[trplblk]

Hi, I'm wonderinwhat might possibly be the cause of a few (3) lobes on my cam to be lost? Thanks in advanced-John Ziganto.

[SnakeEyes]

as in worn down? or disappear??? if worn down, that could be aging valvetrain wear. as the cam is used metal on metal wears down metal, but usually after some hard or intesnse mileage....how many miles on it?

[cudaman]

If they wore down very quickly, they were never spinning in their bores.

[trplblk]

The cam was installed in1999. Since then I've probably put about 1200 miles going to and from carshows. This car has never seen the strip. Is it possible that not enough lube was initially applied with the installation?-John

[SnakeEyes]

Originally Posted by trplblk

The cam was installed in1999. Since then I've probably put about 1200 miles going to and from carshows. This car has never seen the strip. Is it possible that not enough lube was initially applied with the installation?-John

wow that's fast...

[camaroman7d]

It is very hard if not impossible to say what happened without seeing it. I doubt it had anything to do with the initial lube. If it was going to fail it would have happened withing the first few minutes of life. Not 6 years later. I take it you have been chaning the oil at least once a year? If so when did you notice (or did you) that there was metal in the oil? That would be the time it started failing.

A few other causes could be wrong valve springs for the given cam, running low oil levels, lifters not spinning (as mentioned above), used lifters on a new cam (you did use new lifters when the cam was installed, right?), check the valvetrain geometry to make sure there isn't a problem there (coil bind).

I would do a lot of investigating before just tearing it completely down, you can probably figure out what happened. Are the wiped out lobes blued at all?

What kind of cam are we talking about? (solid flat, hyd flat, roller)

What were the specs?

[trplblk]

In 1999 I had a local shop install brand new Edelbrock Performer R.P.M. Heads, (completely assembled with new valve springs) lifters, pushrods and matching #7102 hydraulic flat cam. I also should mention that Crane 1.6 Gold rockers were installed. The cam specs are: Duration @ .050 I=234/E=244, Lift @cam I=.325/E=.34, @ valve I=.488/E=.51. The 3-lifters were cupped on the cam side. The oil was religiously changed every season. On inspection of the bad lobes, I noted no discoloration. I'm replacing the cam with a hydraulic roller set-up, but I'm concerned with metal contamination in the block. I drained the oil of course and wondered if there is a good way to really be sure of metal partical removal? Should I drop the pan and flush things? Thanks-John

[SnakeEyes]

Originally Posted by trplblk

In 1999 I had a local shop install brand new Edelbrock Performer R.P.M. Heads, (completely assembled with new valve springs) lifters, pushrods and matching #7102 hydraulic flat cam. I also should mention that Crane 1.6 Gold rockers were installed. The cam specs are: Duration @ .050 I=234/E=244, Lift @cam I=.325/E=.34, @ valve I=.488/E=.51. The 3-lifters were cupped on the cam side. The oil was religiously changed every season. On inspection of the bad lobes, I noted no discoloration. I'm replacing the cam with a hydraulic roller set-up, but I'm concerned with metal contamination in the block. I drained the oil of course and wondered if there is a good way to really be sure of metal partical removal? Should I drop the pan and flush things? Thanks-John

this would be a pain since the engine is apart...or so it sounds...but some shops have a machine, like an ATF machine, that you can hook your motor up to to filter the oil through flushing the system....or so I've heard....I've never actually seen one(I mean, how useful would they be, besides stuff like this!)