so I was breaking the cam in tonight, holding it between 1500 and 2000 rpm.. vitals all looked good. started at 10btdc initial.. then I heard a tick sound about 5 minutes into the break in. being extremely concerned about hurting my new motor, I pulled the plugs .. a couple of them had tiny tiny specs of metal on them. should I tie it to a boat and throw it overboard? all my pushrods are spinning, telling me I didn't round off any lobes, I do have aluminum heads. could it be from the head threads? I really really dont want to hurt my motor, as no one does. any suggestions?

When you first fire a new motor with a new cam in it,,,you are supposed to go straight to 2000 rpm or more and hold it there for 20-30 minutes,not turn it off and on and run it keeping it under 2000 rpm...if your cam lives,,,you might be one of the lucky ones. They make all kinds of noises when you first fire them up,,,valve lash and whatever, just keep it running to break that cam in right.

Please....The cam will be fine. Fire it back up and continue.

keep us posted, and verify that your timing marks are right. If the balancer doesn't match the timing tab your timing could be way advanced or retarded. Did you check for top dead center location when assembling the engine?

Break in time is cumulative. You can do it in short sessions or one long session. Your cam is probably fine. As for the aluminum on the plugs, that is another issue. At this point, if it were mine, I'd go ahead with the cam break in. Just make sure the timing is close and the carb isn't lean. Detonation at 2000 rpm with no load is unlikely. For peace of mind you could relash the valves before proceeding.

well I pulled all the plugs, and on a couple of them I found a little tiny spec or two of metal. I did the TDC check when I assembled the motor last fall. I did notice that it only started making that tick noise after it had been running about 5 minutes. I read up on my heads too, and figured that the metal might be coming from the threads, as I failed to put any neverseize on the spark plug threads as suggested. I am going to relash my valves tonight, as I adjusted them several times to different specs. Comp says o+3/4 turn, Edelbrock says 0+1/4 turn, and Summit says 0+1/2 turn for preload. it seems to run best with 0+1/4 turn. comp 280 magnum cam sounds great BTW, also have summit 1.5-1 full rollers. I thought it would be kind of funny to have detonation at 2k with no load too.. maybe my boneyard dist. is on its way out?

It's VERY unlikely you had detonation. To have detonation at 1500 rpm with no load you would have to be running at least 40 degrees of spark advance.

Mike

in addition, I did the old finger over the plug hole trick to find TDC prior to plugging the dist. I know there a more accurate way, I have heard that you can plunk a long bolt, or a TDC finder whistle thingy in the plug hole, to find it more accurately. I am thinking that might be an issue. If I try adjust it at all she croaks instantly. retarding or advancing. and would it be possible for cam lobe material to get into the combustion chamber to begin with? I wouldn't think so. its a brand new 40 over motor. really want to get to the bottom of this.. didnt sleep too good last night..:)