Someone else actually suggested that earlier to me and I totally forgot to check it. I'll do that today after work and update here.
Alright so here's what I found. The 5th journal absolutely is not in spec from my mic measurements. I measured it in probably close to ten spots and all are 1.6662-1.6664 where the cam that does fit in is 1.6653-1.6656. they're supposed to be 1.665-1.666 so that would explain why it seizes up as soon as it goes into the fifth bearing. I'm going to take it to the machine shop for them to measure as well to make 100% sure it's not me messing up, and maybe they can grind it down for me as well. I made V block to check straightness but somehow misplaced my dial gauge so I'll need to find it. I'll update again when I've got machine shop results.
Alright so I got the cam back from the machine shop, and it was in fact over the size limit. Machinist brought down the journals to the low limit and now it fits and spins perfect, it is in fact straight as well, found my dial gauge finally.
Glad you got ‘er figured out It COULD be who ever made the cam blank has the wrong dimensions for that blank. You’d be surprised how many typos happen when talking precise measurements.
Surprisingly the other crower cam I have was also made by CMC and it was perfect out of the box. I guess it was just a simple quality control issue that luckily was easily machined down. Also, since this one was newer, I guess it could have come from a different batch of blanks and like you said had the wrong measurements typed in.
