Mark IV Roller Cam Upgrade - No Cam Button
07-21-2017, 03:04 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Mark IV Roller Cam Upgrade - No Cam Button
My 1969 L36 rebuild is going quite well. I upgraded to a hydraulic roller cam by Howards Cams. I was very pleased to learn that a Gen VI engine cam fits perfectly in the L36! The cam snout is ground down to accept a cam retainer plate - no cam button required. The Mark IV block already had the 5/16" mounting holes. Sweet! The retainer plate is GM part #10168501 and can be purchased from Summit for only $13. For a timing set, I went with the Howards double roller for a Gen VI block. I just wanted to share this great option over a typical cam button installation.
07-21-2017, 04:23 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
Neat
When I did mine I didn't figure out what the holes are for until I had already ordered a mk. IV retro roller cam so I had to go ahead and use a button setup :-(
When I did mine I didn't figure out what the holes are for until I had already ordered a mk. IV retro roller cam so I had to go ahead and use a button setup :-(
Last edited by Danish Shark; 07-21-2017 at 04:23 PM.
07-21-2017, 05:53 PM
#3
Been doing this for some time now, many of our 100% stock-appearing builds have it this way.
The early BB's are fairly easy with the bolt holes for the thrust plates already incorporated into the castings.
Below is a shot of a 400" SB with the thrust plate setup, works really well.
Thanks, Gary in N.Y.
P.S. We devised an in-house method do the early SB's the same way now, with a thrust plate and the later stepped-nose cams. We actually began selling the fixtures and tooling to do modify the SB's. Absolutely no more cam buttons or chasing cam end-play on many recent builds.
The early BB's are fairly easy with the bolt holes for the thrust plates already incorporated into the castings.
Below is a shot of a 400" SB with the thrust plate setup, works really well.
Thanks, Gary in N.Y.
P.S. We devised an in-house method do the early SB's the same way now, with a thrust plate and the later stepped-nose cams. We actually began selling the fixtures and tooling to do modify the SB's. Absolutely no more cam buttons or chasing cam end-play on many recent builds.
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pl2000n (07-24-2017)
07-24-2017, 04:49 PM
#6
I was curious enough and did a little digging... Apparently, some Industrial and Marine applications of the Mark IV Big Block had a gear drive setup which used these holes. Pretty cool. I learn something new every day!
07-24-2017, 08:43 PM
#7
Instructor
Thread Starter
[QUOTE=Neil B;1595211427]I was curious enough and did a little digging... Apparently, some Industrial and Marine applications of the Mark IV Big Block had a gear drive setup which used these holes. Pretty cool. I learn something new every day![/QUOTE\
Very interesting! I had wondered the same thing.
Very interesting! I had wondered the same thing.