Cam tower shims

[CzarFC]

In another thread it was mentioned that if the heads are machined, it may be necessary to shim the cam towers to restore proper alignment. Where would I get the proper shims? (motor is a 5.6L 117 in an '88 560SEL)

Thanks in advance!

[Kebowers]

Talk to your friendly MB parts ma

[mbdoc]

No such part available! OR needed. IF the cam timing is off MB offers "offset" woodruff keys for re-indexing the cam timing!

[CzarFC]

I wasn't refering to timing when I said alignment, I apoloigize for not better stating my question. My question is more rooted in the alignment of the cam towers in relation to each other so that the camshaft spins as freely as possible. I recently had my heads done by a machine shop and am in the process of building the motor back up. I could be imagining things but the cam I have on now doesn't seem to spin as freely as it used to (right side cam and all towers placed where they were initially). They definatly don't spin as freely as they do when the towers and cam are on the table (spins with light twist by fingers, vs using a wrench now). I would like to re-adjust my towers so that the vertical component of pinch thats being applied to the camshaft is minimized.

Perhaps I need to find thing guage steel or aluminum and cut my own shims to raise the height as appropriate?

[Roncallo]

I have never installed a milled head myself on an OHC MB so I have never been faced with this problem but I did see on head rebuilder advertize that he straightens heads instead of mills them just to avoid this problem. Obviously if the head is warped and you mill it the cam towers will be unaligned when its all bolted down. I would like to hear from a certified MB technichian on this as to what is the accepted proceedure for a warped head.

John Roncallo

[CzarFC]

When I was taking the engine apart there was some stiffness in getting the cam to move until I unbolted it. On my work-bench, the cam and towers I've yet to put on stands flat on the fore and aft tower witht the middle 3 hovering just off the surface (perhaps ~1mm eyeballing) Before I took that cam off, I just barely needed the wrench to spin it (ditto on the cam I've already installed). On the table I can rotate it with my thumb and forefinger with very little effort. I figure I'm only doing the engine favors I can minimize that much resistance in the towers and decrease the moment applied to the shaft of the cam. If I can find steel sheets thin enough I can cut out the shims myself. Would a Home Depot or Checker or someplace like that carry thin guage steel sheets? The thinnest I remember seeing at anyplace like that was .1-inches, way to thick for my purposes.

I appreciate the input!

Scott

[Cigar Havana]

Perhaps you could use one of those old fashioned feeler guages used for setting spark plugs. Mine has some very thin fingers of metal. Also, body shops and some auto supply stores, liek Canadian Tore, have different thicknesses of sheet metal.