70 440 HP 2 engine,cam question.

[chargervert]

I picked up a 70 HP 2 engine,it was rebuilt,and appears to have decent quality parts in it. The guy I got it from had stored the engine in his garage for a few years with no intake on it. The mice decided it was a good place to make a home out of,and they made their nest there. I vacuumed out the debris,which wasn't a lot. I lubed up the cylinders,the cam,and lifters and the rocker arms,and got the engine rotating fairly easily. The cam appeard to have white lithium grease sprayed on it before he stored it. After cleaning up the cam,which still had break in lube the edges of the lobes. The number three intake lobe,and number 6 exhaust lobe have some pitting on them. The rest of the cam looks good. I am thinking that I should just pull the cam lifters and springs and replace them,does anyone think that the pitting on those lobes will chew up the lifters,or would it be ok to try to run it,since it is already broken in. I am leaning towards swapping it out,it just sucks that a new cam is probably junk because of poor storage.

 

[F4R/T]

I kinda feel the same way, it would be one thing if a little Emory cloth would polish it up but I really think you’d be better off to pull it. I have one on the stand for many years and it’s sealed , primed and covered I was in the same boat.

 

[R413]

Swap out the pitted cam. Why gamble on a nice engine? Not worth it.

 

[R413]

Replace that cam, don’t gamble with a nice engine.

 

[chargervert]

I figure I can get a cam and lifter kit,and a fresh set of valve springs for about $500.00. For what I paid for the engine,I got room to spend a few bucks on it!

 

[ruffcut]

Probably pitting from mouse urine. Swap the cam. Those little suckers can make a mess of an engine in a hurry. I tore down quite a few engines with mouse nests in them and had to scrap them before finding a good core. Sucks to store these things all these years to find they are junk! I hate them meeses to pieces! ruffcut

 

[chargervert]

My friend has a 480 284 cam and lifter set that he put in his 383 Dart GTS, and he decided it was a little more radical than he wanted so he swapped it out with a purple shaft Magnum restoration cam. He said that it has about 2k miles on it. He said that I can have it if I want it. He numbered all the lifters to the correct lobes. I said I would take it. I still want to change the valve springs as some were compressed for years,they will probably float a valve.

 

[furious70]

Free cam why not. But was the pitting on the noses or base circle?

 

[Trench]

Yeah, those mice are engine killers. I had one crawl all the way up the exhaust and camp out in a head. The urine destroyed the valve.

 

[Nate S]

Question: is it really pitting or just rust spots? Thinking of all the rust I’ve ever seen, it’s usually ultra crusty before there are pits. Was it ultra crusty and you cleaned it to find pits? I’d be tempted to add some cam break in lube and let ‘er rip. Worst case you end up doing the cam swap a little later.

 

[chargervert]

Question: is it really pitting or just rust spots? Thinking of all the rust I’ve ever seen, it’s usually ultra crusty before there are pits. Was it ultra crusty and you cleaned it to find pits? I’d be tempted to add some cam break in lube and let ‘er rip. Worst case you end up doing the cam swap a little later.

I can feel the pitting with my fingernail, Nate.

 

[Nate S]

I can feel the pitting with my fingernail, Nate.

Yeesh, yeah dump it. Cams aren't that expensive. Even if it's not from the rust, it would imply voids in the casting which still stinks.