Flat tappet availability getting worse.

[F4R/T]

Sounds like more china crap coming down the pipe! IMO

 

[fratzog lover]

Roller Cams are fine..... GREAT in fact !
as long as people understand that with the Mechanical Rollers there are 'STREET" Roller profiles.... and RACE Roller profiles.... the distinction should be obvious for longer term V/Spring reliability of the latter when used in the former environment.

I won't go there on "Hydraulic" Roller Profiles for BB Mopars with their short Lifter Bores/LOW intersecting Oil Gallery... which IMO is only kidding yourself.

But alas....
it's NOT 'just' CWC Cast Cam cores going away for these old engines ?
Bearings ?
Heads ?
Intakes?
the list goes on and on....

Try finding a set of Stealth cylinder heads...good luck.

 

[F4R/T]

A lot of things off the boat are getting harder to locate. Time to buy more USA as most of us already are paying the price for the product, they are made over seas because someone is going cheap and maxing out the profit . The down side is our government is subsidizing folks to sit at home and smoke pot and do nothing. A hand up not a hand out!

 

[moparedtn]

The latest video on junkerup (Chris Birdsong) YT channel shows Chris suffering from a new
Comp Cams lifter failure on a 360 (multiple lifters, in fact - and they failed FAST).
He wound up having to tear the freshly built engine back down yet again, as fragments went
everywhere in the engine of course...
I had hoped Comp would have gotten their game together in the 3+ years since I had the
exact same thing happen to a 440 I had put together (lifters in that one wound up eating lobes
as the metal just ground right off their bottoms just like what happened to Chris, despite my
going overboard with assembly lube, zinc-rich break-in oil, the whole she-bang).
Mine never made it much past break-in; neither did his in the video.
I'll never use anything from that company again. Darn shame is all.

 

[fratzog lover]

The latest video on junkerup (Chris Birdsong) YT channel shows Chris suffering from a new
Comp Cams lifter failure on a 360 (multiple lifters, in fact - and they failed FAST).
He wound up having to tear the freshly built engine back down yet again, as fragments went

I cant find it, Ed. Can you post a link please?

 

[F4R/T]

No comp cams in this house!

 

[moparedtn]

I cant find it, Ed. Can you post a link please?

It's a long episode, but it's towards the back half of it - the engine he's building for the pickup.

 

[BSB67]

Comp doesn't make cams.

 

[moparedtn]

Comp doesn't make cams.

They sure as hell SELL them.

 

[fratzog lover]

Man, that was a nasty looking couple of lifters. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Very few companies make cams. Lots of companies like Comp grind cams. Rumors fly around where Comp gets there cams.
We have a bb mopar comp 284xe it has CWC cast right on it. Many do...or I should say "did' have cwc on the casting if you look.
It's just my opinion but, but most agree hydraulic flat tappet lifter quality offerings are poorer then they once were.... When you buy a cam kit with lifters the cam is only going to last as long as it's weakest link. We quit running comps hydraulic lifters a few years back. But we aren't afraid of running a cam from comp if it fits the application...with better quality lifters.

 

[BSB67]

They sure as hell SELL them.

So?

They get their cams the same places everyone else gets theirs.

There a lot of reasons for a cam failures. And sometimes it's not the cam's fault. All companies that sell cams have cam failures. Very little data on the root cause of the failures.

 

[furious70]

I've got a set of comp hyd lifters on the shelf that are at least 15yrs old, if not a little more. Should I feel good about the likely quality of them?

 

[BSB67]

I've got a set of comp hyd lifters on the shelf that are at least 15yrs old, if not a little more. Should I feel good about the likely quality of them?

25+ years, yes. 15, maybe.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Good video to watch how cams get designed and ground. I wouldn't bother calling there tech line though.

 

[bandit67]

I ve got four engines with flat tappets awaiting first fire up and break in, and I am uneasy about them all. I know Chris knows to do all thats needed for cam break in but the crappy chinamanese tappets seem to have invaded all the major cam sellers......

 

[moparedtn]

So?

They get their cams the same places everyone else gets theirs.

There a lot of reasons for a cam failures. And sometimes it's not the cam's fault. All companies that sell cams have cam failures. Very little data on the root cause of the failures.

When a person buys a cam and lifter package from Comp, guess who's ultimately responsible to that customer
for the premature failure of either?
This ain't rocket science, no matter how hard you try to make it be. Comp sold it, they're responsible.

 

[Photon440]

Comp doesn't make cams.

Comp makes some cams; custom racing cams machined out of powdered metal tool steel bar stock. As for run of the mill cams made from blanks that they purchase elsewhere, they still do the grinding, dressing, acid treating, polishing and hardening so although they may not produce the raw casting, they do make the cam.

 

[BSB67]

When a person buys a cam and lifter package from Comp, guess who's ultimately responsible to that customer
for the premature failure of either?
This ain't rocket science, no matter how hard you try to make it be. Comp sold it, they're responsible.

Right. But to imply as you did that Comp Cams quality is sub-par and failure rate is worse than others is unfounded.

 

[moparedtn]

Right. But to imply as you did that Comp Cams quality is sub-par and failure rate is worse than others is unfounded.

Woah hold it. No sir, you do NOT get to put words in my mouth. "Imply", my ***.
"Worse than others"? I'd need to be privy on the entire cam industry and its' failure statistics to make
such a claim, which is why I didn't.
I'm sure other manufacturers have had issues as well and I'm sure Comp has garnered a lions' share of the
bad press in no small part because of their prominence in the field - but that absolves them of zero
responsibility for what they sell under their banner, in their boxes, under their name as a producer of
cams and lifters.

Go back and actually read what I've posted. I've had more than one bad experience with their stuff in the last
several years, versus using other brands. I related one in my original post in this thread, followed by what
happened to Birdsong.
I stated I'm done doing business with that company as a result which right or wrong, is indeed my choice.
Beyond that, you're trying to hang a whole lot of baggage on me with this "implying" **** that was neither
stated nor implied.
Nope, not happening.

Lookit...
You've got an entire internet full of "Comp stories" out there on failures, not just mine - hell, there's others
IN THIS THREAD saying the same thing - but you've decided to laser-lock on me. Fine, let's talk.
I keep reading that Comp "doesn't make cams", right? That's a cop-out, plain and simple.
From their own website:
"For more than 35 years, the COMP Cams® mission has never changed: to produce the highest-performing
products possible, provide customers with superior service, and to lead the industry in technological
development."
If they don't "make" cams....they sure as hell CLAIM they do.
Doesn't matter anyways - they're directly responsible for what they sell, nobody else.