SBC Cam Retainer Bolts/Cam Sprocket

[Chevy_Guy1974]

Hello everyone. I’ll apologize for my ignorance ahead of time. I am new to engine building. I have a SBC vortex block with a cam retainer plate. I have a Howard’s Cams cam sprocket with the Torrington bearing on the back side of it. I have the engine almost assembled and everything spins fine and free. When I see the cam retainer plate bolts they are very close to the backside of the cam sprocket. Is this normal? There is about a 1/32th between the head of the bolt and the back of the sprocket. Thank you for your input.

[rebelyell]

? Does the Nose of your camshaft extend thru cam retainer plate AND mate closely into back of cam sprocket ?

[GOSFAST]

Hello everyone. I’ll apologize for my ignorance ahead of time. I am new to engine building. I have a SBC vortex block with a cam retainer plate. I have a Howard’s Cams cam sprocket with the Torrington bearing on the back side of it. I have the engine almost assembled and everything spins fine and free. When I see the cam retainer plate bolts they are very close to the backside of the cam sprocket. Is this normal? There is about a 1/32th between the head of the bolt and the back of the sprocket. Thank you for your input.

The bolt head shouldn't be that close at all UNLESS you have the wrong bolts.

When you post potential problems up here (or on any forum) it's best to supply as many of the part numbers you're using. Most builders up here are very familiar with many of the aftermarket part numbers!

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. Here's a shot of a BBC showing the typical bolt heads supplied for the thrust-plate mounted plates. SBC's use the same bolts. I'd add here also, we now use the later SBC cam thrust-plates/screws on the early SBC's we build along with the stepped-nose cams. We fabricated and sell the tooling to modify the blocks, no more checking cam end-play or any buttons?

MkIV Block - MkVI Cam Thrust.JPG

[Chevy_Guy1974]

Yes, just the nose of the step nose cam protrudes thru and the camshaft post protrudes thru the cam sprocket.
I have the Howard’s Cam Timing Set part number 94300. I used GM bolts (the ones with the torx head) and the Gm Retainer Plate with my block.

[CGT]

I have encountered the same thing and have flattened those bolts a little bit on the bench grinder for peace of mind

[novafornow]

Machine a groove on the back of the sprocket. It doesn’t take much

[rebelyell]

FWIW
have a GM service manual for L31.
Cam retainer bolt Install Torque quoted 12 Nm or 106 Ib in with no thread locker.

Doesn't take much force so trim heads as CGT did; perhaps clean threads & a dab of blue locker