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Putting 1931'VL motor together. Steve Slocombes book says to use inner shim (crankcase side) and outer shim (cam cover side) on cams #2'and 3 and only inner shim on cams #1 and 4. Cam #4 goes into back of oil pump so I understand why no outer shim, however cam #1 which goes into timer rides against a regular bushing like cams #2 and 3. Before I put cam chest together, I am Trying to understand why cam #1 gets no outer shim against cam cover bushing (or should it have an outer shim). Thanks!
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I'm quoting from a later Harley manual, perhaps for factory assembly. The important thing is to get a little end float on the cams but without them binding. I usually start with the tappets out, one thick fiber washer behind each cam, new gear cover gasket, tighten down all 14 cam cover screws, check cam assembly rotates. If not, then replace thick washers with thin ones and repeat. Now measure end float on each cam and write it down, for instance #1 25 thou , #2 8 thou, #3 40 thou, #4 12 thou. As the washers are 1/32" and 1/64" say 32 thou and 16 thousandths, a little calculation will show you what to do. In the example I would put one thin washer on the outside of the number one cam, a thick washer on the outside of number three, and leave the rest alone. End floats should then check out as 9, 8, 8, and 12 thousandths. This is a shade on the slack side compared with the Harley spec of free running to 0.007" end float, unless you have access to some thinner metal shims. Remember that the cam cover screws are 24 tpi, or 40 thousandths a turn, so an eighth of a turn is 5 thou and you can lose your cam end float if you did not tighten up those screws properly during the set-up operation. -
Thanks Steve!Comment
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