[mercedestech]

That pin isn't supposed to see any stress at all. It is merely there as a locating pin when installing the gear. The bolt is supposed to hold everything together. I know it seems like a crappy design, but even Mercedes uses it in their 6.3L AMG engines. Infact the Benz engine doesn't even have a pin, we have a special tool that lines everthing up (cam, cam sprocket, chain, etc) while we tighten everything down. Now mind you these are overhead cams with no pushrods etc, but still a very similar design as far as the holding the cam sprocket to the cam (the Benz cam has an adjuster for cam timing not just a sprocket, but very simialr). You guys probably don't care, but I just thought I would throw it out there that a very advanced high horsepower engine made by Mercedes uses a very similar techniquie to hold everything together....and I've never seen one fail. I'll apologize now for getting off the main topic, I just want to know why this keeps destroying LS3 engines. This thread bothered me so much I just sold my TSP cam. I'm going to hold off on a cam until we know why this is happening and I'm closer to being out of warranty......It would take me months to recover from a failure like this without resorting to charging up the plastic! I'm all about paying to play, but damn......this would suck no matter how much money you have in the bank!