Sheared Cam Dowel on SBF...

Hi guys...I'm running a 347 combo, and just recently sheared off the cam sprocket/cam dowel pin and all 8 exhaust valves kissed the pistons. My understanding is that this pin isn't really designed to keep the sprocket from rotating, but merely an alignment dowel. I've never had this happen before...and would like to prevent it from happening again. After I got the heads back, I re-installed with a new, hardened pin, and used red loctite. I didn't use loctite on the initial assembly, and never have in the past. Have I just been lucky in the past, or was this just a possibly isolated incident? It's kind of made me a little gun shy about revving it up lol. That $5 dollar pin failing caused about $1400 in damages...and I'd like to keep that from happening again if at all possible.

Thanks for any assistance....

make sure you use a grade 8 or better bolt like the ARP, also the washer is a big deal.

last year I had the same thing happen to my sbf I dbl pinned it after.

X2 we also double pin all our stuff.

Thanks guys! I just talked to Mr Evans, and I'm going to take his suggestion of a chromoly pin for right now, until I can get either this cam, or a new one, re-machined for 7/16 bolt, and drilled for double pins. That should make it pretty much bullet (and idiot ) proof.

Thanks for the help!

On reassembly, check to be sure the cam spins freely in the bearings. A snug or misaligned bearing can cause your particular brand of grief.

Thanks...I'll do that.

I appreciate all the responses guys...I've never had, or even known anyone that has had this issue, and it makes it nice to be able to get answers from guys who've unfortunately been in the same boat. Hopefully, this will be my last time experiencing this issue lol. Been there, done that, got the damn t-shirt...and now, I can scratch it off my bucket list

I have another list....of stuff I NEVER want to do...That list rhymes with "bucket".

lol...I'm with ya. By the way...I run a 71 Mav...