Cylinder Head Alignment Issue - Cam Swap

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ramnododge

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2024
Posts
24
Reaction score
39
Location
Charlotte NC
Ram Year
2013
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Hi Guys! I'm back with another question. A bunch of you have helped me in the beginning stages of my journey to a Cam/Lifter swap (see my last post )

Hemi Tick....but lifters look fine??

Long time coming on this, but I finally got the heads back from the local shop, and they look(ed) great! The issue I am having has just delved into a bigger issue, but I'll get to that.

Trying to align the heads up on the alignment dowel pins on the Driver side is impossible. I've made sure I've actually got the correct cylinder head on the correct side. But it is binding bad. So I tried to beat the dowels in just a bit, thinking maybe they aren't square and/or are bottoming out on the cylinder head. Finally measured the diameter. MINIMUM Diameter on the PIN = 0.635", with about 0.004" out of round. Diameter on the holes on the cylinder head =~ 0.630". So CLEARLY....this should not be a press fit, but moreso a guide hole. So my first question is: wtf happened at the machine shop? I know they are aluminum, but how did we get here, with the original dowels? The better question....what can I do about this? My instinct is to ream, but I'm not a machinist, I don't have reamers.

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I'm also measuring quite a difference in the distance from max dowel to dowel, and max hole to hole on the cylinder head, using my super precise scale. Looking at this, this seems to be more of a problem than the size. So again....how did this fit BEFORE getting resurfaced??

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Annnnnd now to the more crappy part. While trying to get this on, since it didn't immediately seat onto the dowels, the cylinder head kinda dropped down as I lost grip and knicked the sharp edge of the engine deck, causing this B.S. So question #2, which I think I unfortunately know the answer to, but am I f#*cked? Is this a trip back to the machine shop for my own incompetence? I had (probably a terrible) thought that if i lightly sand down the ridges with 600 grit, that it'd be fine.

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