Technical Nitrated Camshaft

Anyone ever buy one of Comp Cams nitrided camshafts in order to avoid lobe damage when making the initial engine start up and break in? Was it worth the extra cost to ensure successful camshaft break in?

 

About 100 bucks or so last time I had one made. The only way I will do a flat tappet camshaft. Worth it for sure. It’s not just for break-in. Better wear protection forever.

 

Mr. HP, thanks for response. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

 

No way I would skip the step, if it is an option. Taking down a lobe on startup, or ever, means a whole lot more than $100.

 

So, what type of oil would you have to use with a hardened flat tappet cam???
Mineral based or synthetic???...

 

I've been using Brad Penn for break-in (the break in specific oil), and Valvoline VR1, after that.

No issues, so far.

 

I thought all cam grinders re-harden the lobes after they grind them. I know Pete up in Washington does. At least my cam looked like he did. Is nitrate a process to add material like a chrome or something harder as a coat. This is a good topic. Iv always heard a sbc crank that is nitrated is a lot stronger. Please in lighten me. I haven't learned anything today besides jack Daniels at x-mas time is not your friend...

 

i absolutely believe in nitrating crankshafts after regrinding. Won't make them stronger. But it will make them harder. Well worth it,

 

The process is called Nitriding. The part is exposed to high voltage in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas for several hours and hardens the surface a few thousandths deep.

 

Correct. "Nitrating" is a preservation process.
- EM

 

I don't understand why the cam maker don't just do this as part of the process.
If they have to charge extra for it then just add it to the price of the cam and be done.

 

As I remember it was Parkerizing for camshafts after having one reground at least the cast iron ones. The bearing surface was protected from this.

 

Nitriding is a pretty good option in any severe wear conditions.Theres a couple of different process,gas and salt bath nitriding that achieve about the same end result.Gas is preformed like mentioned above and salt bath is heated below the draw temp of the base material and submerged in a salt slurry.Like mentioned you end up with the outside surface around 90 rc hardness to around .002 depth.Theres not much build up maybe .0002 or less.We use this process on many of the moving parts on the high production injection molds we build.Some of these molds run for millions of shots before any maintenance is performed,some of the medical molds we build cannot have any coatings that could break down and end up in the molded product.Would work well for camshafts considering some of the break in issues that have come up.

 

Guessing it has to do with the initial steel recipe. Somebody here I think it was a while back tried to order one, turns out (apparently) it's not a matter of taking an already existing cam and applying a finishing process to it. They aren't very good at explaining this.

See here from the 2008 wayback mo'chine:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/nitriding-flat-tappet-camshafts.315868/

 

What "burl" states is the best/most accurate explanation for the process. Except that the thickness is normally about .003" to .008" thick, depending on the base metal.

Mike

 

Just got off the phone with comp cam and they said that if you want it it has to be done when the cam is ground.
The cams on the shelf can not be done.

 

That may be their process but it doesn't make much sense.All of the components we send out are completely finished when we have the process done.I talked to our local heat treater and they said the only items they wouldn't be able to do would be anything made out of powdered metal.They may be doing a light finish grind after the nitride.

 

You mean before it's ground...
Same thing when GM tuftrided the Chevy 302 crankshaft before final grinding the journals to spec...

 

Yes that is what they said.
Finish grind after treatment.

 

I also called CompCams. They explained that they used to simply send your cam order directly to the nitriding area and send you that finished nitrided cam for an extra $100. However, they don't do that anymore. Now, if you ask for nitriding, ComCams considers it a custom grind and they grind you a new cam with the same exact lobe and timing specifications you ordered, then they run it though the nitriding process. For example, if you ordered the XE256H hydraulic flat tappet cam for $128 (as shown in their catalogue) but ask for the nitriding process, your cam cost goes up to $306.

 

"We don't do it that way anymore" sounds a whole lot like another way of saying the price doubled, to me.