Experts,
I'm building two pre-'87 350 SBCs for my boat. One of the engines is reverse-rotation. I would really like to retrofit the engines for hydraulic roller cams. The trouble I'm having is that none of the major cam grinders offer a retrofit hyd roller cam for a reverse-rotation engine.

However, Crane has suggested that I use a cam ground for an '87-later block along with a fabricated spacer between the cam gear and the block, and a cam button to hold the cam inplace. The spacer would take up the space in the cam/gear assembly normally occupied by the limiter plate used on the later engines.

This all sounds reasonable to me, but I would like to hear from others that may have done this. Has anyone ever done this? Can anyone foresee problems with this setup?

Thanks in advance.
 

Yes this is doable. I recommend using hard brass for the spacer and drill a .030 hole from the thrust wall into the oil galley to provide pressure oil to the spacer. Also, 4 slots in the spacer on the block side will help distribute the oil. A T-6 aluminum could also be used for the spacer.

Bogie