so here at queen city fabrication we are finishing up on a 34 chevy street rod. (yeah I know it aint hamb friendly but read and see) We have had this engine running for about 12 miles and it always did seem to have a slight miss that was getting wores. I set out today to find the problem and get it fixed I want to get this out of the shop so the customer can start having fun. The pictures show what I found, I put additive in the engine that the cam manufacturer gave us and also ran the engine at the suggested rpm for the 20 minute break in period but this still happened. cant get mad just go ahead and fix it . Hard to believe it wore off that much on 3 of the lifters in less than one hour of running.
Looks like something didn't get heat treated properly.All of the debris cant be good for the bearings.
Oh...you just took a grinder to those. Once they start going, they can really go fast. True...no need to get mad, but maybe a need to return the parts to the manufacture. Who did the parts come from?
we are getting EPA'ed out of our hobby. Pretty soon we will all need to run roller lifters....but by then, the gas will be so bad, that we will need EFI. I hate golf, but it maybe won't be so bad, as a replacement hobby. But they will likely change the balls, so they don't hurt someone.
In 60 years of being in the cam grinding business, I have seen hundreds of examples of the same thing. Most of the engines involved were assembled by people that knew exactly how to do it right. Shit happens and there doesn't seem to be any answer that the consumer can do anything about. The Ford motor company came out with a factory bulletin in 1956 to all Ford service departments that said they expected in excess of 3% of all new V8 camshafts to fail within 1000 miles. There was plenty of ZDDP in the oil back then also. It is a matter of metal compatability. To make cams and lifters more compatible costs more than the manufacturers are willing to spend. It is cheaper for them to just warrant the cheaper stuff. This applies mostly to older flat tappet engines. Most of the new stuff has roller lifters.
That's an eye opener Pete, for those of us who assume it's always the oil or the parts manufacturer's fault. Good to know for anyone who runs a brand new cam and lifters.
That's what I did on my 429. It has a fairly big and radical cam, when I pulled it down after the break in run I pulled the lifters and did not like what I was seeing for a wear pattern beginning. I called a Friend and he hooked me up with a set of ceramic composite lifters.
my uncle just built a 327 for his 36 chevy and it had a hyd lifter come completely apart . engine had maybe a couple of hours on it.
this whole cam lobe deal is getting to be an epidemic. i just had to replace one in a 350 crate motor. #2 exhaust lobe was damn near round. in all the years i've been running sbc's, this is the first one i've lost. i'm really starting to think it's got more to do with cam manufacturing than zinc in the oil. maybe you guys have, but, i have not heard anybody with a 302 ford or a 340 dodge or any other engine wiping cam lobes. seams to be just sbc's.
Be careful, it might not be that simple. Looks to me like there was metal shaved off and that means stripping the whole motor down to clean it out. Scott
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