I cant speak for Richard, but what I believe he meant about the springs is that you want only enough spring pressure to get you thru the break-in...it seems very common that one of the primary causes of cam/lifter failure is spring pressure, on the tip of the cam..or tip of the lobe I should say. If your cam uses double springs, just use the outers, without the dampers. If it uses a single spring, I would just use that, which you apparently did. Richard uses an old set of springs, which is a great idea also. The main thing, at least to me, is to do what the cam mfgr. recommends. That way, if you still have a failure, you can at least say you did what they instructed you to do. Im talking mainly of using the correct (or lighter) spring, and the right lubricants for break-in. Also, on the oil issue, I have been running Rotella (shell) deisel oil. It still has lots of the additives that have been taken out of most motor oils. I run 15w-40 all the time. The EOS is a great idea also. Especially for the cam break-in. John