearing install----done vertical and with a shop cam with handle on front end-------that way I can tell which bearing is a problem as I put them in----since all the journals go into the bearings all at the same time , you can't tell whose on first ,whats on second(abbott and costello)

Jerry, please correct me if I'm wrong.
But, I believe the only cam bearing surface on the cam that does not slide through at least one of the cam bearing in the block is the last one nearest the gear. Thus my thought that that bearing surface on the cam may have been milled a little larger (mic the surface to be sure). As he said it got really really tight as it went into the last one.
Two possibilities;
1). The cam bearing surface was milled wrong (as all others slid in easy except the last)
2). Bent cam (again at last bearing surface)
While it is possible for the cam to be bent it is unlikely, however rare, it is likely to get a surface milled incorrectly. Thus my suggestion to mic the last surface on the cam.

of course he needs to check the size-but he should of already checked all the sizes before he even began to install the cam. Of the variuous engines out there it seems that there are several ways the factories have done the cam sizes-some are small in the back and get bigger toward the front--some, such as the sb chev have 3 different bearing bore sizes in the block--Ford has 5 different sizes-I'd have to look it up in a bearing spec book for the id/od bearing sizes--also the bearings are driven in with a large mallet or pulled with a puller. The heavy mallet actually works better unless maybe you are doing needle roller brgs
However , the camshaft has to be straight and fit all the bearings in a straight block at the same time----the last one is usually more likely to bind up because the person installing that bearing didn't have his installer tool lined up in 2 holes at same time??

Cam diameter #1 1.9990 Block cam bore 2.130
#2 1.983 / 2.114

#3 1.968 / 2.099
#4 1.952 / 2.083
#5 1.749 / 1.880

typical bearing thickness 0.0645 oil clearance 0.0005-0.0045

Great info; thanks. I'm going to see what i can come up with this weekend.

Always a snag with our cars. Anxious to hear what the problem ends up being!

I saw on another site where a guy had remedied this with a brake cylinder hone and a long extension so I gave that a shot yesterday. It didnt help much and I'm afraid of getting metal particles in the motor so I just loaded the engine in my van and am going to drop it at the machine shop this week so they can figure it out.

The cam bearings seem to have been a problem for the last several years. I happened to drive by my buddy's machine shop yesterday.....I was a bit surprised to see his truck outside, so I dropped in. He was in the process of fighting the same tight cam bearing problem on a customers engine. It happened to be a Chrysler, but Ive seem him go thru this on GM and Fords too.

He's used several different things in the past to get the proper fit but in many cases has ended up having to install new bearings.

I don't know the answer, just adding a comment


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That's what i figured, Mike. They can put in another set of cam bearings in about 1/3 of the time that I can plus they have the equipment to do it right. It's worth a couple hundred bux for the peace of mind.

I got the motor back from the machine shop; they just polished the cam journals a bit and its fits fine now. The more I looked at my oil pump pickup the more I didn't like it so I got this one from Milodon for a deep sump pan and did a little surgery on it. This fits much better and has a bracket to hold it in place. I also got the heads checked and resurfaced and started some mild porting. Nothing wild, just cleaning up the bowls and combustion chambers and port matching the intake. As soon as I get it all back together, I need to hunt down a 727 trans and start doing some trial fitting in the chassis.