Amc 360 assembly tips

hey all, its been roughly 6 months of waiting and I’m finally about to grab my engine from the machine shop. I had planned on them assembling but that came with the unknown completion date and at this point I’m willing to learn and work to get it done myself. Any tips/tricks or common pitfalls of assembling these amc 360s? I am getting everything I need from the machine shop balanced and cleaned etc. any builders on here have tips on bearing clearance etc? I was planning on finding factory spec, but if that isn’t right for a performance application let me know. Thanks for any and all help!

Only bit to add is if your installing your own cam bearings and the camshaft binds it will likely be at the oil passage hole to the bearing. Find the culprit and don't be afraid to do a little bearing scraping.

so what you’re saying about the cam bearings is that I should already have my cam? If that’s the case anyone have suggestions on a hydraulic roller and lifters? I have been lurking and recall tons of talk of certain manufacturers having out of spec stuff. Anybody to look out for? Thinking of getting a whole K kit when I pull the trigger, and from the sounds of it I need to now to fit the cam.

Factory specs are fine for performance - bearing clearances and all. 
Pick an oil from this guy's top of the list and you'll be fine. 
https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

No one has ever complained of a failure using the oils he tests as having the very best wear protection qualities. Modern oils are fine as long as they have the wear protection qualities and you pick from the top of the list. 
the biggest issues people face are from LACK of ATTENTION TO DETAIL. 
Cleanliness is not next to godliness - it IS godliness in engine and transmission building. Even lint from cotton rags can mess up oil pickup screens. 
Clean the heck out of the oil passages and no, a hot tank isn't enough from my experience. I use stainless steel special order white pipe cleaners. They don't bend and kink like cheap ones, don't shed and I don't quit cleaning until they come back out pretty much white. 
WATCH replacement parts like the cam sprocket (face it a gear is a gear and is cut to run against another gear - these have chains so they have sprockets) Anyway, the cam sprocket from some sources needs to be watched very closely. There are many many posts here about THAT topic and watching the front oil passages related to the cam sprocket, the oil passages, where to watch for flashing blocking things and so on. 
Keep your old parts to compare to the new - and be aware also of cam sprocket oil passages not lining up properly with the oil channels of the cam.

Have to agree on rocker arm to valve stem contact if you have made any changes - like head milling, or truing up, and so on - otherwise the rocker can push sideways on the valve, spend too much time wiping across the end of the valve and not pushing on it - friction, wear, heat.  It should be centered and not move across a lot - and for that you need that right angle so that it's in the middle of the arc when it is half-way down.
I used a sharpie to mark the end of the valve and keep track of where the rocker contacted the valve full closed to full open and back. Nice narrow pattern centered and ended up with perfect lifter pre-load but had to shim the rockers a bit to get there.





Edited by billd - Jun/13/2019 at 11:13pm