cam bearing nut spinning

[SENC]

As weather prevented driving and tuning on the Seven, I took on a job that's been needed for a while - checking valve tappet clearances on my Elan - another first for me. Several were off a bit, the most worrisome the #4 exhaust which had almost no clearance at all, so I started work pulling that cam to see what shims are in place to se what I might need.

I noted an extra nut on one of the studs on #2, and after getting it and the locknuts off the other studs I found the reason - the locknut on that stud just spins freely, stripped. Any better ideas than a small nut splitter?

I also realized a couple of the long studs were short... one had a bit of the top broken off. So I'll order a new set of cam bearing studs and replace while doing this job. I assume their removal is accomplished by jamming 2 nuts?

[Mazzini]

Hi Henry,

Hope all is well. It might be worth trying to use two slim lock nuts on stud and unwind it complete with the spinning nut.

Cheerio,

Rob

[Quart Meg Miles]

Try a nut splitter first, if you can borrow one, or if Rob's slim nut idea doesn't work just saw the stud off under, or through, the spinning nut. Once the cam carriers are out you can use twin nuts or any brute force method to get the studs out as they are scrap.

[promotor]

Hi Henry,

One of these should do the job as there seems to be sufficient thread above the nut to get a grip of :

I can't think of a cheaper way that will do the job with minimal / no damage to surrounding parts.

[Elanman99]

As both the nut and the stud have to be replaced anyway what wrong with just using a 'Mole Grip' or equivalent to squash the nut (across its diameter) so that whatever is left of its (or the studs) threads are brought into very close contact. Decent vice grip will have no difficulty squashing a 5/16" UNF nut enough to gain enough friction to allow the stud to be unscrewed from the head casting.

Ian

[SENC]

Thank, yes, of course, you're all right that there is no major reason to worry about damaging the visible threads as the studs are to be scrapped - and with no pressure from the nut/washer against the bearing cap I'm not fighting torque. I do have a couple sizes of old stud extractors as Alistair posted, so will start there and can always cut or split the nut later if I find the stud is truly stuck. Thanks all for thinking through this with me.