OK, so by now most of you know that I've had two cam/oil pump gear failures in a relatively short time, so please bear with me if I'm going overboard here...

I'm fabricating my cam stop and I have two timing covers from which to choose. I have mine which has a lot of pitting after cleaning the rust, so DD was nice enough to give me a rust free one. But...

First thing I did was find a great lock nut to weld on. After a few choices, I settled on this one because it is a meaty 11/16" and has a nice flange that should make welding it to the cover much easier, and the distortion to make it a lock nut is in the middle of the nut's side, so I can weld it flange down (or flange up if I had wanted to):

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=3

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=2

So, I take the less pitted timing cover, mark my spot, drill my hole, and crank down the nut in place with an adjuster and a nut on the other side. It doesn't mount straight because of the ridges in the cover put there to impart rigidity, so I flatten the area around the hole so the nut will lie flat:

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=7

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=1

Of course, then I notice that not only does the area I flattened put more flex in the cover (duh), I also notice that this cover's ridges are not very pronounced and the cover as a whole has a lot of flex in it. How is the cam stop supposed to stop the cam from moving forward?

So, I look at my more pitted cover and see that it has way more pronounced ridges and way less flex:

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=6

So, I used that one for the cam button. As you can see from the above picture. What is all that extra discoloration from heating you ask?

Wait, first here's a close up of the nut welded onto the more rigid cover, and I didn't flatten any of the ridges:

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=5

OK, back to the obvious indications of heating over a large area.... as an over engineering step, on the other side I (my buddy, actually) welded an 1/8" thick steel plate to the inside for even more rigidity. I took a 4" x 4" steel plate, drilled a 1.5" hole in the middle, then cut off the corners, so it wouldn't interfere with the timing chain sprocket. Then my buddy welded it to the inside:

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... sort=3&o=4

My timing cover is just a tad heavier than typical, but boy is that thing rigid, the flex in that area is essentially gone.

Now onto my oiling tube decision. Maybe I won't over engineer that...

Brian

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Gotta ask................


Will it clear the chain?

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

The plate is more than 1/4" within the chain sprocket's inside edge, way clear of the chain and sprocket. More than 1/8" between the thick washer holding the sprocket and at about 1/4" between the sprocket's main body and the plate.

brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

I'm gonna change that seal though, that cover got pretty hot when he was welding it...

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

The 1.5" hole in the center of the plate more than accommodates the head of the cam bolt, so it is about 1/4" from the cover, but for the adjuster which is set at 0.005". The washer that holds down the sprocket/pin is about 1/4" away from the plate we welded in. There is plenty of room for this mod.

I put a very thin film of pattern grease on the tip of the adjuster:

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... i.jpg.html

When I bolt down the cover, with the dampener tool centering the cover seal, the adjuster mated perfectly centered with the cam bolt:

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... u.jpg.html

I had to use a rat tail file on a couple of the timing cover bolt holes, widen them a bit so the bolts didn't move the cover and misalign the adjuster on the bolt.

The old double timing chain had a lot of play in the downstream side, but this Aussie one is snug.

brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2