Thread: Comp cams killed my engine

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Greetings all, I just want to relate my tale of dissapointment with my engine project. I built a high performance 460 with Edelbrock heads, Keith black pistons, Fel-pro gaskets, Federal mogul bearings and rings, all ARP fasteners, Clevite high volume oil pump, the list goes on... The engine also included a Comp Cams XE274H cam kit. The entire kit was used and installed correctly and degreed. The engine ran well during the initial recommended break-in period. When I went to retorque the heads as recommended, I found that most of the rocker arms were loose. The manifold was then removed and I discovered that the cam lobes and lifters did not sit squarely. About half of them were ground down badly with varying severity. The resulting metal shavings have contaminated the rest of the engine. I have a couple of questions for anyone who wishes to answer them.

Has this happened to anyone else?
Besides replacing the cam and lifters, how liable is comp cams for the resulting engine damage?
Are there any laws regarding this type of damage (aside from the lousy advertised warranty) ?

All of the other bearings were destroyed? On the small block Chevy I am building, there are 3 main oil galleys. One for the left bank lifters, right bank lifters, and one for the cam and main bearings. There are plugs at the end of these galleys and if any plug were installed too deep, it could block off some of the drilled oil passages. If this were the case with the rear plugs, there would be no oil to either the cam bearings and mains, or one bank of lifters and the corresponding head. If the center front plug were in too deep, there would be no oil to the front cam bearing and front main bearing. The cam lobes are lubricated by splash from the crank and oil drain back from the lifter valley. If any of the lifter valley drain back holes were plugged, the cam would not get enough lubrication. This is also why Comp requires you run the engine between 2000 and 2500 rpm for the first 30 minutes operation, to ensure there is plenty of oil being pumped into the heads and draining back through the lifter valley as well as to ensure plenty of splash from the crank. Also, there was a link to an article posted earlier where the owner of an engine kept spinning bearings. He had a remote oil filter and installed the lines backwards so there wasn't adequate oil flow into the engine. Finally, Comp recommends you break in the cam without the inner valve springs installed.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by s10streeter

I did find that grind here: http://www.compcams.com/Technical/Cu...ML/102-109.asp

Originally posted by Powerluvr
I built a high performance 460...also included a Comp Cams XE274H cam kit. The entire kit was used and installed correctly and degreed.

Has this happened to anyone else?
Besides replacing the cam and lifters, how liable is comp cams for the resulting engine damage?
Are there any laws regarding this type of damage (aside from the lousy advertised warranty) ?

What do you mean by their "lousy advertised warranty?" You assembled a high performance engine. If you built the motor then you are responsible for the build, not Comp Cams. The warranty for my company, High Flow Dynamics, starts as follows:

Warranty: There are no guarantees in high performance engine parts. Our products are engineered to be utilized in high performance engines and may or may not be subject to the demands of racing. Regardless, all components are not warranted unless otherwise stated. Therefore, no warranty or guarantee is expressed or implied. High Flow Dynamics will not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from our products, nor will High Flow Dynamics be liable for any injury or casualty--direct or indirect--arising from the proper use of, or inability to determine the use of, any product we offer. Before using, the end user shall determine the suitability of the product for its intended application, and the user shall assume all responsibility and risk with its use.

Personally, I don't feel Comp Cams is liable for the damage done to your engine. If it can be determined that the cam and lifter package supplied to you was defective, then perhaps they will replace that part. If you are building your own high performance engine then you have taken the responsibilities that come with it upon yourself.

Currently, there is not enough info gathered from your post to determine the cause of failure. For example, you mentioned degreeing the cam but did you prime and visually confirm complete and thorogh engine oiling from the mains all the way to the rockers PRIOR to firing the motor? Also, are you aware that the NPT plugs for the oil galleries in the 429/460 block have dedicated locations for their installation and if you install them incorrectly you may starve your engine of oil? If the cam and lifter set was defective, then shouldn't you have determined this prior to assembly? Afterall, you are responsible for assembling the engine.

Don't mean to come on here and shoot you down. It certainly remains possible that the cam was defective, but this is not yet determined, not as far as I can see. It is true that almost every cam company has been having trouble with iron cam blanks as of late...and not just Comp Cams.

Good luck and let us know what you find,

Paul

Man,the only cam failure I ever experienced happened within the first hour ,and it wasv totally my fault up on tear down, what happened was on my big block I decided I needed screens in all the drain back holes (over the cam in the block} got over zealous with the epoxy and wasn't lubing the cam lobes,It's very rare for a cam to fail for no good reason. But of course Chevy proved that theory wrong back in the early eighties with their 305 ? or was it the 307 ?

I did the same thing with my cam. It was a 460 with a bigger lift and it was a comp cam. But it was my fault in the end. You see ford has this thing that if you install a bigger cam in the engine you need to shim the rockers up. Because on a stock 460 all you have to do is tighten them down and your good to go. Not on a bigger cam you will eat the cam up and that is what I did silly silly me Damn ford.

the thing that stood out the most to me is USED KIT!

Originally posted by 383 chev
the thing that stood out the most to me is USED KIT!

I think you might be reading something in here that he didn't say. He was saying that he used the entire kit so all parts were matching. JMHO.

oopps! now i read it right! sometimes it takes awhile but i'll get there

No sweat, heck, I had to read it twice to get the total gist of what he was saying. Course, I got an excuse, "Oltimerz".