Cam bearing let down

yellow rose said
That's what I'd like to know. I've used some really bad looking cam bearings without issue. With pretty much stock stuff there isn't that much load on them.

One Pontiac 400 I was screwing with have 2 cam bearings that were actually cracked and the rest were marginal at best. The owner said run it. So I swapped cams and made not of it on the invoice. Ran it for a year, cam back in for more cam and a gear change. Bearings looked the same. So I did the swap.

He drove that thing for years. Until about a week before he died. Had to put 50-60k on those junked up bearings.

Seen it many times. Sometimes you just don't need to screw with it.

Yes, I have raced a few k-miles on a rally engine with some reeeeally loose cam bearings....like .008" clearances, where it was supposed to be .003". Not that I should have LOL, but it was nary a problem. 8k rpm all the time. 4 banger, cam-in-head. So I'd like to see/understand the exact nature of this issue. If there are many big chunks gone from the babbit deteriorating, then probably needs to be done. If it is one limited sized chunk missing, then probably not. And, of course, what the OP is comfortable with.

I imagine that they can be gotten out in-car.. but the old ones are going to want to fall into the crank case when removed. And you gotta get the news ones to stay on the tool while you carefully get them into place to then drive them home. Gotta makes sure #2 and #4 get driven in the right way to line up the holes at the top, to send the oil to the rockers. Getting a mirror in there to double check may be possible.