top end noise
 

I had a decent running 302 from a 79 Marquise and pulled it to put in my 66. So I changed the seals and oil pump and pan. Well since i was there I decided to go for a small cam and 4bbl it. Hence the problem. It seems to run good except eithier 5 or 6 is vibrating like a collapsed lifter. I made sure they were pumped up and they are new. After not being able to figure it out I just put all the old stuff back in. Cam, lifters and pushrods.Same thing. That noise and vibration is still there on cyl.5 or 6. Compression is good and it seems to run good. These heads have the bolt down rockers so there is no adjustment. Im at a complete loss. Any ideas? Thanks

You said you replace seals???? What seals???

When it is making this noise. Have you run it with the valve cover off??? If so do you have oil coming up the pushrod while it is running???

How many miles on engine???

Ive run it with the valve cover off and it looks like it getting good oiling uptop. Its got maybe 80 thou easy miles on the motor.When I put the cam in it went kinda tight and would not rotate easily. I thought that it might of been because of bearings being new. I put the timing chain on just so I could rotate it in to position and line up the marks. Turned the cam by the crank with a breaker bar. Kinda snug, but after a turn it got easy. after it ran about a half hour I broke it back down, pulled the cam and it looks good. No bangs, or dents or chips. So I figure its not the cam.

What year is the cam for?

Which firing order are you using?

Take care,
-Chris

The cam was tight to turn ?????

Was that without lifters and pushrods installed??

Maybe you knocked a cam bearing around or partially out.

Cam only, shouldn't be hard to turn.

The new cam is a PAW brand and is for 62-89 302 except HO & engs with roller lifters. part# 11327.The firing order used was 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. When I pulled the cam back out it still looked good. Wouldnt it show damage too if I messed up a bearing. The seals that were replaced were the rear seal,the timing cover and of course the pan since I switched from dual sump to front sump pan and oil pump. Thanks Gearhead and Chris for helping me try to figure this out.

Well, let me see.......hmmmmmmm. If you knocked a cam bearing back alittle you might of covered up a oil hole.

The oil hole in the block that matches with the cam bearing is a round hole. The bearing has a narrow slit in it for the oil to go through.

If I had the cam out of the block I would first try and see, with a bright light, through all 5 cam bearings and try and see if you can see anything wrong.
Next, I'd get a piece of stiff wire, piano wire from a hobby shop, and bend a 90 degree bend on one end and have approximatly 3/4" 90 degree bend. Then probe all the oil holes and wire proof them. I'm not sure that is your problem, but heck you have to start eliminating problems that you "could" have.

Just a thought....did you put a gasket on the oil pump to block???

What oil pressure do you have, with a mechanical gauge not an electric gauge???

Let me know.....

Is your vibration in the valvetrain itself? Or is it the engine vibrating? I'm not familiar with that cam, how much lift and duration does it have? did you use the old valve springs? If you did , did you check the valve spring height? have you measured across your rocker studs to see if one might be pulling out? Have you put a vacuum guage on your engine and checked your vacuum? just shooting in the dark but maybe this will help. Later/GRABBER