Give them a call, then ask if they will look at your photos, then e-mail them the photos, it would be a shame to take them out of your Rolodex. All of them want to sell you a cam so they will error on the side of caution. But you're right, Comp Cams is a good choice. Lunati tech. line 662-892-1500
I understand about your apprehension,,, I have always been nervous about losing money,,,,Lol. Now,,,after a few minutes the lifters would start rotating and be fine,,,but usually by then the damage is done. And to be fair,,,it could have been a defective camshaft! That does happen sometimes,,,,I remember several years ago,,,in the early 90’s I think,,,,GM had many factory cams that went bad. After a few thousand miles they would eat a lobe,,,,if my memory is correct it was always the same lobe in the camshaft order,,,like maybe the number 5 exhaust? Can’t remember for sure. Oh yeah,,,,the 327 you have will make plenty of power with your combination,,,,I would definitely change the rear gear though. You will enjoy driving it a lot more that way. Tommy
Yeah that was an error on my part, if I go with 3.89:1 I’m only adding 600 rpm to the highway speed, get me into that 2600 rpm range. A little extra rpm would probably be a good thing at this point anyway. Plus the really slow speed cruising where you’re on and off the clutch would be nicer with a way lower gear. It still lit up the tires with the 3.00:1 but 3.89s would make it a hell raiser.
I just hate bad customer service. I just figure if they can’t put the effort in why should I give them any more business.
Oh man! To go from a 3.00 to a 3.89 gear,,,it will make all the difference!!! Definitely will make it feel like a different hot rod. And with that 1st gear ratio,,it should leave like gang busters! I assume your avatar pic is it? And don’t worry about Lunati,,,there are many good cam suppliers out there. Tommy
Blues4u knows...he should list his credentials for those that want to debate. I know what they are but some may not realize.
With your description of damage, I STRONGLY SUGGEST you take it apart & clean everything THOROUGHLY to make sure to get all of the metal flakes/shavings out before putting a new cam/lifters back in. It's only time/locktite/& a gasket set, & you'll have peace of mind!! The old heads are "fixable", but check the cost to fix vs a new Aluminum set to see which will work for you. Don't want you back here with another 2500 mile engine failure!!
Not sure that necessarily means he had .001 worth of clearance. That was just the maximum amount of lift that the springs would tolerate. If he is looking to increase lift, he would then be exceeding the springs recommended max.
Yes that is the plan. Yank it out, disassemble and see what I see. Since I’m there I may re-hone and re-ring and stick new bearing in and have it cleaned. I think the cylinders look shinier in spots than they should be (can be seen in one of my other threads). It’s not like it would be that much more at this point. I had thought about finding a performance shop out of town that dynos and have them assemble and break in a hyd flat tappet again, and then dyno tune it. That way it can be someone else’s dime if it happens again.
Brad Penn is a really good oil, I ran it in the race car and put the break in oil in a flat tappet motor I done. My machine shop sells it to me for $6 a qt, that's tells you how much they mark it up. I'm not a Comp cam fan, I had 4 solid roller lifters fail, 2 cams, billet roller bent on 1st start up, yes I said bent! It mashed the upper part of the cam bearings where they were 3 times as wide as they should have been, liked to never got it out of the block. $1500 damage to a fresh engine. Next one they put in wrong, car slowed 2 numbers and I had to richen it up 10 jet sizes, alky injection to get it to go down the track, there answer was that's impossible. Put an old cam I had back in and car was right back where it was. I found out they were getting their cores from Argentina at the time. Haven't dealt with them since. They blamed the lifters on the block I was running, only problem with that is it was in 2 different blocks.
Hey Fry, Awesome pic of your hot rod,,,,,that looks about as traditional as it gets. Did I see a generator mounted on the engine as well? I really liked your combination of color and your tires and wheels. I especially like the exhaust manifolds,,,it all just fits together well. Looks like your significant other watching through the side window. I assume that was some mountains in Canada in the background? Knockout scenery!!! Tommy
Put a set of Vortex heads on it,and pick up about 50 hp.Machine the guides for spring clearance if you want to run a high lift cam.
