Thread: What's happened to camshafts?

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Don---and others

You do not get splash to the cam by raising the oil level---the level of the oil is below the crank/rods and /or windage tray---even if you add SOME oil

Actually the cam gets oiled by oil slinging off the rod journals and by leakage down from the top of the engine---this is the reason for running the engine at 2000-2500 rpm for 20-30 minutes to break in the cam--more sling-----

Original rods and bearings had a hole so oil would be squirted up bat all the new rods/cranks don't have adquate side clearance or the squirt holes and the cam lobe and lifter bases suffer from too little oil

well gm stop putting the ^ cut in the rod cap parting line and if you do have a set cut from gm. you may have to re work the bearing shell to make it piss . ford stop doing the drill hole .its is to bad i have been thinking of put it back in on some builds. i know you know this jerry.. i was talking about this not to long ago with a friend .but i guess for most the goodson or comp tool that cut a ditch1/2 way up the lifter bore is a EZ way out

I totaly agree with Jerry here.
I will say this though, back in the late 70's I seen guys that had flat tapped cam failers all the time. These guys could not follow simple directions or would just get in a big hurry and try to rush things by not doing a proper break - in. I have never { KNOCK ON WOOD} had a flat tapped cam go flat on me. And I have installed them in plenty of big blocks and small blocks though not in the last 10 years. I always pre lubed the lifters by letting them soak over night. Then I always used a good cam lube on everything, and I lube the S__t out of the cam. Then I would put Vasoline in the oil pump to to help get everything pumped up nice. Then I would adjust the rockers just a tad loose.
Then start it up for about 30 minutes at about 2,000 to 2,500 just like Jerry said.
I have seen guys put in a cam then start it, rev it up to about 6 grand then drive off down the street with out any break - in time. A hour later they are tearing them down wondering why the cam failed on them. Now I ain't very good, but I bet I can guess this one!!!! You guys know what I mean. I seen a guy that didn't put any water in the motor and ran it up to about 300 degrees before he shut it down. Then he want to call the cam manufacter and yell at them, when in fact he is lucky he did not blow the whole motor. Just stupid stuff. Kurt

ive always slathered the cam in molly grease, the lifters in a mix of moly grease and white lithium greases, added some lucas or now the comp break in lube. primed the oiling system fired it off held it at 2500 for 15-20 minutes. shut it down check valve train and then fired it back up went another 10 minutes at 2k rpm. just for good measure. have never had a failure yet! and i run nothing but solid flat tappet cams. have done 7 in the last 5 years. just got done breaking in a schneider a month ago no problems. it even came with some zddp paste i used that plus my aformentioned routine. i also use the right oils. valvoline vr1 and schaffers 20-50 good sticky oil with moly

well how many times can you be lucky? or how many cams have you put in? there is the first cam and the last one that wipes you will remember ? i put in over 60 or 80? flat lifter cams. hell i do not know alot of flat cams in over the 30 years .i never counted. i have done 10 in the last two years thats 10 i wish were roller cams the rest are hyd rollers or solid rollers . but i do know how many failed over the 30+ years i been building them when one wipes it burns in to your wallet and your brain.on solid flat lifter cams i use the direct lube solid lifters. the great thing is with a flat lifter cam you can get thru break in and wipe the cam at 100 miles or 20.000 you never know till its to late.

I know what you mean Pat, But I was just talking about breaking in the cam.
I think thats something totaly differant, what your talking about there.
I had a freind do a intake manifold change a couple months after installing a big roller cam. He thought that it would work better with his new cam. Well about two weeks after the new intake went in he noticed a noise from the rockers, so we opened up the valve covers to see if they needed re-adjusted. Well one of the rockers was not moving so we pulled it apart to have a look inside. The cam lobe was wiped out when we got to looking at it we found a small pice of silicone from the corners of the intale had plugged
a roller lifter oil hole. Wonder if he had changed his oil after a couple hundred miles if he would have gotten that debre out instead of it floating all around till it caused a problem.
I always do my first oil chang with in a couple hundred miles as well.
Over kill maybe, but I've always felt better safe then sorry.
And I don't add aditives to my oils either and here is why.
I did a rebuild on a guy's 400M years ago and had to use vise grips to get the push
rods out because they were stuck. Get this the guy drove it to the shop, I could not beleve that thing could even run. It was like someone had poured honey in the motor!!!
I asked what oil he was running and he told me then he said he was putting oil treatments in as well. I showed him the inside of his motor and he could not belive it.
All you need in a good oil, and to do a regular oil change. I don't use oil treatments, But thats just me. Kurt

moly lube and a break in oil with zppd if that will not work then some thing is going on with the parts your using or the guy putting it in or no break in .adding a bunch of junk to the oil may harm things when you think your doing something good .there is a thing called Oil Clash where the oil truns to a rubber its not like making home made soup thinking hey that s good dump it in there.there are two kinds of zzdp a fast burn thats is what they put in brake in oils or sell in the small bottles. i have been told so you want the fast burn with no detergent in oil. it so the zddp will bond in to the hi load parts the detergent/soap cleans out and blocks the pours to let a good bond work with the zppp so a race oil maybe ok good but a brake in oil may work better. after break in. i would use a race oil and tell guy that the oil they should use for the life of the engine if it has no cats in the ex

Pat .M If you had no other choice and had to use a Flat Tappet Camshaft in a Street / Strip Engine . What are some of the things you would do to insure that it would have the best chance to break in and maybe Last over 100K Miles ?