Thread: engine trouble number 2

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hi every body today i spent all day working on the camaro i did everything that everyone suggested. but guess what? i found it !after half the morning i decided to pull the valvecovers started the motor and watch the rockers move. they all were doing what there suppose to do except number eight.intake was barely moving exaust wasnt moving at all! i disassembled the top end and pulled the lifters number eights were dished i pulled the cam and ther was no lobes left on eight . im putting a new cam in know but i wanted to ask , does anybody have any idea why it did what it did? that cam has been in there since before last summer. did it take that long to were the lobes off if i had adjusted it to tight? or should i look for something else ? All the other lifters and lobes look like new.

Check your cam bearings,,also,,before you go running that motor,,,flush the crap out of it,,,and take the pan off.
You said the cam lobe was worn down??? the metal went somewhere,,,,,Measure every thing three times,,,and install once.
P.S. replace all lifters along with the new cam.

Originally posted by lildebbie1111
hi every body today i spent all day working on the camaro i did everything that everyone suggested. but guess what? i found it !after half the morning i decided to pull the valvecovers started the motor and watch the rockers move. they all were doing what there suppose to do except number eight.intake was barely moving exaust wasnt moving at all! i disassembled the top end and pulled the lifters number eights were dished i pulled the cam and ther was no lobes left on eight . im putting a new cam in know but i wanted to ask , does anybody have any idea why it did what it did? that cam has been in there since before last summer. did it take that long to were the lobes off if i had adjusted it to tight? or should i look for something else ? All the other lifters and lobes look like new.

good advice, also on that break in, make very sure your timing is pretty close to what it needs to be.... if its off, its going to cause some minor damages to the new cam

Morning, all. I was just passing over this, and thought to go back and read lildebbie's first post about this problem, and saw something there that made me go "hmmm?". I'm gonna toss this out here and hope somebody will catch me if I am falling.

In the first post, lildebbie said that the problem started after the distributor was replaced. In chevy engines, there is something in my foggy memory about an oil pressure bypass groove in the distributor housing on some models, and not on others; something to do with early versus later designs, and that this groove has something to do with cam or lifter/pushrod/rockerarm oiling.

Is it possible that here was an incorrect distributor housing installed, and the oiling system was compromised, resulting in the cam failure?

Like I said, I'm just brain farting, here; I have been away from active engine building for a long time - twenty years, almost - and my memory is just --- dull.

I took everyones advice,took the pan off, cleaned it and the sump after breaking in the cam I pulled the valve covers off .everythings working ok. The pushrods are rotating I could feel them turn. I poured in a can of engine flush and changed the oil and filter three times. the last time I added a quart of lucas. The timing is set at 16 btdc and 34 total. The engine idles at 1200 with 14 inches of vacuum in park drops to 900 in gear it has more oil pressure than it had for a long time. She runs real smooth too! I think the motor likes this cam better bigger isnt always better! Its a crane also with 224 234 dur 465 480 lift. I took her out and hit it one time she burnt the tires went a little side ways and was gone! Im glad I found HOT ROD FORUM and every one who answered my questions and gave there advice THANK YOU ALL youll be hearing more from me thanks again Debbie DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT

i prefer a little more mileage on new engine parts such as cams before hot rodding it like that, but as professional racers say, they'd prefer to see it break right away than break on the track

HOW TRUE..........HOW TRUE!!!!!

Now you got me worried. I put new lifters into an otherwise refreshed 350 block and I recall one of the new lifters required a slight tap with a wrench end to go down in the bore. I have to take the valve covers off anyway to install my roller tipped rockers and I have not run the engine but what is an easy way to get that lifter out so I can run my finger in the lifter bore to check for a ridge? It is not too late to make sure that lifter can rotate when I adjust the valves. What sort of a tool can be used to pull out the lifter? If there is a ridge a hone will make loose particles, so how can that be avoided? I can imagine putting an oily rag down the bore and fish that out after some slight honing but that might not catch all the particles. Maybe some massaging of the lifter itself with emery paper out of the block might give a very slight reduction in diameter but without a lathe it could take a lot of work with the emery cloth. Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

you shouldn't have any problems, probably shoulda put assembly lube on the lifter when U put it in, and yes they make a tool for pulling out lifters, i dont know if they have rental ones at kragen/autozone/peps.... but i do know snap-on makes one for like.... $250... i think i can get one from the college for about $150 tho

That scares me . I never seen when you had to tap a lifter in with a wrench pulling old ones out is a different story . Go to any parts store and buy a lifter puller and a can of liquid wrench, spray around the lifter, turn the engine over untill the lifter comes all the way up . twist lightly back and forth while pulling untill it comes out. use cam lube , rub some in the lifter bore rub some oil on the outside of the lifter .before you put the intake on , go to GM and buy abottle of there oil suppliment you cant beet it! pure it right in the lifter valley along with youre new oil. dont wait to put the valvecovers on to put oil in it better lubrication this way .fill oil filter with oil prime oil ;pump if you can .reasemble and take youre time!!!@!

I

I just want to suggest one more thing , for $3.90 get youre self a new lifter