Bent cam??

[looneytuner]

This sat in an assembled engine for some years with a new timing belt installed. I was checking today and it seems to bind. It appears to be bent behind the first bearing on the belt end. You can see the assembly lube being "shaved" off the cam at the first journal. I'm guessing it assumed a bend from several years with belt tension and no rotation.
Maybe this is something to watch when using cams from jy engines? I have read about cams breaking (between #1 and 2 journals??)

BTW this is binding very slightly but I WILL use a different cam.
I may see if the "bend" can be reversed over several months by providing reverse tension in a spare head.

[turbovanman²]

Take out the rocker arms and spin it by hand. My grinder says bent cams on our 8Valves is common.

Do you have the cam caps in the correct place?

[iTurbo]

This sat in an assembled engine for some years with a new timing belt installed. I was checking today and it seems to bind. It appears to be bent behind the first bearing on the belt end. You can see the assembly lube being "shaved" off the cam at the first journal. I'm guessing it assumed a bend from several years with belt tension and no rotation.
Maybe this is something to watch when using cams from jy engines? I have read about cams breaking (between #1 and 2 journals??)

BTW this is binding very slightly but I WILL use a different cam.
I may see if the "bend" can be reversed over several months by providing reverse tension in a spare head.

I have snapped a cam before right between the #1 and #2 journals. It was an '88 TBI cam I got from an engine sitting out in the junkyard..probably sat for a long time with belt tension and no rotation. I got a few thousand miles out of it before it snapped just cruising along.

[looneytuner]

Take out the rocker arms and spin it by hand. My grinder says bent cams on our 8Valves is common.

Do you have the cam caps in the correct place?

I should have said this is without the rocker arms on. It's a slight drag in one part of the rotation. It is really a slight warp. Maybe .001 or so. Just enough to notice when turning with or without the caps.
Check with your machinist about salvaging this or junking it. Just for curiosity I'm thinking about shimming up #2 journal and and shimming down #1 for a couple months to see if it will return to original. Give me some ideas to play with.

[turbovanman²]

The cam grinder straightens them but by the time you've shipped it out and back, you could have bought a new one.

I don't know if I would shim the cam caps.