hi
lucas ,5w30 semi synthetic ,supplied cam lube ?
no cam manufacture i know of recomends synthetic oil for brake in .
compare the cost of the products used and the failure hassel to 6 quarts of amsoil 30 weight brake in oil .
never a failure and run it for first 1000 miles before change in all engines i build .
No he used the Lucas additive, not their oil. I fail to see how using a semi-syn oil with the ZDDP additive could have caused this. Since 14 of the lifters are fine I don't see how the oil was the problem.
It’s not an oil issue. The one thing that stood out to me was cranking it over without it firing. If it’s not ready to fire, I don’t ever crank on it with the starter. I’d have to go back and read your OP but it seems to me it sounds like he cranked on it quite a bit before he actually fired it. It doesn’t take much to do the initial damage that doesn’t show up right away.
FWIW I never ever use less rocker ratio, or pull inners or any of that. Ever. If the lobe is that aggressive it needs a roller on it. My last cam was close to Comp’s MM lobes with 155 on the seat and 355 open.
So my guess is he hurt it cranking on it.
You may be right and that was my suspicion as well and that is why he popped the lifters back out and added more lube before reassembling. It's not a big cam, .480 lift, 239/246. What I don't get is why weren't the lifters turning initially? I mean is it really any different turning it over with the starter than by hand? He said the battery was down and the starter has been dragging anyway so it wasn't spinning over real fast. How long would it have been before the lifters starting turning if he had just fired it?
I always use clean engine oil on the lifters and bores before I assemble anything and if the fall down the bore on their own, just by their weight, the bores are good to go.
I’m starting to think the slow turners may have been poorly finished lifters (found that in about 2006 or so...the lifters didn’t have enough radius on them or non at all so I put them in the lathe and verify .0025 or a bit more crown on them or they go back) or the cam lobe didn’t have enough taper on it to spin the lifters at all, or not enough.
I still use FT stuff on my street junk because I’m not a fan of hydraulic rollers but I check and verify everything, including lobe taper and if doesn’t pass muster it goes back. It’s too expensive to have to do it a second time.
