Motor is out & on the stand AGAIN,Ready for cleanout & rebuild and ANOTHER new cam.. Man I hope the second one is the charm, this sucks!!

Sorry, no point to this post, just venting I guess ;)

I take it your car ate up a cam? I'm just getting mine back tomorrow from a rebuild....caused by it previously eating two cam's. graemlins/sad.gif I feel for you. :(

graemlins/sad.gif How many does this make? Did you have your lifter bores checked? I have a 454 that did the same thing. I had the lifter bores checked and they were fine. I bought it that way cheap because the guy was tired of screwing with it. I took it to the machine shop, and had it boiled and had all the passages cleaned out. But, I am going to run a solid roller. He said, I shouldn't have any problem. The solid roller sounds like cheap insurance to me. The initial cost is not too bad considering what it could cost you in the long run.=TIME,MONEY,LABOR,HEADACHES, not to mention your wife nagging at you for taking all your time to work on the dang thing. graemlins/clonk.gif

Anyway good luck to you! graemlins/beers.gif

A flat cam in a new motor is heart wrenching. Went through it when my freshly rebuilt 454 ate a couple of lobes. I strongly recommend breaking in new cams with just the outer springs (if using duals) or the old worn out springs (if using single springs). Also, ensure that all lifters spin freely in their bores, recheck the retainer to valve guide and rocker arm to stud clearances and apply a liberal coat of moly grease on the lifters and lobes. Prelube the motor before firing it up.
Good Luck graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Yes, it totaly lost #6 exhaust lobe after about 2 hrs of run time, the cam that came out of it was fine so I think that the lifter bore is ok. After close inspection, I found that #3 was about to go badas well. I didn't pull the inner springs when I broke it in & like an idot,I used the Comp Cams lube. I wont make either of those mistakes again!!

When you say to use moly grease, are you refering to the same lube you use for torquing the mains & rods??

Just trying to get my ducks in a row b4 reassembly..

Well today's agenda will be de skanking the garage floor & totaly cleaning the work area ;) I always like to start out with a steryl area graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Thanx for the help & think good thoughts for cam #2.

Yes, I believe its the same stuff that ARP supplies with its hardware.
But it would be better to use the moly grease that comes with the cam. However, have never tried the Comp Cams red lube.
Once again, recheck all clearances, outer springs only and prelube before start up.
Good Luck graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I'm with you Scott,my BB is going back together this week with a solid roller.It previously ate "two" Comp hydraulic flat tappet cams :mad: .

It may be going overbored but my cam is still living in my 496. I've put 1800 miles on mine since August and it's still going strong! The cam is a 288/296F7 Ultradyne Solid. I broke it in with both new springs on, I don't remember the size of spring they are what Harold recommended. When my motor builder built the shortblock and degreed the cam he practically painted the cam with Crane Cams dimoly sulfide lube. Then when I put the rest of the motor together I coated the lifters with the same lube and also poured GM EOS lube over the cam through the lifter valley. I also dipped each lifter in this stuff. Upon initial fireup I took the motor to 2500 to 3000 for about 15 minutes and shut it down. I let it cool overnight and the next day took both valve covers off and with one of the GM EOS bottles with a rubber tube on the end I squirted it all over the cam again. Then I fired it up again and 2500 to 3000 for 15 minutes. Shut it down lashed the valves again, and I was pretty careful to not let if idle a whole lot the first 50 miles or so. I also didn't jump on it hard until about 500 miles. I don't know if it makes or breaks but I do have the Crower severe duty lifters that have the oiling whole in the end of them. I also add one bottle of the EOS at oil change time for about the first 500 miles. Like I said it was probably way overkill but I thought this may give you some more ideas on more things to do so it doesn't happen to you again! Good luck!

Matt

I also am using an Ultradyne cam and also did the breakin with BOTH springs in.
Just keep in mind it is all in the lube you use for the breakin process!!
Harold recomended this certain kind of lube for the breakin, and we simply doubled up on the recomended amout for the cam then ran the motor for 20 minutes at around 2,200 rpm's and it has been fine ever since. I'm running the Ultradyne solid .586/.586 in my 427 and she *****s and gets.

Last 2 posts give a very good idea of the correct procedure except for one thing the engine must start immediately. I cannot stress that point enough. I have used what ever lube comes with the cam and always EOS. I have never lost a cam on fireup even a .685 lift non roller that Harold made up for us years ago.

Yes, I agree, this motor fired up quicker than ANY one that I have ever fired, it only cranked for a second.. I also pre-lubed till it came out of all lifters while rotating the engine. This is what scares the crap out of me about doing all this again. The only thing I did that was not "by the book" was leaving in the inner springs. I am really starting to think that it was the comp cams lube!

Never the less, I am gonna be as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs when this motor fires once more...

I am seriously thinking at this point of going with a roller graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Don't get scared, just double and triple check everything before you fire it up so that it fires on the first go round and get it right up to break in rpm's and all should be good.
Another thing you might want to do is have a big fan set up in front of your radiator to keep the temp in good operating range while your doing the break in. remember once it starts you MUST finish the break in un-interupted or you can kiss another cam goodbye!
Also if you only use the outer springs on break-in you will have to take the heads back off to install the inners back in after break-in. Is it worth all the extra effort? Plus there is no guarantee that with only the outers you won't smoke the new cam either!
Just something to think about.

You don't have to pull the heads to put the inner springs back on. Atleast with a small block I know you don't.

Compressed air in the cyl @tdc with both rockers off, and use a (head on engine) spring compressor that bolts to the rocker stud. Time consuming, but easier than taking the heads off!

What damage can occure with the inner springs removed?? At this point I havn't come up with any other reason the cam failed exept 1)broaken in with full spring load & 2) used the comp cam lube, not molly & eos... Any feedback??

the only cam lube ill use is cranes grey moly. you can buy a 1 lb tub of it through jegs even though they dont advertise it. I HIGHLY suggest you do that. I was going to use comps break in lube on my howard cam, i applied a liberal amount of lube to the cam durring install and much to my horror 99% of it was in the oil pan!!!!! So i asked my neighbor what he used. He had me order the crane stuff and im never gonna look back. The stuff is so good you cant hardly get it off your fingers. And its a good feeling knowing that it sticks to the cam instead of running off within 24 hours.

Go to www.cranecams.com (http://www.cranecams.com) and check out 'Reasons for Cam Failure' under 'Technical Help'.

I know people who share their success stories of breaking in a cam on both inner and outers,I would not recomend this cam companies have put alot of research into what is the best way to break in a cam and I would recomend their procedures,if not it could be an expensive mistake!

With out a doubt, I am going to 1) pull the inner springs & 2) use a moly lube & the GM oes on the second cam... Thanx for all the input & help graemlins/waving.gif

when my 454 ate my Crane Cam, it was with outer springs only, gray crane lube, and it fired almost immediately. and the oil pump was primed too. so sometimes there are other problems besides anything procedural. my lifter bores were out of whack in mine, you can believe it or not, but it was checked out by 2 different machinests. roller solved my problem.