cam trouble

[aussie]

Hi everyone. I need advice on my flathead. I'm chewing up cams and lifters. number 1 cam was a regrind by an Australian guy, Tigh cams. I ran this with Johnson's and the lobes were gone in 200 mile. number 2 was a 270 f Schneider with isky duals and another set of Johnson's this ran for 450 before the lobes disappeared and I mean you could park a bus in the diverts in the lifters. This time was a isky 88 kit its done 500mile and is still usable but you can see the were if I were do another 1000 and pull it out again I recon it wont have any lobes left on it either . whats the go.

[55project]

It's the oil,, there is not enuff additives in there anymore to protect wear on flat tappet cams.. Find the additive or go roller..



And Welcome to the site..

[aussie]

more advice on going roller

[55project]

I can't help to much with the flat heads,, But if you find a nice roller set up for them, it should solve your problem,, no break in on rollers..

, Maybe someone else can step in here & shed some light..

Also you can check out here to find some parts & info>
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/default.aspx

[X38]

bttt

More to it than this I think.

[Psychobilly Boi]

Hi Guys,

I agree, doesnt sound like we know all the facts yet. There is a quite a few rodders here in Melbourne running cams in their flatheads and still seem to have all thier lobes in tact :) You shoudl try PM'ing Flatoz here on the HAMB and seeing if he could help.

Danny

[55project]

Could be something else,, but due to the info on the short life of the cams, it sounds like break in problems that's why i was thinking this route., (oil)

Alot of people have flat tappet cams wipe out since most the oil companys pulled the additive out of the oil..

Good luck with it..:cool:

[Psychobilly Boi]

So what is the alternative? Can we add the additive back into the oil?

[aussie]

i have had a very close look at the lifters and the cam there is no face angel on the lifter or the cam lobes they are both dead square they have to have some degree of angle to them other wise the lifter wont spin it;ll just bash on the cam lobe.the guy that built bottom end says that every thing was spinning right when he put the sump on . i also put the 88 beside a brand new old stock stick and the difference in lobe spacing is really bad on more than 3 lobes . i can check the others for lobe spacing but not for surface angel there too badly stuffed. i ran the schneider cam on straight weight oil with adds. and ran it in by the book . it ran super didn't miss a beat . no rattles nothing, only found the cam were by accident , i had the heads of and my brother in-law was looking around it and said whats that in the bore, a big scrape, huge . puled it all apart and found it had munched a wrist pin clip and in so doing found the cam were . this time i pulled it apart on purpose just to see what was happening.

[Psychobilly Boi]

Hi Mate,

Is it an oiling issue rather then the oil itself? Is every lobe stuffed or some more then others?

Dan

[Psychobilly Boi]

Hi Mate,

I've dug around and come up with some info/suggestions. Please excuse me if you've heard or done all this before:

1. Apparently the curve you mention on the cam lobe can also be replaced by the curve on the bottom of the lifter. Apparently the lifter is offset very slightly to the centreline of the lobe so that it will turn the lifter.

2. What lifters did you use? This page discusses (http://www.systemv.us/clemmie/flathead.html) similar problems to you and it was caused by solid adjustable lifters being too soft. They also suggest that without the right oil you're looking at less then 1,000 miles for a cam and lifter set before it needs replacing.

3. This brochure from CraneCams (http://www.cranecams.com/pdf/548e.pdf) talks at length about the break in for flat tappet cams. They spend a while discussing the right oil for the job.

4. More oil discussion from CraneCams (http://www.systemv.us/clemmie/pics/cam-oil.png).