another flat cam

I bought a used 350 cheap and i ran it for a few miles till the cam went flat, could i or should i just do a cam swap in it? I didnt see any sign of metal in the oil (unlike my glitter oil when i spun a barring) The motor ran strong untill this, I have a stock cam that i can put in it already,

Thanks all

 

it's a cheap 350 (your words)

i see no reason why not to. break the cam in properly , use a zinc additive and drive it

i'd change the oil and filter too

 

I doubt that this will make any sense to you at all but if I had a part break in my engine I would probably replace it.

 

Throw in a new cam and lifters and keep steppin'. Don't use a used cam or lifter, no matter how good it looks. Just make sure you coat the cam really good with a quality cam lube, soak the lifters for a day before you drop them in, fill the motor with Rotella, and fire it up and immediately get the timing close enough to run smoothly and set the idle screw to run 2500 rpm for 20 minutes. The first 20 minutes of a cam's life is the most critical.

The fastest way to kill a cam is to run an oil with no zinc (which is almost every oil nowadays) and not break it in correctly.

 

Read this month's Car Craft magazine..has a great article on cams/oils/valvesprings and how to not kill your cam.

 

Here is a link to the Carcraft how/to

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0702_break_in_new_cam/index.html


Engine Oils Containing Higher Levels of Zinc Phosphate

BRAND WEIGHT
Castrol Tection Extra 15W-40
Chevron Delo 400 15W-40
Mobil Delvac 1300 15W-40
Shell Rotella T 15W-40
Quaker State Q Racing 0W-5, 15W-50, and 17.5W-35
Joe Gibbs Racing MicroZol 0W-20, 10W-30


Read more: http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0702_break_in_new_cam/post_lube.html#ixzz1OXBFP0pu

 

if you just swap out the cam and lifters there is a good possibilty that in a couple months you'll be posting how you now have a loud knock in the bottom end.

 

Ha ha That's funny $hit!! Your right but I'm going to do it anyways, and hope I post that it worked! Cross my fingers, I have nothing to loose, thanks for the reply's

 

Wonder if the straight-weight oils from those brands have enough zinc? My old hoopty doesn't like 15W-40 oil.

 

racer32, Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil in Straight 30,40,50,60, TR

 

go through it. I just pulled the 327 out of my nomad and there was no trash in the oil Mine wasn't knocking but the windage tray was covered in cam trash and I had a rod bearing worn to the bronze.

 

question how do you know if you got a flat cam? ive never been told.

 

Is that what they mean by " variable valve timing " ?

 

If nobody buys you drinks at the bar, you have a flat cam. You can however get some big ole cam implants and your life will change for the better.

 

The rocker arm doesn't rock.

 

You will be down on power, probably hearing valve train noise and clatter. If you suspect it, remove your valve covers and try and watch the valves open and close. If you know the lift of the cam, divide the amount of rocker arm ratio, and that is how much lift you should "roughly" have on the pushrod side of the rocker. Example, if you have a cam with .450" lift and your rocker arm ratio is 1.6, the lift of the cam lobe will be approximately .281". If you have a dial indicator thats an easy measurement to make. If your clever you can do it with a set of vernier calipers, maybe not as accurate but still good enough for goverment work. If you dont know the lift of the cam, you can still check each intake valve and each exhaust valve and record the readings, and then compare. You will know if the cam has gone south. As your lifters bleed down, you will loose some of the lift, so your looking for a big diffrence in the dimension. TR

 

This is what I have used the last two cams and no probs thus far.
GM-88862586



23 bucks a pint from the GM parts counter

 

thanks for the info!

 

I you have trouble on one side,I would pull the head and check valves,maybe even both sides.Then I,d try a used cam.

 

mine backfired out of carb too!!

 

I tried to get some from the local Chevy dealer and they told me it was discontinued. My favorite parts store had a Lucas Oil product that is supposed to do the same thing...

Engine Break-In Oil Additive - TB Zinc Plus

 

Nobody had ta tell me...loss of power, lifter noise, backfiring through the carb... got worse as the miles went by...feathered it down 99, from Billetproof. All the way home, 85 miles. 45 miles per hour the last 10 miles. Terrible MPG, too. Temp stayed cool, oil pressure up.

Didn't have enough power to pull a greased hat off a bald head.

Gorgeous wife knew what it was...she'd seen lots when we had the shop. Chevrolet trademark. Usually the rear 4 cylinders. Next morning she snapped the 'Vette covers off and pointed out the problem. Three of 'em.
We pulled the heads, cleaned it all up, matched the ports, and installed a 290 degree Comp cam & Rhodes lifters. What a difference over that 270. Woo doggies. Tire smoke.

 

Spoke with our local GM parts counter a little after 5 today, he had a bunch on the shelf, its been reformulated, repackaged, and is no longer called an oil suppliment but an assembly lube, but still has all the good stuff in it....per him, and yup Ill be buying it for my next cam.

 

http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/...Q2hlbWljYWxz&level1=QWRkaXRpdmVz&partid=23942

 

I just lost an old Clay Smith solid lifter cam on the Dyno. still not sure why.

 

dual valve springs? wrong oil? tell more about the build and types of oil.

Joe Gibbs Racing sells a "brake in oil" then switch over to their Oil made like the old stuff w/ all the proper additives in it.
they also make the same oil but for engines with more bearing clearances.

just another option. it is $8.-$10 a quart, but beats a flat cam.

 

That is good stuff. It even works in Fords.

 

I too have a cam that rounded off a lifter, actually I think a few. The motor started running rough and after checking a few things, like points, plugs, wires, I pulled the intake. The problem was obvious, very little lobe left on a couple of intake valves. There was no shredding of metal like I have seen on a few motors, just badly worn lobes. There was no lifter noise also. A few guys say to just replace the cam and lifters. clean the motor out well and give it a shot. Other guys say not to waste money on the parts because that metal had to go somewhere and it is surely in the bearing etc. The problem is the parts for this motor(371-J2 Olds) are difficult to find at an inexpensive price. I have changed cams with bad lobes way back and it was okay. I will probably have the motor rebuilt or change it to something else. Have you ever had success doing a cam change only?

 

I Always use this with a flat tappet break in, in the oil. Jegs still sells it.
http://www.jegs.com/i/GM+Performance/809/88862586/10002/-1

 

WHERE would you put that in a Ford??? Isnt that, that company that makes only bodies?? LOL