Hi , I also have a 327 with camel humps and a 4 speed , tall tires and a 3.55 rear end gear . I had originally built an L79 clone with the comp cams kit . I got about 150 miles out of it before it had a dead miss , I pulled the valve cover and found the rocker arm real loose. I took the intake off and found 8? of the C-clips broken on the top of the lifters . Parts laying in the valley . After calling comp and taking to a few people what I think happened was my lash was too loose and the push rod was bouncing in the top of the lifter. Comp told me it was all my fault and there would be no help from them . I called Schneider and got the cam they recommended, they were temporarily sold out of the heavy duty lifters so I got super lifters™️ from Isky , they have a real burly C clip, not the little paper clip style like comp . After break in I checked the lash every drive , several times over , I marked the nut and rocker arm and haven’t had any movement. I also switched from roller tip rocker arms back to stamped steel original style . (The roller tip wiggled around a lot ) Short story long , I went with another flat tappet and knock on wood it still runs good 500 miles in . I used official break in oil then 10-30 Castrol with the Schneider additive, next change I will use the Valvoline racing high zinc old car formula. I want the trick flow camel hump copies too , they are on my Xmas wish list . lastly 3.55 gears aren't enough, I’m planning on 3.89 as well .
I know that some disagree with this,,,but,,,stamped original rockers are hard to beat. Especially if they are brand new! Simple ,effective ,dependable design and will last almost indefinitely. I always had good service from the stock Chevy rockers,,,and Mopar rockers. Sorry,,,I have zero experience with Ford rockers ,,no offense,,,,I have never been around many of them. Tommy
I agree Tommy. My 327 has a set of NOS GM "O" stamped rockers, they came on most all of the hi-perf 327's, even the 302 Z/28 had them. I see no reason for expensive (or cheap) roller rockers on a street small block.
You’re right Denny,,,,the high hp 327s and those awesome Z28 302s were menacing with stock rockers. I have personally seen several go way over 8000 rpm with them. A long time ago,,,but it was all fun! Tommy
Hey Denny,,,,I just reread your post about break in style. What do you follow? The reason I ask is like you said,,everyone has their own way it seems. My personal experience is from trial and error,,,and listening from others,,,,lol. This applies here because we were breaking in my best friends large journal 327 back in 1986. It was a radical engine for the time and still is,,,he has it to this day. High compression domed pistons TRW,,.060 over,,,Z28 heads that had been ported by an engineer that was a racer. It had at the time a Comp cam which if I remember correctly had .588 lift,,,,with all the right springs and such,,,solid lift! Anyway,,,my procedure is to have it ready to fire,,,timing already set close,,fuel on and it will light as soon as the key is turned. Run it at 3000,,(yes 3000),,,rpm for 10 minutes. We never had any failures this way,,,but you must have everything ready,,cooling system and everything. Man,,,that thing was loud,,,open headers,,,at 10 o’clock at night. Tommy
We ran the factory stamped rockers on the stock cars, they were fine to 7000 RPMs. I have Lunati roller rockers on my 355, sort of went overboard with the whole build. I chose their cam too, Voodoo 268/276 grind. I read that the Comp Cams (XE268H) was noisy under the valve covers, the Lunati is dead quiet. My 1st gear is a 2.52, rear is a 3.89, car weighs around 3500, tire is 29" tall. With the 3.56 rear, it lugged badly around town and I'd have to drop it into 3rd gear to keep the revs around 1500. Your existing heads may be fine with screw in studs and the right springs. But there are so many good aftermarket steel and aluminum heads right now for not a ton of $$.
I updated my build thread, but not this one. So I took the engine to a good shop that specializes in race engines. I told him to do what he wanted and pick the cam and go through it. He cleaned it up, machined the heads for screw in studs and cleaned them up for better flow. He thought the cam didn't look that bad, some wear but maybe a bit too much for such low miles. Also ended up with a distributor problem, the pertronix was acting up when setting the timing so that had to get fixed. He went with a comp 280H, everything else will be the same. The nice thing about the shop is they have a dyno and broke it in and tuned it for me. I'm happy with the results considering the small old heads. (1 hp per CI with the .040" over bore). I have re-geared the car to 3.89s from the 3.00s I originally went with, still should be tolerable on highway with the tall 7.50 tires. (60mph should be around 2500 RPM which was a comfortable cruising speed on my trip last year). Can't wait for the snow to be gone, 2500 lbs, 333hp/345ft/lbs, 3.89s rear and a 3.42 1st gear, should be a hard on the firestones .
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