...oils one of the mains from the off side galley? I seem to recall that was the reason behind the TA dual groove front cam bearing but I'm having trouble finding drawings of the oil flow path for the 350 and BBB. I know it isn't the 340, pretty sure it isn't the 300 and know for sure it isn't the 215. Jim
Looks like a nailhead, but the “modern” Buick V8 the path is similar. Oooops, correction, forgot the nailhead has a sump mounted pump.
That last one looks like the 215 oiling with the galleys joined over top of the cam. The 300 and 340 run the off side galley oil through the front cam bearing. Jim
I believe what that pic is trying to depict is the oil being transferred to the right galley thru the groove in the cam.
The Driver's side lifters get their oil from the passenger side galley. Oil goes across the front cam bearing. Before the TA grooved bearings, a common problem was front cam bearing wear to the point of shutting off or restricting oil to the driver's side lifters. That caused noisy lifters on the driver's side only. Poston used to offer a kit to join the two oil galleys at the rear of the block There was also guys who would groove the block. The TA back grooved bearings made that unnecessary. Oil would travel behind the bearing to oil the Driver's side galley. See Jim Weise's comments in post #5 of this thread, https://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/lets-discuss-cam-bearings.373802/
Left galley I meant so say, geez I think I’ll stop posting for today, can’t seem to get stuff correct
Yeah. left and right are confusing, In this case that's why I try to refer to the driver's side as the off-side, I think it's harder to misunderstand but I could be wrong. I'm not sure I understand how the TA bearing is meant to be installed though. The oil holes aren't in the same places. and the recent roller cam blanks do have the groove in them and a reasonably deep one at that. I matched the holes to the ones in the block by drilling a new hole in the bearing shell about 1/4" up from the existing hole. Jim
Oil is supposed to travel from the block holes around the outside of the bearing to the new preferred locations for the oil wedge to the cam journal. The instructions and diagram above show the correct positions. 3 O'clock and 7 O'clock . By drilling the hole you moved it back to close to stock. I prefer the Phil Baker method and slot the stock bearing holes 1 to 3 o'clock hole and 7 to 9 o'clock hole.
What I’ve done using TAs back grooved cam bearings and cams with the groove in the #1 journal is have the groove in the cam spray welded closed and machined back to stock journal diameter. I started doing this back in early 2000 when I did my ‘87 3.8 V6 Turbo, Buick did away with that oil transfer groove on #1 cam journal, Buick realized it created too many issues with cam bearing wear and resultant oil pressure loss along with noises valve train. I’m sure if the Buick 350 was still in production it too would have had the update. Buick put the oil transfer groove IN the bearing journal, where it should be! In my opinion, using a moving, spinning part with a groove is a piss poor way to move/transfer fluid. When I got my Kenne Bell cam for my 3.8 it had the groove, I took the cam to Michaels, and asked if he could close it, he said yes, spray weld, I said “do it” I have had all my V6 and 350 cams welded when using TA’s grooved cam bearings. Welding the #1 journal also increases the load carrying capacity of the bearing, there is no longer two narrow journals trying to cut into the bearing. This mod to the cam journal gets the most out of TA’s grooved cam bearings, without this mod, it seems to me that all the grooved bearing is doing is filling the groove in the cam with more oil. .
So was this just a myth then that any of the 60's era V8 engines fed any of the mains from the driver's side galley? If that is the case then the only reason for the TA bearing is to help feed the lifters and rockers on that side and honestly I don't see those two small grooves doing all that much compared to the full flow that the other side gets. Jim
AFAIK, the Mains are fed from the Passenger side lifter galley. The new TA block has priority main bearing oiling.
It gets more oil than you think from those two narrow shallow grooves. I have a video on You Tube showing just this, at the time I was having issues with my Morel roller lifters bleeding down at random, I’ve since switched to Johnson’s, no issues. I’ll see if I can find my vid and I’ll link it here.
