question on install. from readin previous posts people have been sayin that you have to grind the dowel pin down for the cam to fit in. Is this true. How do you grind it down

Instruction would be very helpull


thanx

 

oh yeah almost forgot. it is a 305 tbi out of a 91 bird with tpi heads

 

teh pin is pretty soft, you can use a bench grinder, die grinder, or a dremmel tool. i have also been told that you can tap it further in so tha tit doesn't stick out as much, but i have never done it so i am not 100% sure. it only needs to be knocked down a little. just compare it to the stock cam when you pull it out.

later
tim

 

thanx anyone else with experience?

 

ya, I got experience at this cam swap, and it was just like he said.

 

Forget trying to drive it in, it will only go a small amount. I cut the one i had to length with a hacksaw and used a file to dress down the end.

 

Yea I just attacked it with a bench grinder. Went down like Peter Mcnealy against Tyson.

 

I used a hacksaw..

went through that dowel pin like butter.

 

anyone know why when me and my uncle changed mine to the LT1 cam, we didnt have to cut the dowel. when compared to the old came they looked pretty much the same....did i get ripped off and not get an LT1 cam?? come to think of it, i think i remember reading somewhere that only the newer LT1 cams had the longer dowel and the rest were shorter. has anyone heard that at all?

 

I think 93 was a short dowel pin, but dont quote me on that.

 

Thread necro, I know. But there are a number of threads in various places that need to be cleared up because they are near the top of Google searches and leave the question unanswered/ unclear.

Here is the answer on LT1 vs SBC cam dowels:

The LT1 first appeared in the 1992 Corvette. It was followed by the F-bodies in 1993. All LT1 engines in Y and F-Bodies from 1992-1994 have spline drive distributors. The cam timing gear has a splined, indexed hole in the middle. There is a coupler that goes from this splined, indexed hole to the one in the center of the back of the Optispark distributor. The cam dowel isn't any longer than one found in a SBC roller cam. All is has to do is engage the cam gear to locate correct alignment, so it protrudes no further than that.

ALL B and D-body cars (Caprice, Roadmaster, Fleetwood) were the first cars to get the pin-drive, vented distributor starting in 1994. Y and F-Body cars got them starting in 1995. The pin-drive Opti was driven by the cam dowel, offset from center in the back of the distributor, so it was made longer to do 2 things - engage the cam gear for correct orientation and drive the distributor's rotor & optical shutter assembly through the rear of the Opti.

Cam manufacturers have variations in dowel length for the LT1. A dowel change (make longer) or shave (make shorter) may be necessary according to which distributor your LT1 has. Always fit and measure and you should have no surprises.

Conclusions:

You can use any SBC step-nosed roller cam in an LT1 equipped with a spline drive Opti.
You can use any LT1 cam in a roller block SBC from 86-87 to 02. Shave down the dowel if necessary so that it protrudes through the cam gear by .120 - .125" or so.
For a SBC cam in a spline drive LT1, in exceedingly rare cases, the recess in the nose of the cam may not be deep enough to fully seat the spline-drive coupler through the cam gear. The hole in the nose of the cam can be clearanced easily enough.
It's almost unheard of for an LT1-specific cam to have a fuel pump lobe. To run an LT1 cam in a SBC, a mechanical fuel pump won't be an option.
SBC and LT1 cams' stepped noses are the same. What's possibly different, depending on how early/ late the roller block is, is the cam retainer plate bolt hole spacing on the bosses on the front of the block. GM provides both plates with their single roller timing sets for SBC https://www.summitracing.com/parts/n...make/chevrolet and both are available separately.