Which camshaft for early 188D?

[WilBury]

I'm aware that later heads get oil at the rear rocker bolt metered from the rear cam journal.
My head and block oil the rockers thru the center bolt.
For some reason I thought I can use pretty much any camshaft that fits the 188 or 207 diesels in it, tach or no. Am I mistaken?
Numbers I've searched are A36853, A38890, A39013, A153521, G2111(original).
There's a dealer trying to tell me I must use the G2111. Is he full of it? Don't I just have to verify the correct bushings?

 

[mEl]

You could double check me on this. but the rear journal may be milled to let oil by a certain spot when it turns to meter the amount of oil up there. It has been a while since I worked on one but your comment made me think about it, as I said, don't take me to the bank on this.

 

[WilBury]

I was hoping you'd chime in mEl.
I'm sure that rear journal has hole(s) in it for oil but should be same diameter. There's two different sets of bearings to choose from but I think it's to do with the block. Double-checking one of my old books ...

 

[WilBury]

Same diameters, but I see two different bearing kits.
A41232 for the early block with 1.220" wide rear and .718" centers
A151075 for the late block with .985" wide rear and .500" centers
I think it's just a matter of matching the size and placement of bearings for the block at hand.
Newer blocks of course have two oil holes for the rear bearing and if the rear bearing has two, only one must match up for old blocks according to my manuals.
I do see a warning to not try a gas cam in a diesel or vice versa.

 

[WilBury]

No offense mEl, I betchu there's some other old coots on here too that know the answer to this. (thinking of you, John)

 

[WilBury]

I may have a solution. I'm going to ask that dealer to compare center journal sizes between the G2111 and the later cams tomorrow. That may be the critical difference.

 

[WilBury]

So, I got that dealer to admit he was mistaken.
It's true you can't use an old G2111 cam in the newer blocks simply because they're not drilled for oil in the rear journal (at least most aren't). Not only that, and not sure if it matters, but the center journals, being wider, would stick out of the bearings or if you used the wide bearings, they would stick out of the block bores.
On the other hand, the newer cams should fit the old blocks. Not sure in that case which bearing set you'd want. I don't imagine you'd want a place for crud to accumulate right beside the journals so maybe use the narrow bearings? Also there's the oil holes in the rear journal but I don't think that's a problem.
Anyone ever tried a new cam in the old block?

 

[WilBury]

Bought the G2111, original for this engine. Does look to be NOS (woohoo) but I think somebody bounced a small drill bit off the rear journal a few times hoping to convert it for later engines. I'll have to have the cam shop check it.

roughly measured

Base Circle - ~1.204
Lobe Length - ~1.462
Lobe Lift - ~ .258
Journals - ~ 1.750 with the .718" wide center, no oil holes in rear journal