<VV> Cam Bearings, Proof is in the pudding

[JVHRoberts at aol.com]

I've not had to do this repair on any Corvair engine I have ever owned, but  
there are practical limitations. 
 
Unlike VW engines, if you mill the case halves and rebore, the top cover,  
bell housing, rear cover, and oil pan are going to have fitment problems. And  
the bell housing and rear cover have alignment dowels, making life MUCH harder  
here. So, I would think that avenue is out. 
Line boring the case and building up the cam journals seems like THE most  
straightforward approach.
 
But I agree, it would be interesting to hear from those who have actually  
done this.
 
In a message dated 2/6/2006 10:47:50 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
vairologist at verizon.net writes:

Building  up the cam and boring the case is probably the simplest. Boring the 
case  and fitting inserts is also a possibility. These would be the only two 
I  would consider. 
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Smitty says:  As long as we are using John's money, I don't care how we  do 
it.  I haven't investigated the cost of any of these fixes so I don't  know but 
if it gets into adding several hundred dollars to the cost of an  overhaul I 
will be looking for options.  Like, I don't see the necessity  of boring the 
block.  Yeah I know.  The holes aren't round.  So  which would you rather have? 
 A shaft with .001 clearance in a square  hole or a shaft with .010 clearance 
in a square hole?  What is wrong with  getting each journal turned down to 
fit its own bore?  A lot of people  are talking about line boring the block but 
I am not sure they have knowledge  of tool availability to do the job.  
Talking about what they do for V Ws  doesn't say the average shop can do it for us.  
I had a block in the 70s  that had distorted Mains.  It was only a couple of 
thousandths  I  wanted to get it line bored to clean it up and then use shims 
behind the  inserts.  Couldn't find anyone in Tidewater that would do it. 
Tooling  they said.  So next step would be for me or someone else to get a 
cam  done to fit a block, or prove the availability of tooling to do a line  
bore.
When I asked this question in the first place, I asked what  the pros were 
doing about the problem.  I would prefer to not hear any  more from people who 
don't regularly build engines or from those who built one  10  years ago and 
don't see a problem.  I can dream up all kinds of  solutions and in fact did 
address them to a friend before I posted to  VV.  So lets hear what you "have 
done" or what you actually are "going to  do", and get the word out on that.