Pulled the 2 and 4 main caps. Bearing halves looked pretty much like JohnRR's pic above. Maybe not quite as bad, but definitely scored.

No scoring on the crank though from what I've seen this far.

Guess the motor is coming out.

I wonder if the composite lifters available through 4secondsflat would be worth considering?

How old it the set up? The reason I ask is there was a run of "bad" lifters going around a few years ago. Too bad you got bit, there is far too many variables to know what caused it now. Hope ya dont have too many issues when ya dig in further.

Good luck, and price a hydrailic roller, it hurts....

Well now you got me wondering about using those 10 year old (new in box) Comp lifters and springs with a Hughes Whiplash cam...

Why cant this stuff just be simple...???

Cam was purchased about a year ago.

Lifters were definitely spinning before the accelerated wear started. I went to extra effort cleaning out the bores and test fitting the lifters at assembly. Judging from the wear pattern, it even appears it continued to spin after the wear started. It would have wiped a lot sooner otherwise. I'm pretty sure botched preload was the culprit.

Picking the next set of lifters right off the proverbial tree. Ordering direct from Topline Hylift.

I should mention that the set of Comp Cam lifters I just received have no country of origin listed on the packaging. They're going back un-opened.

I would measure the lifter bores

don't be alarmed when you fire up the XE275HL cam...it's a noisy one too.

I was worried at first when I heard mine, sounded like a sewing machine! but, 4,000 street miles and it never skipped a beat.

Took the day off today to pull the motor and tear it down.

Pretty much have finished the tear down. All that is left is pulling the crank.

Removed the pistons and rods to find those journals lightly scoured. I think it will clean up with a polish though.

Bigger concern is the piston skirts and bores. Some light scuffing there. Not sure how much would be considered acceptable. I'll try to post a photo later. Hopefully they are salvageable.

Plan is to get the block and crank to the machine shop tomorrow.

Did you tear it apart like I did the last time I had to do that?


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Here is a picture of the #7 bore. Seems to be the worst of them.

Chewing up a cam lobe is a real bummer. I lost my original 426W engine years ago that way. The lobe material went into the oil pump and then that sheared the pump drive and once oil pressure went away the rod bearings spun. You caught your issue sooner than I did!

I wrote an article on the subject last year. It is in the tech archives on this board if you want to check it out. I talked to a bunch of people in the industry and tried to find all the newest parts on the market to help flat tappet cams live. I think it can be done if you use the right oil, lifters, springs, coatings, etc.

http://www.moparmax.com/tech/2011/vi_8-flat-1.html

sorry to hear that. My 360 wiped a cam a few years back. It ran fine for several years, and I would always use Mobile-1 in it. The cam lifter failure was right about the time all the companies changed to the "new" lower ZDDP additives (maybe 10 years ago?) The metal from the wiped cam and lifter made a mess of the oil pump, bearings and some cylinder wall scratches. I was able to have the machine shop re-hone the cylinders, and I rebuilt it with new bearings, rings, and a slightly hotter cam. I quit using Mobile-1 and only use the "Race" oil in the engine.

Complicated subject!

Basically, over the last 10-15 years, there has been a "perfect storm" of conditions contributing to this widespread problem. The three main ones:

> Detroit totally stopped using flat tappet camshaft, resulting in a loss of dependable, low-cost tappet and cam-blank suppliers

> The guys who knew how to make the above "for generations" are dying off

> ZDDP levels in oils have slowly been reduced. No law against ZDDP, but it isn't good for cats, and the EPA forces automakers to give long "low emissions" warranties

The fixes? Also multi-prong:

> Use oil with enough ZDDP (EG: Mobil 1 15W50, etc.) or an additive

> Use lifters with either a ceramic-composite face, or the 0.012" laser-drilled hole in the face

> Avoid long periods of idling

> Don't go crazy with valve spring pressure. If "enough is enough", "too much" ISN'T better!

> And, most important: Assure that your new engine fires INSTANTLY (timing right, float bowls filled, shot of ether, etc.) and doesn't see under 2,500 RPM for the first 20 minutes or so.

Rick