Help with cams lobes

[Moose440]

How do these look. I honestly do not know how to read my cam.

 

[pnora]

Hard to tell by the pictures. Is the bottom of that lifter convex? Or concave shallowed out? If convex your fine.

 

[69Bee]

The shiny full width of the nose of the lobe means that is has worn flat, and the lifter may or may not rotate. The lobes where the wear is to one side still has taper to it. As far as the lifters go, look at the bottoms at an angle to see the shape of the bottom (or use the edge of a steel rule). It should be convex to promote rotation of the lifter. If it is flat, or concave, it is worn out and ready to start to fail.

 

[pnora]

The shiny full width of the nose of the lobe means that is has worn flat, and the lifter may or may not rotate. The lobes where the wear is to one side still has taper to it. As far as the lifters go, look at the bottoms at an angle to see the shape of the bottom (or use the edge of a steel rule). It should be convex to promote rotation of the lifter. If it is flat, or concave, it is worn out and ready to start to fail.

I just blew up his photos and I agree that cam and lifter is done for.

 

[Moose440]

The lifters are not worn in. They still have a bit of a tip to them. And every love on the cam looks the same nothing different from lobe to lobe

 

[Rich H.]

It's shot.

 

[Jerry Hall]

Just looking at the pictures, I've seen cars with 100K miles that the cam looked better. How many miles on it?

 

[pnora]

The lifters are not worn in. They still have a bit of a tip to them. And every love on the cam looks the same nothing different from lobe to lobe

Again pictures can be hard to tell. You are asking and we are telling what we see. Why is it apart and why you are asking does this look right is my question?

 

[R413]

There must be a problem, I don’t pull intakes and lifters to pass the time.

How did the engine run
Did it make any noise
What is the brand of cam and lifters
how old it is, miles?
what oil was used

 

[zyzzyx]

If it were me, I'd take a cupped end push rod and insert it in the lifter and put a 1" travel indicator
on the cupped end and measure the total lift on every lobe. Take out the plugs and turn the engine
with a socket and ratchet. If the lift is the same for all of the lobes, you're probably O.K. Like was
mentioned before, put a steel 6" scale on the bottom of the lifter and see if they are "High" in the
middle. If they all are, the lifters are O.K. If one is bad, they're all bad!

 

[Backrd.Junkyard]

That last picture… the lobe is cupped. It’s toast. Cut open the oil filter and see how much metal you have. When you see that but the lifter isn’t cupped out, too, it usually means that the through hardening process wasn’t completed or the metallurgy is bad. Bad metallurgy will usually cause more than one wiped lobe, though. (nope, optical illusion of lifter on lobe, post 17. Thanks!)

 

[Cranky]

Have a cam now with very few miles that looks close to that. The lifters all look fine.

If it were me, I'd take a cupped end push rod and insert it in the lifter and put a 1" travel indicator
on the cupped end and measure the total lift on every lobe. Take out the plugs and turn the engine
with a socket and ratchet. If the lift is the same for all of the lobes, you're probably O.K. Like was
mentioned before, put a steel 6" scale on the bottom of the lifter and see if they are "High" in the
middle. If they all are, the lifters are O.K. If one is bad, they're all bad!

Never had a flat tappet cam that measured the same on all the lobes and I'm talking straight out of the box new. Every cam I get goes into my lathe to check for straight and lobe lift but have learned over the years that not all lobes are the same. Cam manufacturing just isn't all that accurate.

 

[zyzzyx]

O.K., so maybe within a few thousandths? If I check a lobe and it's 0.005 or 0.010 under the rest of the
lobes, I'm gonna say it's F____D! With a 1:1.5 rocker, that's alot. You should be able to tell if there's a
problem. If the lifters are still crowned and the cam doesn't have an obvious flat lobe, I'd say it's good.

 

[Cranky]

O.K., so maybe within a few thousandths? If I check a lobe and it's 0.005 or 0.010 under the rest of the
lobes, I'm gonna say it's F____D! With a 1:1.5 rocker, that's alot. You should be able to tell if there's a
problem. If the lifters are still crowned and the cam doesn't have an obvious flat lobe, I'd say it's good.

Had several that varied (new ones!) .005 and a couple that was .007 and yeah, I didn't like it either. How bout ones that ran out .004 in the middle?

 

[Geoff 2]

It has got normal wear for a cam with a few 000 miles on it. You could probably keep running it & get a bit more life out of it, but I would get new lifters or have the old ones re-faced.

 

[zyzzyx]

How do you get lifters refaced???
What planet do they do that on?

 

[INTMD8]

I think what you guys are seeing as a cupped lobe is just the outer radius of the lifter body.

 

[R413]

How do you get lifters refaced???
What planet do they do that on?

Delta camshaft in Tacoma, WA Does or did do it.

 

[Backrd.Junkyard]

I think what you guys are seeing as a cupped lobe is just the outer radius of the lifter body.

Yes, you are correct! I figured it out from a screen I could zoom in on. Oregon Cam Grinders re-faces and hardens lifters, too. Maybe Jones Custom Cams, too? Being that last lifter face pictured has what looks like rough finish and looks like it's about to take itself out, I would probably swap cams. What cam is it, and is it hydraulic or solid? And what valve springs do you have on it? And, what led you to inspect it? Had it started making noise or anything?

 

[zyzzyx]

Well I'll be dipped in dirty mud!