560SL - DIY Camshaft Polishing

[@joshuaculley9695]

Tony. You’re literally making history right now with your series rebuild. People decades from now can watch these and rebuild an engine from these eras. The people who literally built these cars and the engineers who designed them are really old now and some have passed away. This knowledge is going to be lost someday if we don’t document all these things.

[@mac1mike]

I hand polished my journals with sandpaper and shoelace from retired bowling shoes. BUt I never thought of how to do the lobes. Briliiant work.

[@TonyLiveTV]

@@mac1mike thanks!

[@jacquelinechellis4036]

Cool video gave me ideas. The flat block for sure on cranks with lines and you really need to flaten evenly. Maybe something stiffer than rubber like thicker leather for cams and cranks that are very good and just need a polish job. Thanks it is cool using drill speeding up the process. I went with 1000 and then 2000 on last one i did very slow might do it again to get a little bit better before polish. I will try mothers for mag aluminum on it wont.cut too much.

[@Mike-qo4kp]

Serpentine belt

[@deejayDecibel1]

You are a star!

[@rubensalais1502]

I like the idea of using the board, what about if you ad a hinge and a spring to keep the tension evenly distributed at all the times on the racers and the lobes? That way you don't press harder or lighter on the higher areas or lower areas Just an idea don't take it the bad way I'm going to build one to see if works

[@TonyLiveTV]

Good idea I think!

[@nerradnosnhoj5122]

Just seen your video here , is that a Roller cam or a Flat Tappet camshaft ? I seen a comment from a viewer saying that you will remove material with light sanding, those surfaces will take a lot of work to before removing material when using 1500-2000 grit paper there

[@TonyLiveTV]

No roller rockers or roller cam here. A quick polish is about all I did on the cam and crankshaft. I was lucky that these were in really great shape with no pits or rust.

[@alexhise968]

Drop it in a vibratory and get a isotropic super polish

[@artyberkhoff8878]

What is going to hold the oil on?

[@TonyLiveTV]

I’m sorry, but I do not understand your question.

[@artyberkhoff8878]

@@TonyLiveTV When you polish a cam the pores are made smaller and oil will not stay on. But as this is a roller cam it may not matter.

[@TonyLiveTV]

@@artyberkhoff8878 I must say I have never heard cams have pores “for oil”. What I do know is these cams have pressurized oil tubes/pipes that constantly supply oil to each cam lobe. Therefore I can’t see how a light polishing of the cams would have any affect on how well things are lubricated. I also believe that a smooth flat surface would dissipate oil more evenly without a dry spot caused by an imperfection or pores. Also the cam lobes are in direct contact with steel rocker arms which will wear the lobes a more than a light polish I would I think. The only reason for a light polish is to insure there are no burrs or nicks that could later cause a catastrophic failure. I don’t think polishing the cams will have any negative consequences.

[@VESH20V]

THE RUBBER ALSO DOESNT SIT FLUSH ABOUT 1/4INCH ON EITHER SIDE OF THE TIP OF THE LOBE

[@samanbehnam7359]

What about 0000 steel wool and transmission fluid

[@TonyLiveTV]

I would think that would work too. I think keeping equal light pressure is the key to polishing. If needing more than a light polish you might want to let a professional do it (assuming you can find someone competent).

[@samanbehnam7359]

@@TonyLiveTV right and the good thing about 000'SW is it can flex and form to the shaft. By the today I removed the steering box on my 89 560SL and replaced all the seals, the coupling and the damper. definitely a all day job. Next will be the hood pad and thanks for the post

[@joe-hp4nk]

The quality cam companies have a break in coating on their cams. You just wiped it off.

[@TonyLiveTV]

If any so called coating can’t handle mag wheel polish I don’t know how it lasted 140,000 miles.

[@ryurc3033]

Did you even watch the video? It's not a new cam.

[@joe-hp4nk]

@@ryurc3033 It just gets worst.

[@hotrodninja458]

When you do your home polishing job, why do you not measure the bearing and cam lobes and before and after? FYI: Just light sanding can remove a thousand of an inch.

[@TonyLiveTV]

I have another video where I do the measuring of the cam and bearings.

[@hotrodninja458]

Great. We have to be careful in educating the young minds. They are prone to short cuts and making costly mistakes. Thank you for your time sir.