How does my cam look? Bad? Good? Don’t care?

Mike67 · Mar 28, 2019

Just my .02...and dont get me wrong, I undetstand people have varying means and resources but if your freshening up a motor and have a cam that looks suspect why not invest a couple of skins and buy a new cam/lifters/chain kit?
The other thing is you have knowledge on how this cam performed with your set up & the way you drove it....so therotically you should be able to optimize your choice on the new one ....

Jerry Hall · Mar 28, 2019

Mr. Belvedere II said:
Because link below
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopa...is-it-doc-follow-up-after-disassembly.169615/

Sorry, I'm with you now. If it were mine I'd do cam and lifters for sure. As mentioned above if your dealing with a machine shop have everything looked at. If the cam checks out, I would still do lifters.

khryslerkid · Mar 28, 2019

Having coolant in the engine can be as bad a having sand in it. Have your machine shop evaluate the condition. Have the block and heads cooked and Magnafluxed also.

Good luck

Kern Dog · Mar 28, 2019

dla4567 said:
I’ve never reinstalled a cam or lifters.

I have. Twice, both times were Flat tappet cams that I saved when changing to something else. I tossed the lifters when I first pulled them so I just used new ones both times. ZERO problems.
I currently have a great Lunati cam that I may reinstall. I saved the Johnson EDM lifters IN ORDER too !
I agree with some of the other members that suggested to just replace it since it does show some visible wear.

dla4567 · Mar 29, 2019

I understand there are situations when one would reuse a cam. But anytime I’ve had one out I replaced it with new cam and lifters. I just find it cheap insurance. (By cheap I mean relatively speaking. Don’t buy cheap parts.)
Only a handful of time that I’ve replaced a cam with out doing a complete rebuild and most of them were performance upgrades.

68Moparmaniac · Mar 29, 2019

Mr. Belvedere II said:
Edelbrock Rpm cam after disassemble.
Tried to show a bunch of lobe ends.
I’m not optimistic.
Input please.

View attachment 740744 View attachment 740745 View attachment 740746 View attachment 740747

Looks to be time for a new bump stick brother...
Better safe than sorry, besides cam's ain't all that expensive compared to a re-do

lewtot184 · Mar 29, 2019

Mr. Belvedere II said:
Edelbrock Rpm cam after disassemble.
Tried to show a bunch of lobe ends.
I’m not optimistic.
Input please.

View attachment 740744 View attachment 740745 View attachment 740746 View attachment 740747

looks normal to me; especially if you have a few miles on it. your just seeing a wear pattern on the Parkerizing. look at the bottom of the tappets to make sure they have good spin on them.

PRHeads · Mar 29, 2019

With the 360 I’m working on, the cam itself really didn’t look too bad, and it doesn’t have too much time on it.
However, the lifters told the story, and sealed the fate of this one.

If you’re considering using the cam over, take a good look at the bottoms of the lifters.
If even one is showing abnormal wear, I’d scrap the cam and lifters.
Also, keep in mind, each lifter will need to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned before being put back into service.

It ends up being one of those “how much is your time worth” situations.

If it were a customers motor here....... it would just get a new cam and lifters.

PRHeads · Mar 29, 2019

These two lobes in particular look very questionable to me.
The area that looks to be wearing(the brighter colored area) is on the two edges of the lobe.
The only way this can be is if the lifer face is slightly concave(or the lobe is).
Since you say the lifters are still in order, I’d really take a hard look at the bottoms of those two.

Mr. Belvedere II · Mar 29, 2019

Jerry Hall said:
Why was the engine torn down? If it was for a refresh, minor or major, a new cam and lifters are in order anyway. You're already in it, why try to save a few bucks knowing that if you miss it could cost you several thousand. Cheap insurance in my opinion to replace.

The motor has less than 30,000 miles over ten years on it I’d like to not have to buy everything again I guess

69L48Z27 said:
I reinstalled the cam in my last 440 I put together. Long story but the cam had under 500 miles on it. I did do new lifters.

That cam looks not so fresh. I wouldn’t put it back in. If your dealing with a machine shop take that along and see what they say.

Hm I wouldn’t have thought that new lifters on a previou was

PRHeads said:
These two lobes in particular look very questionable to me.
The area that looks to be wearing(the brighter colored area) is on the two edges of the lobe.
The only way this can be is if the lifer face is slightly concave(or the lobe is).
Since you say the lifters are still in order, I’d really take a hard look at the bottoms of those two.

View attachment 741149

thank you for taking the time! I’ll check it out

How does my cam look? Bad? Good? Don’t care?

Mike67

Well-Known Member

Jerry Hall

FBBO Gold Member

khryslerkid

FBBO Gold Member

Kern Dog

Life is full of turns. Build your car to handle.

dla4567

Well-Known Member

68Moparmaniac

Well-Known Member

lewtot184

Well-Known Member

PRHeads

Well-Known Member

PRHeads

Well-Known Member

Mr. Belvedere II

Well-Known Member

Similar threads