SO in my typical overthinking style, I started adding up the costs to ship the Red Baron's old camshaft to Oregon Camshaft to have them regrind it.

Seems like I will need to pickup some PVC pipe, bubble wrap, cardboard, tape etc then put all that together...gonna guess $10 or so maybe..then ship it with insurance, and I am guessing with the weight and wierd size it may be $20 to ship.....then insure it and hope it doesnt get broke in transit.

The regrinding of the old cam from our 80 225 will be $75 plus I assume shipping back to me..plus the shipping costs above.

A "new" one from them is $169 plus I assume shipping.

So within $75 difference between the two if my figures are right.

Does anyone know if they use new blanks or used ones?

I can see an advantage to buying new IF they use new blanks....the used one I have has at least 36 years and 91k miles of use......but if they use old cams to make "new" ones then I guess I might as well stick with mine and save a little dough.

Any thoughts on this?

Many folks will say there is a significant value to using a cam and oil pump drive gear that have already been living together in harmony.

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I wont have that option as the old oil pump gear spun off its shaft and we have to use a new pump anyways......and the distributor gear is pretty yellowed looking so I was planning on looking at how to replace that as well.....

WHich leads to a good question ---- since the oil pump gear spun off the shaft due to the pump siezing, could their be unseen damage to the gear part of the cam? It LOOKS fine but..... ??????

I think your last question has a lot of merit, I will be making the same decision myself soon. The flip side, your existing cam has proven itself over miles and decades, and the main part that wears (lobes) is to be resurfaced. I'd lean towards the new cam.

I am also wondering if stock sized pushrods will be used or if longer ones must be used? And if either version....reground or new.....dictates that or not.

if I am reading your statement correctly,, I agree that a re ground cam, with a smaller base circle can off set some of the rocker arm to cam spacing lost when the block and or head is milled to raise compression.

however with hydraulic lifters there is plenty of pre-load tolerance available tp recoup that space and with mechanical lifters, there is plenty of adjustment with the adjusting screw. Also there are suppliers, Smith Brothers comes to mind, that will provide custom length push rods for a reasonable fee.

so I think the choice is yours,, there are pros and cons that closely balance out.

I just want to get this as right as possible the first time....LOL

I guess I could just have EVERYTHING replaced..... already doing the cam and lifters, so may as well do the pushrods and rocker arms as well...

I guess this is where the pros earn their money.....suppose it would be best to go with what the machine shop suggests as far as what to replace and what not....we are on a definate budget but I dont want to cheap out on $100 and have that bite us in the rear end...LOL

I installed a NOS set of rocker arms on the 83 D150 when I rebuilt it.
The NOS rocker arms were in MOPAR boxes and were dated 1991,,bought through Mancini on one of their inventory close out sales,,, well,, 5ooo miles down the road and one of the NOS rockers failed due to a defective weld,,

just because it is newer, does not mean it is better,,, just saying,,,,

How much adjustment do you have left on the rocker arms?


If there's plenty, I'd just reuse the arms and pushrods.

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

They used to have some stock old stock cams to grind... if you ask for a new one, they are brand new, but they are for the hydraulic cam and have the rear bearing journal grooved... this doesn't affect a stock motor much, but could cause more oiling to the rockers... i have a couple on the new blanks and haven't had any problems on repeated 6000 rpm launches with the oil pump or dizzy gear.

You should not need new pushrods unless you have some that are bent...but you will have to check and see how the geometry is when everything is assembled....

Well, looking into this I may be better off just buying a new one from Oregon Camshaft.

I spect $8 for pipe, and $4 in shipping tape and bubblewrap......$12 so far....

The plan was to pack the cam in bubble wrap and then in the pipe, which I have done....then put that into a box with packing material for added safety.

Figured the box will need to be $36" long and at least 12" deep by 12" wide....cant find the box yet, and would have to buy the packing stuff.....that said, I used the dimensions and a weight of 10 lbs on UPS's site and it would be $72 to ship!!!!!!

USP is a little better at $35....

But geez.....by the time I am done with this, I iwll have $42 to $80 PLUS the box and packing peanuts into shipping it.....

A new cam is $170, and regrinding mine is $75......$95 saved before my packing is considered....spend $80 in shipping and may as well go with their new one.

Unless I am missing something, maybe it just doesnt make sense to try and ship this cam??

I slid mine in a piece of used PVC pipe, jammed some newspaper in the end and called it a day. Shipping by Fedex ground was less than $15. Just as a note. When they send it back to you it is going to come back in a @ 2"X 2" cardboard box. It won't be near 12"X12" . I have never had one damaged when it came back.

Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

I havent tried FedEx yet.

The 36" length is the main issue with UPS.

I didnt have any pipe big enough so I had to buy a piece of edpm drain pipe......seemed strong enough...and wrapped it in bubblewrap and slid it into the pipe......

But cant ship the pipe as is....have to put it in something and I figured having a buffer around it in the box would be safer than just shipping as is. That is where the 12" comes in.

FYI
A SL6 cam is a little over 25 inches long.
I have successfully shipped them in a USPS Large Flat Rate box for under $20.00
You have to use the Large Game Board box and pack the cam across the box, "corner-to corner", to get it to fit-inside.
DD

Ups is much more picky about their packaging. My son ships all day long and the FedEx ground is the cheapest way for me to ship from the east coast.

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6