The last two cams I've bought (for my 350 and my 454) my machinist recommended we get coated with a certain coating. I'm not sure what it is, I think it's some sort of nitride coating possibly and some heating process is done I think..anyway it is supposed to make the cam last almost forever and make it really hard and when we tried to do my 350 we cranked and cranked and cranked for an hour trying different things before it fired up, and we did not do a break-in at all, with inner and outer springs. No problems whatsoever. Maybe I was lucky or maybe it was the coating. Just wondering if anyone else has heard of this and gets it done or what.

I wonder if he's talking about nitriding the cam. I'm not sure if that would be a good idea, because the hardness of the cam and lifters have to be "compatable". Raising the hardness of the cam, leaving the lifters "soft", could cause problems. I dunno, I would think you'd have to nitride the lifters also.

Are camshafts "Parkerized" these days?

Nitriding is a good process anyway. It can produce a case depth of .030", and can be done by gas, plasma, etc. Neat stuff.

Certain cam manufacturers will micro polish a cam. Reed Cams does a lot of Circle track stuff. When you get the cam it loks like it is already broke in. Isky will grind you a flat tappet on the premium core for additional $$ - maybe 180.00 total for a custom grind on the P55 (?) core.