Thread: comp or crane

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Originally Posted by DennyW

Theres a lot of talk about the oils, and which cam to use. I see one of the problems, especially on the manufacturers about this issue. You all know how a car manufacturer just hates to spend money on some .50 cent piece to prevent roll overs, because it adds up on the number of cars they produce. Well, changing the methods of the way cam hardness is, may be the same way. I mean if you buy a camshaft for 50.00 bucks, and you could have got the same lift and grind for 200.00 bucks, of course you want the one for 50.00 bucks. The 200.00 dollar one takes more man hours, and a blend of things (layered material) to perfect. But, you have to contend with specific break-in procedures, or it goes flat right away on that 50.00 cam. In the early days, I never had to change a Ford cam. The hardness was over .060 thou thick, where as the Chevy cams were only a mere .032, or less. This didn't go flat from improper breakin, and the oils were fine back then. I'm talking at 30,000 miles I was changing camshafts, and they changed oil regularly also. I checked.

OK, the zinc is missing, and that is a problem, but, in all the oil specs I have read, and read about additives, there is nothing that beats good old base oil, the base of it all. All the additives, of course, are for acid, sludge, moisture, viscosity, and so forth. Things had to be added to prolong the oil, and the engines life. The manufacturers warranty, in order to sell you the car. They don't want to spend money on repairs, but they do want to sell the car. Same as any other thing you buy. Most people look for how long the warranty is. I do also. That tells me by that, that they have most likely done enough to make it go at least that long before it breaks.

Heres a link to Cranes site, just a little reading for ya, it's about rollers, but still good info, and they have some new lifter stuff you might want to read about, covers a little Mopar also:
http://www.cranecams.com/?show=newsLetters&no=421

Denny,one area you did'nt point out was how most of the Fords where oiled in the cam area before the Chevy.
Another point would be most of the Fords use a larger lifter dia.
I.M.O. these two aspects helped to save the Ford cams.

i have always had great luck on break-ins. In the past, i used crane cams with good results. The tech guys, are more friendly than the guys I have spoken to at comp. I do hear that those extreme energy grinds are great cams. The car will be street driven. Thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by DennyW

Yes, that is true. I didn't want to say that cause it might have looked like I was picking on the Chevy oiling system.

That's why you have to get the clearances right for the engine you are building. If you put the clearances to loose on the bottom end of a Chevy, you will starve the cam and lifter area. If you think about it, the cam bearing to cam clearances are pretty slim, on either engine type, but the Chevy will die on top if the bottom is not right. That's why when someone asked if 20 lbs is ok, I'm thinking, not.

Or, just switch to a Blue Oval, and forget the silly chebbie problems!!!!!!!!!

I have the 268 xe cam in my mud drag pickup, works great, just doesn't pull as much vacuum as I wanted it to for the rules. On break in I had the stock valve springs and I used Rotella 15w-40 on break-in. No problems. I have 10.25 compression, 781 casting heads good power could always use more though.

Hey Denny, Good to see you are still here. I am nearing my writing distraction and should be back working on the car in a month or so. I just wanted to comment that I had my engine (mild 350) built by a local circle track racer who built many SBC 400s and I requested a Comp 268 but he would not let me buy a Comp cam saying he had too much grief with Comp cams and the Crane was a better bet so I ended up with a mild Crane. There may just be a series of bad events behind his preference but I had to respect his long experience.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I've had a Comp cam in for about 17 years with no problems. Maybe problems with Comp are more recent than that. If I ever needed another, Crane would probably get the nod as many of my friends have been using them very succesfully of late.

Have you looked at other brands like lunati or isky? if not why not? just woundering...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Originally Posted by DennyW

All I can say is if you have ever checked what the guys run at the track, with that horse power, I can assure you, it's way more than that. I have watched a few myself, and have never seen 7-12 lbs on any that I saw. That would be real scary, if I saw that pressure.

at 7 psi i think you could hear the crank jump up on the oil flim then you get on it and hear it hit bottom when you get off it looooooooose

Originally Posted by FFM

A friend of mines dad has a Nova with a 468 with a 8/71 blower on it, just over the 1000 HP mark, and he said his oil pressure runs 7-12 PSI and he never had any problems lol.
Any thoughts on this??

Yes kids this is why you don't get high off your own supply.
I think he may mean his boost.
A 1,000 hp 468 with a 8-71 ?