Welding a friend's set of cams...

[LJRuddy]

A friend of mine is needing a set of his cams welded and has asked me to do it for him. Let me preface this by saying I am a very good welder and am 100% confident that I can handle this procedure.

With that said, I have a MIG and after reading on v8SHO.com I have found that a few people have used a stainless wire feed for this. Is this a good choice? In my welding experiences using stainless steel, I have used argon and oxygen in a 2 part combo for my shielding gas. What do you all use? What percentages?

Since I do not have a spare set of cams to do a test run on to get my settings dialed in, what do you all suggest I use as a substitute?


On a related note, his engine does make a slight ticking sound but from what I can tell, it has not began to affect the engine at all yet. What method do you all use to realign the bad cam?

I feel like such a noob asking these questions but I am having difficulty finding the answered I need either on here or v8sho.com. Thanks for the help!

 

[Ishodu]

Honestly I don't see the need for a stainless wire. I my experience stainless wire will cause more spatter with the mig and you won't be able to retrieve it with a magnet. I would just use regular carbon wire with 75 argon 25 co2 mix.

 

[SHO U UP]

Many folks do use the s/s wire, but I personally haven't on any of the SHOs that I own. My partner is better at welding than I am, so he did that work while I did everything else. I had a spare 4.6 V-8 cam lying around that he tried out before attempting the SHO. I would suggest hitting a junkyard and just getting a cam cause right off the bat I'm not sure what have the same consistency as a cam for your trial and error welding. I'll look later on in my garage and see the % of the gases I have. Its a 2 part also. And some folks do TIG welding. I prefer MIG now that I'm getting the hang of it. The one time I had a question right before we started I called up Eric (EV1) and he took time out of his morning cam welding/not feeling so good that day and talked with me about what to do as the nut had shifted against the sprocket and there was no gap. It looks like one of my SHOs that I just purchased was nearly on its way out. I followed his advice, thanked him for it, and the SHOs all set now. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and others will chime in also. Good luck with your cam job bro!

 

[Izzmo]

To realign the sprocket, (from what I've read and what a few people have told me when I welded mine), undo the chain tensioner, and then the chain will be loose enough to where the sprocket should be able to move (if the sprocket is loose enough). This worked on my car, but I'm sure people can run into other problems.

 

[russrad25]

If you want to drive up here, I'm sure I could find a set of 4.6 cams for you to practice on.

 

[LJRuddy]

To realign the sprocket, (from what I've read and what a few people have told me when I welded mine), undo the chain tensioner, and then the chain will be loose enough to where the sprocket should be able to move (if the sprocket is loose enough). This worked on my car, but I'm sure people can run into other problems.

Well I know how to loosen up the cam to rotate the sprocket but I am concerned on which way to rotate it so its aligned properly.

If you want to drive up here, I'm sure I could find a set of 4.6 cams for you to practice on.

Thanks for the offer but I think I'll just find something here local.

 

[1995mtxsho]

Alignment....
http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/CamSprocketAlignment.htm

 

[kikkinasphalt]

A friend of mine is needing a set of his cams welded and has asked me to do it for him. Let me preface this by saying I am a very good welder and am 100% confident that I can handle this procedure.

With that said, I have a MIG and after reading on v8SHO.com I have found that a few people have used a stainless wire feed for this. Is this a good choice? In my welding experiences using stainless steel, I have used argon and oxygen in a 2 part combo for my shielding gas. What do you all use? What percentages?

Since I do not have a spare set of cams to do a test run on to get my settings dialed in, what do you all suggest I use as a substitute?


On a related note, his engine does make a slight ticking sound but from what I can tell, it has not began to affect the engine at all yet. What method do you all use to realign the bad cam?

I feel like such a noob asking these questions but I am having difficulty finding the answered I need either on here or v8sho.com. Thanks for the help!

not to be a dick, but if i were in the business of doing cam welds, id not be telling you how i do them..thats pretty much screwing myself out of business.

 

[LJRuddy]

not to be a dick, but if i were in the business of doing cam welds, id not be telling you how i do them..thats pretty much screwing myself out of business.

