1500 block, Camshaft stuck

[marko]

whilst stripping down this 1500 engine, The camshaft and followers are stuck in the block.nothing seized but with the followers pushed up the cam won't release, is there a trick that Haynes doesn't mention?
The crankshaft is being checked and possibly ground depending upon the findings then sent for nitride hardening or tuftridging and then only 3 miles down the road from me is a set up with engine balancing kit to take it to within 0.1grams. Can anyone recommend a hardening company apart from Viagra...

[MIG Wielder]

I had a very similar problem on the MGB some years ago when I did a complete overhaul on it due to worn cylinder bores.
The similarity is the camshaft in the cylinder block , the followers just above and then push-rods up to the rocker-shaft.
The problem is that over 95,000 miles of use the hardening on the cam followers wears and the running surface of the followers burrs over so you can't remove them upwards . They can only be removed by dropping them downwards.
So its a question of starting at the back of the engine, lifting up the rearmost cam-follower, sliding the camshaft forward, lifting up the next follower etc; etc; until the camshaft it out. The followers will drop out onto the bench. Seeing as you already have the crankshaft out ... no problem.
New camshaft and followers I'm afraid plus the appropriate running in procedure.
HTH,
Tony.

[SprintMWU773V]

Be sure to check the crank is straight after Tuftriding as the process can cause things to bend. I don't see a lot of point in Tuftriding a 1500 crank tbh it's hardly an engine that thrives on revs. Spend the money on ome decent bearings instead.

[marko]

I had to flip the block over and knock them upwards with a long knock-through screw driver but the cam then freed up and slid out. Thanks chaps.