I bought this car with it having an oil leak but what I found is the timing cover is pushed out/cracked at the end of the cam. It's leaking oil there and its being blown by the fan along the passenger side of the engine and dripping on the exhaust Ypipe. I'm guessing the cam needs to be pulled to make sure it was installed right by the previous owner. The car consists of the following:

Sdpc tpi vortec lower intake baseplate with slp runners and ported plenum.
GM LT4 hot cam Intake and Exhaust: 218/228 Lobe Separation: 112
Camshaft/Lifter Type: Hydraulic Roller
sbc cast iron vortec heads 64cc, 170cc intake/exhaust runners with 1.940 intake valve and 1.5 exhaust valves. Rocker Arm Ratio: 1.6
TCI sizzler 700r4 trans and viglante 2400 stall Lock Up torque convertor
Previous owner said they did use the cam retainer so it shouldn't of walked. It runs good plenty of power. Any ideas? I'm thinking the top end of the engine needs to be pulled apart. That is over my head and budget untill next year unless someone close wants to give alot of help. I dont mind turning wrenches but I need to know what I am doing.

 

Wow that sounds like really bad news.

Maybe he forgot to remove the long shaft on the nose of the cam for the lt1 optispark?

 

Are u refering to the longer roll pin that aligns the cam gear and turns the opti dist? That was my first thought, I've always just tapped em in slightly until they are only sticking out the length of the stock cam dowel pin. I'd suggest pulling the timing cover and taking a look at what happened. May just be able to replace the pin and the timing cover and button it back up..

 

Yeah, if they installed the cam retaining plate properly it's pretty much gotta be the longer dowel on the LT-style cam that wasn't shortened prior to install.

 

Which end of the cam is the dowel on? Where is the retaining plate? If I remove the timing cover can I see these items without having to pull the top end of the engine apart? I wish I knew more on how to do engine internals. I can do bolt on stuff all day long.

 

The dowel is on the front, should be located in the groove on the timing gear, the plate is also on the front behind the gear.

 

LT1 style cam dowel


Old school cam dowel for all of our Gen I blocks.

This is the timing chain assembly (which is under your cover that's broken) and you can see the pin going through the larger timing chain gear where the big black arrow is pointing.


If you look at it, you should be able to see if there's an extra half inch or so of dowel sticking out that may or may not be tearing up the timing chain cover.

 

Thank you for the picture. I am planning on pulling the cover this weekend if not sooner.

 

Honestly i am one of the smart guys that installed an LTx cam in a sbc and didnt push the dowel pin in so i know EXACTLY what happenens haha...it wont poke thru the cover its just long enough to make a grooved circle inside of the timing cover but never bad enought to be seen from the outside or create an indent that can be felt outside so if its hitting the cover bad enough to make it leak its gonna be that retainer plate or the cam has wore and its walking even with the retainer in place either way i think its pretty serious i would stop driving it and pull the cover right away just my

 

Matbe it's not the cam. I didn't install it. It was installed when I got it and t he cover is buldged out and cracked.

 

The weird thing is that you say it runs great... that's what is bizarre to me, and makes me think maybe it's just the dowel pin.

Just dive into it and let us know what you find.

 

Idle has a nice lope. No noises of any kind granted it has long tube headers an a 3" Y pipe but, no noises. If you hammer it from a stand still it will keep spining just about untill you let off the gas without power braking. All I have done since I got it s change the oil found a little bit of metal the first time changed it again and no metal. Changed cap/rotor, plugs, wires, smog pump delete pulley and bbk aluminum power pulleys. Haven't ran the car since I found out where the oil is coming from.

 

I discovered the dowel was longer when I was putting togather a budget build with a used lt1 cam, I went to put the cheap chrome timing cover on and discovered the dowel contacted the back of the cover and wouldn't allow it to go on flush, this was with an aftermarket cover and only occured when the pin was at the 12 o clock position. Also without a gasket as I was just dry fitting it. My money is that the pin wore a hole through the timing cover after running for a while.

 

Update I pulled the cover and this is what I found. The dowel is sticking out. Can I tap it in. Loosen bolts then tap it in? Does it need to be replaced? Or am I being to hopeful its that easy?

 

id grind it down a little & you should be ok. get a cam bolt locking plate, so your cam bolts dont unloosen. a cam button spacer may help with cam walk. heres a summit part number to checkout, sum-g003. you might need something to control forward cam movement like this. may as well get a new cover incase you have problems sorting this out,...youll see new marks. best of luck.

 

Do not grind it while its in the motor!
Already have enuff metal in the motor from the cam pin and timming cover rubbing.
You can just tap it in a lil bit with a brass hammer or a reg one if your careful.
Its a factory roller cam so you dont need a cam button. The factory thrust plate behind the gear takes care of that.

And for god sakes DON'T paint your motor lime green like the pick above!!! lol

 

Is that the correct timing chain cover for a OEM roller motor?

 

AS far as I know it is.