I guess I don't see how it would be out of alignment if the person kept the same number of shims as he took off. Its just that getting the cam nut off has been the hardest part of the partial rebuild I am doing. To make the alignment you have to, according to Wayne, tighten the nut up to torque (110 ft lbs) and then take it off. I don't know if I have the strength to do it again.

Don,

I understand your frustration. The point was, yes you can put it back like it was when you took it apart. No argument there. It's just that you are putting your trust in whoever did the cam sprocket alignment before you took it apart, that's all. The cam sprocket alignment does not require you to tighten the cam nut to 110 ft-lbs. You are not going to get the alignment any closer by torquing the nut to this figure. The alignment is only required to be within the thickness of one shim spacer, and torquing the cam nut to 110 ft-lbs is not going to improve the alignment tolerances.

I don't have Wayne's book, but I'll bet the torquing is called out when doing the cam timing. You do the alignment before you do the timing. You can slip the sprocket hardware on the cam without the square key in the shaft in doing all this, then when the spacers have been determined, pull the hardware off and install the key in the keyway. Then go about the timing, which is a much more exacting setup than the alignment.