Cam button install help

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1967formulaS

1967formulaS

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Hi guys,
Finally got my 440 engine back from the engine builder. Although my instructions were to put a decent hydraulic cam back in, they put a 3 bolt, lunati solid flat tappet cam in. I had them assemble the heads and they assembled the short block assembly. So I'm gonna need a set of adjustable rockers and they suggested I install a cam button. I've never had mopar engine with a cam button and wondering how it's held in. Do I just file it down till I get 0.08" and it just sits between the cam gear and the stock timing cover? Do I really need to reinforce the timing cover.
Should I swap the 3 hex head bolts on gear for 3 Allen key bolts for extra clearance?? Any pics or advice appreciated.
Once I get this cam gear sorted, I can start figuring out adjustable rockers and setting them up and then check what pushrods I need.

DSC_0627.JPG


DSC_0632.JPG


DSC_0636.JPG
 
A cam button is not needed with a flat tappet camshaft as the angle of the lobes hold the camshaft back into the engine block. I wouldn't waste my time installing a cam button on a flat tappet, hydraulic or solid.
 
But just for reference, I set a lot of roller cams up like this using an AREngineering (preferred) or 440 Source aluminum timing covers.

Tim Borrall 440 029.jpg


I machine the ARP cam bolt heads down to clear the aluminum timing cover by .030-040" and the Comp Cams button to give .005-.008" clearance from the timing cover. There are other ways to do it, but this is my most often used method. I've tried to machine allen headed bolts down to size and found them too shallow and too soft to hold and the hex socket will strip out.
 
Driving the oil pump gear keeps a rearward force on the cam and It really does not need a button to hold it back.
 
That is a fairly healthy cam your engine builder stuck in there. Are you sure that is what you want? It is going to have a fairly rough idle and you'll be giving up a bunch of low speed torque in a 440. For a mild compression street build 440 I wouldn't use anything larger than the old DC .528 flat tappet. The cam you have is bigger than the .557 and is getting close to the old .590 flat tappet which was a bracket race cam in a 440.
 
AndyF said:
That is a fairly healthy cam your engine builder stuck in there. Are you sure that is what you want? It is going to have a fairly rough idle and you'll be giving up a bunch of low speed torque in a 440. For a mild compression street build 440 I wouldn't use anything larger than the old DC .528 flat tappet. The cam you have is bigger than the .557 and is getting close to the old .590 flat tappet which was a bracket race cam in a 440.
Click to expand...


I wouldn't have a problem running that cam. Almost the same spec I ran in my motor.
 
Hi guys,
Thanks for all your replies and pictures. Very helpful. :)
That cam is a bit radical, but it won't see much highway miles. Just track time and some nocturnal time hunting chevs and ford's. :)
 
Maybe you guys can answer another question.
This 440 is going into my 67 factory big block barracuda. The sump I'm using, is off my original 383, being a 893 sump. I also have a 402 sump.
My mate is saying that there is noway enough capacity in this little sump to keep the engine happy. Seems good enough for the 383 and if I'm not correct the M code 69 had the same sump. My build is mild with forged icon pistons and H beams, factory closed chamber heads, running that big cam, with matching springs, lifters etc. 1.5 or 1.6 roller rockers ( I haven't decided yet), 850 vec sec or 1050 dominator depending on vacuum etc, Msd box, hooker fenderwell headers, hemi 18 spline, Dana 60 rear with 4.3, 28" tyre.
Is my mate trippin.balls
 

The small sump might work for a while. You'll blow the engine if you get on it hard for any length of time. That sump might hold enough for a 1/4 mile pass but then again it might not. Depends on windage and drainback and what weight of oil you use and a bunch of things like that. There is a reason that people started to use deeper oil pans 50 years ago.
 
Completely agree. I tried a stock pan on a mild 383 in my first (4-speed, 3.23 rear) A-body. Every time I launched as hard as the 235-60/15 radials would permit, the oil light would flash. Sucking air at every takeoff is a prescription for disaster, let alone making a full pass. ..
 
So extend my original sump an inch or two, modify pick-up, drain back, add a windage tray and I'm all good? Did the cars back in the day suffer from oil starvation like the M code and hemi a bodies?
 
That cam will want to be shifted deep into the 6s with an automatic. like 6600 or more. With a stock,unbaffled pan, any oil left in there at the top of first gear, is likely to be slammed into the rearmost part of the pan. Oil is returning, but the crank is beating the snot out of it, and it won't be ready for another go 'round until it pukes the bubbles out.
That cam needs a baffled very deep sump, and some way to get the oil back into the pan from the top,that does not involve running over the crank to get there.
You just can't beat a well-engineered oil-pan system.
You can spend the bucks now, or you can spend it later.
As always, just my 2cents
 
Ok guys. I'll get onto it, and find a decent sump or have a look at my spare 402 sump and get that modified and built to suit.
Thanks for the comments/ explanations.
 
I wouldn't cut up an original 402, although they are reproducing them. Look for a used cheap pan and modify that, just my opinion.
 
I've got 3 sumps in the shed.
893 originally off the car, 402 off my old Jensen interceptor and a truck sump off a motorhome 440. Sumps that fit into big block A bodies are like unicorns down here in Australia. If the 402 clears everything under there, I'm willing to sacrifice it.
 
I think 893's are very hard to find everywhere and big $$$
 
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