Well folks, I've got good news and bad news. I am now the proud owner of a 1964 Dodge Dart GT hardtop! The bad news is after an hour of driving I backfired, skipped a tooth on the timing chain and destroyed my camshaft.
I am in an obvious need of a new distributor and camshaft. I haven't got any idea where to start here. I've never done anything like this so I will most likely taking it to a shop but I would like to know what do I look for in a camshaft? The car is pretty aggressive already and I wouldn't hate to get a semi performance deal going on but whatever.

The shop I talked to quoted me about $1800 to swap in a new one. Any advice would be great[/quote]

Go to a different shop. $1800 is robbery. You can swap the cam with the engine in the car removing just the radiator. Lucky for you, there is an article written by Doug Dutra about how to do an in-car cam swap: http://www.slantsix.org/articles/in-car ... review.htm

We will need to know more details about the engine and car before we can recommend a cam profile. Compression ratio? Car uretor size? Manual trans or auto? How many gears? Torque converter stall speed? Rear axle gear ratio? Intended use of car?

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I don't know the compression ratio. Unfortunately I had to leave the car in Washington while I arrange to get it towed home. It has a three speed manual. Mostly I just want a good driver.

Yeah, $1800 is complete robbery... If I had the space we could do the repair in my lean-to.... (currently still has Aspen Project Car in there...)...

I am curious as to why you think the cam is shot? If the chain just skipped a tooth (that's like 7-11 degrees depending on what sprocket)... replacing the chain and reindexing the cam will put it back on track... if the chain was so loose it fell off (not too likely) then I might worry about cam walking, the oil pump gear getting chewed up and the distributor gear being toast....

Literally if the pump gear and cam are OK, then this repair could be done in about 4-8 hours if all the parts are available...


???

I would not trust the shop to reliably tell what is actually wrong. They might just replace the timing chain set and charge for lots more they said they did. This is pretty common these days. If they really are a trusted and reliable shop, then they would have to show you how the cam was damaged and show you all the new parts they will put into the motor. If you can get help from a local Slant Sixer, that would be ideal to diagnose and maybe help with the project. Nothing like necessity (with some skilled guidance) to get you learning about mechanical repairs.

How fast do you need the car fixed?

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Where is the car right now? I'm not working right now and could do the job. As others have mentioned, the car likely only needs a timing chain set to be running again.

Drain the cooling system, remove the fan and radiator, pull the timing cover, replace the timing set, install degree wheel, pull valve cover, install dial indicator, check cam timing, and reassemble. If I couldn't do it for 4 hours labor and ~$50 in parts I'd be surprised.

Of course with a 53 year old car it's likely some other problems will be uncovered, but for a timing set it's not that time consuming or expensive. And if it really does need a camshaft I have a fresh stock regrind around here somewhere.

Call me.

Josh
503-583-7490

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Joshua

Josh would do a nice job and would be fair and honest. In other words, I can vouch for him completely. Best idea I have heard yet, and a generous offer. He can probably tune up some other things too while he's there...

Hope all is OK in general, Josh, and sorry to hear about the lack of work at the moment.

Cheers,
Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I know Josh (sorry to hear about the work situation. I hope you are just taking a vacation!). He is a stand up guy and I would trust his work and honesty completely. Definitely worth it to have him take a look at your Dart.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

The car is in Cle Elum. The guy at the shop showed me the distributor and it was mangled. He said the chain had busted and there was a bunch of metal shavings in the oil pan. Im really only going on what he said though.

Im not in a huge rush to get it back on the road, and the guys at the shop we're pretty cool and they said I could leave it there for a week or two while I arrange to get it towed out of there. I couldn't afford 1800 bucks if I wanted to anyway so Im glad to hear it shouldn't cost that much.

I wonder what the cost would be to have it towed to Josh's. I might have another silent chain in my timing set stash....I also have a couple of reconditioned/recurved points distributors available as well...

that is a plastic gear on the distributor that meshes with the radial teeth machined into the steel cam shaft,, that 40+ years old plastic gear gets brittle with age,, breaks easily,the plastic distributor gears are replaceable, and how does that repair shop know there are shavings in the oil pan? ,I don't see the connection between a jumped timing chain, a camshaft that ended up as collateral damage and shavings in the oil pan , I agree, hire Josh to access what failed, what needs to be done about the failure and for the repair,, it will get fixed right, and you won't get ripped off.

You could probably find a cheap local towing place to get the Dart towed to Josh. IIRC, he is about 200 miles from Cle Elum near Portland, OR. That is the route the car would take to get to you anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to stop off at Josh's and let him have a peek.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Cle Elum, dang. I could get it with a tow dolly behind my pickup, but it's 7 hours round trip. Let's see if we can find someone closer first.

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Joshua

Cle Elum was on my route to Seattle next week. ....but that trip has been cancelled.

There are a number of shops in that town that could do the work. A few years ago it took me minutes to find a shop that could throw a timing light on my car.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Dang, it could be just the distributor gear and nothing else. $5 part and 1 hr work, and that would make your car stop running immediately. A broken timing chain would not destroy the gear. I have never heard of a broken camshaft. It could be a stripped oil pump/cam gear, which also mangled the dist gear. That would require, likely, a cam, pump, dist gear... Really hard to say without looking, but I would not trust a random shop, no matter how cool they seem.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988