I just bought a 91 Classic that was running like shit. I quickly figured out that the cam timing was WAY off. So i opened her up and took a look. The little tube that drips oil on the cam lobes was clogged on the intake cam which resulted in a cam lobe being worn COMPLETELY round. This roughness combined with that of the rocker created a top end noise. So...i set out to replace the cams with my 91 NX cams i had laying around. I removed the old cams and set the engine to TDC. I positioned the sprockets so that exhaust was at 12 and intake was at 10 with 20 teeth between them.

question #1---Is the 20 teeth including the rollers that the keys point to or is the 20 in between those 2 rollers??

i get the engine back together and go to start it. It cranks several times then makes a weird noise (kinda like an electrical short???) then stops doing anything. I tried cranking it again and it did nothing but dim all my lights alot. I took the VC back off the inspect and cam timing is correct and i verified it is not 180 degrees off because #1 cylinder is all the way up. Anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem is???

TIA

Mike

Originally posted by SupaBlackNX2k
I just bought a 91 Classic that was running like shit. I quickly figured out that the cam timing was WAY off. So i opened her up and took a look. The little tube that drips oil on the cam lobes was clogged on the intake cam which resulted in a cam lobe being worn COMPLETELY round. This roughness combined with that of the rocker created a top end noise.
So was the cam timing off or not?

So...i set out to replace the cams with my 91 NX cams i had laying around. I removed the old cams and set the engine to TDC. I positioned the sprockets so that exhaust was at 12 and intake was at 10 with 20 teeth between them.
question #1---Is the 20 teeth including the rollers that the keys point to or is the 20 in between those 2 rollers??
There should be 20 rollers *between* the dots.
Did you replace the oiler tubes and the rocker arms?

i get the engine back together and go to start it. It cranks several times then makes a weird noise (kinda like an electrical short???) then stops doing anything. I tried cranking it again and it did nothing but dim all my lights alot. I took the VC back off the inspect and cam timing is correct and i verified it is not 180 degrees off because #1 cylinder is all the way up. Anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem is???
Bad starter? Weak battery?

cam timing was off, appears to be fine now. i cleaned the oil tubes and did not yet replace the rockers. I will order some and replace them when i swap in my JWT cams out of my NX. I just wanna be sure that the engine runs right before i mod it.

Mike

Stupid me :( ...when i read the word *dots* i went back out and looked again. i was never aware of these dots--i was just counting from the roller that the keyway pointed to, which happens to be to one side of the dot. Bottom line i was a tooth off. Oh well, not the end of the world. I will fix it and hope it starts up then. Thanks.

Mike

If you still have problems let me know I definitely know how to screw up a cam job. it took me 3 days now it will take me more time to get the valve cover off and back on than to actually change the cam

O

Update....My cam timing is now dead on but when i try and start it nothing happens. My dash lights are on but go dim and the starter does nothing. What could it be???

Mike

Check the starter and alternator. Also check all the fuses and fusable links under the hood.

Twas the Battery :rolleyes:

Works now.

Thanks for any help.

Mike

The thing starts but with some persuasion. i revved it up to 2 grand for a good 15 minutes and it was very rough feeling. I let off the gas and couldn't get it to idle, it just stalls. I wonder if the computer has to figure out whats goin on *** the cams i pulled out were in BAD shape. I prolly added over a .25 inch of lift to one of the cylinders!!! I dunno whats goin *** and i need help. Any input is greatly appretiated!!

Mike

Do a compression test.