Cam Bearings for a 3.4

[mongo]

Thanks! I knew the year it went into production but not the year it ended and it is always easier to get the parts when you can give the counter an exact year and make of a specific car....

[geoffinbc]

Yea most parts counter people are idiots and just kids that started out as delivery drivers. I only know 2 parts people that can pick a part out for you just by describing what your are trying to do.

[mongo]

Well.... I went to my local AC Delco dealer to grab another set of bearings. They don't have them in stock. After a few minutes of making fun of them for not having the most simple parts for the most prolific motor ever built I had them cross check the part number against the previous set of bearings. The part numbers matched. Still the wrong bearings. Since this is holding up my build, I went ahead and ordered the OEM bearings for a 95 Camaro 3.4....

[geoffinbc]

Well I don't know whats going on because I got bearings for a SBC and the machine shop I used had no issues. I just told him to put the hole at 4 o clock and that was it. I used Durabond Cam Bearings P/N CH8.

Why did he say it would not work?

[mongo]

I spoke to the shop counter gal. She related that they were too large for the bores.

This (using SBC bearings) did not appear to be a novel idea to my machinist. When I presented him with V8 bearings for my V6 he just looked at them and simply asked which one to toss.

[geoffinbc]

And you told him to toss the front (largest) bearing correct?

[mongo]

Yes. I went in and spoke to the machinist personally this morning. He said the inner bearings wouldn't fit through the large outside bores for installation.

I picked up a set of Sealed Power bearings for the 3.4 this morning so I think the SBC bearing idea is moot at this point....

[geoffinbc]

Did the GM bearings all come in a single box or were they in individual bags? Measure the OD of all the bearings. I am guessing they are all the same size.

[mongo]

They were Sealed Power bearings that came in a single box seperating all of the bearings by size and placement...

[turboD]

Cam bearing set TRW # SH-290 or Fed-Mog # 1235M. Any Chevrolet small block from '56 till sometime in the 90's had the same set of bearings - 283, 302, 307, 327, 350, 400. The '55 265 had a different bearing for the rear - bearing was grooved, not the block. It was changed late year production, or in '56 but it depends who you talk to. Attached pic shows the difference between a stock GM 3.1 bearing and a Federal bearing for a SBC. The SBC bearing supports the cam better due to the width.

[turboD]

Sorry, pic didn't attach. 2nd try . . . .

[mongo]

I have the bearings he said wouldn't fit out in my car. I will check the part number in a bit.

Just the same, I dropped off the stock set this morning along with my new Mahle pistons for the final hone. Reassembly will probably begin this weekend....

[mongo]

The part number on the bearings that did NOT fit is 1749M....