Girdled Block, Cam Bearing

[TWild]

I have a 87' GN with a girdled 109 block. I'm in the process of changing my cam and cam bearings due to the lobe on cylinder #3 going flat. I pulled the front cam bearing and it had "Clevite SH1448" on it. I ordered an new set of Clevite "SH1448S" bearings as replacements. This is my concern, the front cam bearing I pulled has a small groove cut in it and the replacement bearing DOES NOT. The groove is in the outer radius of the bearing and extends on an angle from the centerline to the outer edge.


My understanding is that on a stock (non-girdled) block, there is an oil slinger on the front of the crankshaft that provides lubrication to the timing gear set and the cam sensor drive gear. On a girdled block (on mine anyway) there isn't an oil slinger on the crankshaft. My assumption is that on a girdled block, oil gets to the timing gear set and the cam sensor from the small groove cut into the outer radius of the front cam bearing. That is, oil traveling around the groove in the blocks front cam journal travels through the small groove on the backside of the bearing and sprays oil onto the timing gear set.


My question is, does anyone know of someone that sells the front cam bearing that has the groove cut in it?


I'm fairly new to this and I have made some assumptions but I hope I've explained it well enough for someone out there to understand  .


Any help is appreciated,


TW

[earlbrown]

sounds like you got a bad bearing that's going to kill off your oil pressure for the entire engine. 

The girdle has nothing to do with cam bearings or oil slingers.    You need to find a replacement before you put your engine back together.

I recommed Dura-Bond cam bearings.   If you have a 20 bolt block you'll have the option to pay for money for a
Teflon coating.

[Steve Wood]

I think the oil slinger is to get oil from being thrown directly on the front seal and increasing the chance of leaks.  Earl is right as I recall on the bearing

[earlbrown]

The other thing is does is fling oil up on the timing gear and some to the bevel gears.    When its missing, that causes the balancer to sit back a little further on the engine and could mess with the crank trigger.

[TWild]

Hey Earl,


Thanks for the info. In my original post I put, "It's my understanding. .." I guess my understanding was somewhat incorrect. This is the same engine I PM'd you about that didn't have much oil on the driver's side. Your diagnosis was a oil galley plug spit out the front on the driver's side, well guess what I found 
like you were right     but I still haven't found the rogue plug, I bore scoped inside the pan and hadn't found jack.


I appreciate you help Earl, so have a beer on me  . As for the bearing problem, I'll install the new set.

[earlbrown]

I've been drinking for hours....



and that plug is in your oil pan.     Stuck to your magnetic drain plug.



....you do have a magnetic drain plug, correct? 

[TWild]

Hmmm?, a magnetic drain plug  . Sure, I have one of those.


BTW, are the images i'm posting coming through? I'm not having much luck on inserting pics or doing an attachments.


TW

[Scoobum]

No images. I believe the site is still having issues.

[daveismissing]

Best to post images on imgur.com etc and link them till it is fixed

[TWild]

Thanks for the heads up on the images Daveismissing and Scoobum. I'll give it a shot.

[TexasT]

I found a new place to host called village pictures
http://village.photos/
Seems to work pretty good so far.

[daveismissing]

All these guys will do the photobucket $$$ thing sooner or later. Make sure you keep the originals.

[TexasT]

No doubt. I have thumb drives, hard drives and DVDs full of pix.