Please help! buick 340 cam bearings

I have a Buick 340 4bbl and don't know what year the car was it is from but all of the stamps on engine and trans say '66 but could it come in a 1967 model year car? there seems to be ALOT of confusion as to which cam bearing to use as most companies list a different bearing for the '66 and '67 motors with the '66's being the same as the NEWER engines including the 350 and some of the big blocks up to the '80's. the 67's listed the same as OLDER like the 215's, 300's etc back to '61???? called King bearings they couldn't tell me which to use or what the difference is! called O'Rielys and they (have spent 2hrs looking at and calling everyone else too) list a single part number from Clevite SH1360S (as do other sites) for both years, cool right, but NO, he tries to order them and gets a price and when they will arrive and when he tries to order them it says that he is not authorized to order this item!! the clerk had never seen this before on his computer. I am probably going to buy the SH1360S else where and see what happens but they are 2-3times the price as the others with differing part #'s
thanks!

Sorry I did not see this earlier. I will check it out and let you know in the morning.

with the '66's being the same as the NEWER engines including the 350


this is unequivocally wrong.

both the Buick 340 and 350 belong to the Buick small block family
BUT
the 350 has several significant changes over the earlier generation designs. so far as the short block is concerned, a 350 is the same as a 340 except for the bore diameter AND the cam / cam tunnel.

there are very significant differences in the heads / intakes / exhausts manifolds due to Buick swapping valve order with the 350 design. all previous gens ( 215, 300, 340 ) of the SBB had used siamesed center intake runners ( EI, EI, IE, IE ) while the 350 changed to the "Chevy style" siamesed center exhaust runners. ( IE, IE, EI, EI ). you can still see the "Rover style" valve order in use well into the 1980s on Buick v6 engines.

in order to prevent shade tree mechanics from screwing up and putting a "Rover style" cam into a 350, or vice versa, Buick changed the configuration of the cam tunnel.

"Rover style" Buicks use a decreasing diameter cam journal, with the smallest journal being at the back and getting larger as you step towards the timing cover. ie - none of the cam bearings are the same size

the Buick 350 uses journals which are all the same diameter and all the same size cam bearings.

NO cam which works in a Buick 350 will work in previous generation small block Buicks and will not even physically fit without a sledge hammer.

NO cam which works in a "Rover style" Buick will work in a 350, although it will fit, it's just going to be flopping around at the back of the block.

www.TAPerformance.com will know exactly what the issue is and can supply you with the proper parts, as can www.AluminumV8.com ( Rover and Buick / Olds 215 specialist )

if you're going to insist on buying through a local parts store, tell them you have a 1966.

double check that no one swapped a 350 into your car. a 340 will have 4 bolt valve covers while a 350 will use 6 bolts, and there's also those siamesed center exhaust runners to look for. a 5 bolt valve cover will indicate a Buick 455 / 430 / 400.

Attached are pages from the 1972 Buick Master Parts Book showing camshaft bearings (Group 0.539 thru 0.549). It's not readily apparent, but the bearing set is the same for the '66 and '67 340 engines. It shows which bearings were holdovers from the earlier models and which were used in later years.

There was a lot going on for '66 and '67 with the nailhead, small block, and big block V8s in production. Things changed even more for '68. No wonder bearing suppliers have trouble keeping up with items needed to assemble a kit. As a last resort, suppliers may be able to crossover the individual bearings to come up with the right set.

1155,
Are you working with a machine shop or are you going to change the bearings yourself ? Do you have the camshaft out of the engine ? If you have the cam out all you have to do is measure the bearing journals on it and it will answer your question as to which cam bearings to use. Its funny because Clevite only shows one number but DuraBond shows a different number for 66 and 67.

If you can post your block casting number it should be fairly easy to figure out which ones you need.

By the way, most regular parts stores are pretty useless when it comes to engine parts. They sell so few of them that unless it is a very common part number they typically do not have the knowledge to look them up. Your local automotive machine shop should be able to figure out which ones you need and get them for you. I can usually sell those types of parts for the same price or better than Summit etc.

These are the stock cam bearings for the 215-300-340 engines,

http://www.taperformance.com/proddet...prod=TA%5F1564

I couldn't get specs from any one, or find any in stock within 40mi to look at. when I called them to determine the diameters of their bearings (even called King bearing tech direct) so having the cam in my hand didn't help. I figured that the info I was getting from parts stores was typical computer whiz kid fare so I went with the Clevite set that listed for both years since I trust Clevite/Mahle even though it was over 2X the price and all is well!
P.S. I now have the custom Crower cam .488/.501 280/286 on a 110 CL hyd. ($200) and dual spring install kit with camsaver lifters, They were MOST helpful, fast, and had everything I needed in stock except the spring seat cutter which they told me to get from comp cams. I machined up an 11/32" arbor for it to avoid waiting 2wks for them to make it.
I finished the 3 angle valve job and mild porting on the heads and will be assembling them shortly.
Thanks for all of your well informed help with this!