Yea because this guy is gonna drive across the country to get his cams welded for several hundred dollars plus costs of travel.

 

[kikkinasphalt]

Yea because this guy is gonna drive across the country to get his cams welded for several hundred dollars plus costs of travel.

how about across the state lol



you still thinking of comin to the lou?

 

[LJRuddy]

how about across the state lol



you still thinking of comin to the lou?

Thinkin about it. Why? James gonna bend me over cuz I stole 1 customer?

 

[kikkinasphalt]

Thinkin about it. Why? James gonna bend me over cuz I stole 1 customer?

ehhh

James might bend you over.. but not because of a customer lol

 

[shonuffmine]

To start off,I am a certified 6G all position all material nuke grade pipe welder for Siemens power generation (the old westinghouse co.)all my papers are current and on file with the N R C. that said i can confidently tell there is no need for a stainless wire for this procedure as the cams n sproket are not 301 AND UP STAINLESS STEEL. ANY 70ES filler rod or wire is fine! If the material was disimiliar,you should use hastalloy filler rod.since the cam is a harden steel i would recommend a preheat to 200-225 degrees as this will make for a better *********** and a better weld,also use straight argon gas as this will majorly cut down splatter compared to a 75-25 arg co2 mix. If you have access to a tig welder that is the best and easiest route to go,also make sure the ground clamp is as close as possible to the weldment as to cut down on stray arcing.Good luck if i was closer i would give ya a hand!

 

[Bob Gervais]

To start off,I am a certified 6G all position all material nuke grade pipe welder for Siemens power generation (the old westinghouse co.)all my papers are current and on file with the N R C. that said i can confidently tell there is no need for a stainless wire for this procedure as the cams n sproket are not 301 AND UP STAINLESS STEEL. ANY 70ES filler rod or wire is fine! If the material was disimiliar,you should use hastalloy filler rod.since the cam is a harden steel i would recommend a preheat to 200-225 degrees as this will make for a better *********** and a better weld,also use straight argon gas as this will majorly cut down splatter compared to a 75-25 arg co2 mix. If you have access to a tig welder that is the best and easiest route to go,also make sure the ground clamp is as close as possible to the weldment as to cut down on stray arcing.Good luck if i was closer i would give ya a hand!

What he said. Kirk and others use 70ES-6 wire, between .03-.035 diameter, and a 75/25 gas. No preheating, but if you do decide to preheat, I would suggest to degrease, preheat, let it cool, degrease again, and repeat until you don't see any more oil residue weeping from the preheating process. The sprockets and shafts are different hardnesses, but not enough to mess with your heat settings too much. Kirk or James may have a junk cam hanging around that you can practice on, maybe call one of them and they can ship it out to you?

 

[shonuffmine]

Damn it,s monday and Bob didnt say any thing mean, ya feeling OK Bob?

 

[Bob Gervais]

I'm still in the Christmas spirit... gimme a week or two.

 

[Off Road SHO]

An Argon Oxygen mix! I've never heard of that combo.

TiG would be best for *********** but MiG will work just fine, as long as you're competent with it and don't use Argon and Oxygen as the shielding gas.

Tom

 

[Bob Gervais]

Oxygen would make for a good show though...

 

[SHOmethewayhome]

Oxygen would make for a good show though...

also, cooling the cam and sprocket in a bucket of kerosene is a more than acceptable procedure.

stick your hand in the kerosene. see how cold it feels?

also, when welding it's important to remember to get everything good and wet with water, and never wear gloves when holding the cam with your non welding hand. you should be putting on hand on the ground clamp and your elbow on some other exposed part of the engine.

also do NOT disconnect the battery either. you need it to balance the magnetic resonance of the flux capacitor during the welding procedure.

Tom is right about the TIG welding being better, but only if your remove the head and drill two holes through the number 1 and 5 combustion chambers between the intake and exhaust ports out the top of the head. this will help with clearance issues and you can fill it with weld or JB weld. whichever is more handy.
:wave:

 

[LJRuddy]

An Argon Oxygen mix! I've never heard of that combo.

Wow I just caught that. I meant C02 and not Oxy... I had my torch on my mind.