hey im rebuilding a 350 4 bolt main and when I installed my new cam there is about 3/8 in" of front and back movement on the cam too the timing chain !! not enough for the timing chain to jump off the teeth but i never had a 350 with so much play on it usually they sit pretty tight in the engine!! I looked at the cam bearings and they look good???? I just wanted to know if anyone else ever heard of this loose like a goose cam??? cheap summit cam to top it off !!! & yes i have rebuilt 350's before !!!

Sounds like the all to common core shift. Tons of 350s from 79,80,81 have very shitty blocks.

was it a new chain??


a 2x roller will help prevent this as well and as a ROLLER cam button. either way your cam lobes have a very very slight taper that is designed to drive the cam into the block, a button is more for a roller cam that has truely flat tappets and has nothing to keep it from walking out.

I knew it was bad news coming!!! yup new chain and hydraulic cam would a button be alright to use with hyd cam????

yes it would be fine but probably unessaccary if you are going to use a new DOUBLE roller chain not a new stock chain. a button is designed to keep the cam in place when there is nothing else to do so, you have a flat tappet cam, and extra security of a double roller chain, it wont budge.

if you still want a button get a roller button not solid. a roller button has bearings in it and is two peice, a solid is just a chunk of brass and will wear a hole in your cover.

so would the block be junk?? or run it until it all goes to hell???

If the block isn't gouged out from the old cam sprocket-you should be ok. If it is there are block saver shims available. I have only seen this with BBC not SBC.