antique tags original owner (continued)

So, my problem is the cam bearings. The "rock" bearings come with a notch, designed to fit into a groove (just like a standard rod bearing). Thing is, there's no groove on the rocker cap or the head saddle, completely smooth. The "instructions" that came w/the bearings say to machine the grooves into the cap and saddle. What!!? Also, even if I did that the bearing would be too big, I'd have to cut them down. Needless to say, sent them back for a refund. Now I'm stuck w/o bearings. All the part stores have to special order them at a pre paid cost of $66-85. I sure these will be the same bearing, so I'm gonna talk to the dealer on Tue. Never saw anything like this. Anybody got any feedback or suggestions? Hope you're Labor Day is going better than mine.

from the factory there isn't a cam bearing did you mess up the journals on the cylinder head

As I said in your other post - the cam bearings require a line bore of the cam journals to fit the cam bearings. Unless your see scoring in the cam bearing surfaces on the head, you don't need them. These heads were designed to use the head as the cam bearing surface.

Thanks for the replies. It's starting to make sense now. When I got my head back from the machine shop I got a bag of old/replaced parts. I thought the bearings were in there and got thrown away. Guess they never were. I might be looking at a new cam. Any recommendations for a supply source?

get some plastic gauge to check the torque value on the main journals if the cam was not installed by the shop already. Torqueing the journals down on the cam using the torque given by a manual is a good start, but now that it has been machined the service manual torque could change the specified area amount for lubrication for the cam. Pre-grease the cam bearing caps after you get your proper torque and begin to install the cam as well as the rocker assembly. Hopefully the shop has also filled the valve stem seals with pre-run grease too.
You might want to put some oil treatment in for the break in period that contains some zinc additive.