N14 Cam Replacement

Ran like crap: Ok.
27 42 42 ?
I have not be in one one of those for 15 plus years however: Is there not a thrust washer between the the back of the cam gear and the front of the block? That is supposed to set how far the cam goes in the block. What does timing have to do with that?
Just trying to help with timing but what ever. Later!

 

Can you tell which direction the gear is phased on the end of the camshaft?

The key is stepped and needs to be installed with the step going the right way. Otherwise it can't be timed properly

 

Isn't the Timing altered by the amount of Shims under each Cam Follower..??

 

Yes. Mechanical injection engines were timed by a stack of shims for each cam follower. Each cam follower box is jig timed individually in order to be proper. I saw a guy in a 50% commission shop short cut that. Jig time the first one and use the same shims for the rest of them. I questioned that. He told me he has been doing it this way for 20 years. Those all worked fine and never came back. Any reason this one should be any different?
Electronic N14 fuel injection timing is controlled by the ecm working off of input from sensors. Cam follower gaskets are the same across the board from the factory. Valve timing is not as critical. I had ordered gaskets by the ESN and when I got it apart they were different than the old ones. I went back with as removed. Worked fine.
The same cam has been used for many different HP, torque and RPM engines at times. The key for the drive gear can be straight or offset. There are different offsets and it can be advanced or r e t a r d e d. This was common with the small and big cams. N14s were a bit more standardized.
On an electronic N14 if you went back with the same part # cam, key and follower gaskets you would probably be fairly safe. On a mechanical engine that is totally out of line.
Way to much time and money for me to not find someone to jig time it ether way.

 

On my Big Cam, and I assume others, the cam followers are not the same.

Some have been resurfaced to a different thickness than the others.

Maybe because it is a recon engine? I don't know but always best to jig time everything and be correct.

 

There were often some pretty large differences from one to the other on the first go round. Company I worked for had us replace only the bad rollers. New cam and all 7 bearings. N14s are bad to puke a gasket. Just replace them with the same and rock on.