I recently received a Comp custom(not shelf but for a stocker build) solid lifter cam,the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Bent(not comp's fault? maybe?) extreme casting flash goobers and overall a piece of crap. I knew better but thought I was maybe a little harsh. LOL I'm guessing there is a lot of this crap in engines that goes undetected. Never again! Period!

I ran into the exact same problem with Comp, the sides of the lobes were nasty looking, as matter of fact there was enough flashing on the sides of the cam lobes on #1 cyl if you slid the cam ever so slightly forward, the intake lobe flashing would barely catch the exhaust lifter and actually lift it. So I pulled the cam and sure enough the side every lobe had some sort of flashing on it, (some worse than others) and this was a spec'd cam not an off the shelf kind of thing. Sent the cam back, 3 weeks later it came back with the sides of the lobes all dressed up like it should've been in the first place. Comp Cams... never again, QC is somewhat questionable in my opinion.

Sorry to hear, What a PITA.

"Knock on wood" add me to the camp that has never lost a cam. I have never started a motor with the lash or pre load wrong either.

The cam now in my 340 is in it's third engine with original hydraulic lifters and I have always ran the same original crane gold adjustable rockers. On iron heads and on edlebrock aluminum heads. So I always set the pre load for each lifter on the engine stand. And I beat that car/motor hard now for 26K miles since the last freshen up including like 5 trips to Bonneville where I beat the car for miles at a time over 100 mPH easy.

IMO you can't blame the cam or lifters if the pre load was wrong, even if it's only for a short while. If that happens all bets are off, imo. If all that was perfect and you were keeping an eye on the lash pre load then I was start doubting other stuff.

I would take the motor out and all the way apart and clean it out. Like you said the cam is junk now too. I surely don't blame you for going hydraulic roller, but maybe a solid roller would make more sense? More RPMs for sure.

Make it so you can adjust the valves, That way you keep an eye on the cam lobes through valve lash. Got to pull the valve covers often, it's just good therapy. Do it often and race with confidence. Maybe she can learn to adjust the valves? I taught 3 guys to do it on my dragsters. Although I realize a dragster is 10X easier to work on, no fenders.

We have had our share of good and bad luck with both solid mechanical cams and solid rollers cams. I had a W2 engine wipe a lobe on the solid cam. I had an issue with a solid mechanical in my last hemi and it turned out to be an adjuster that went away. I also broke a solid cam, sheared the last couple lobes clean and still made a pass with it. Never killed any of my engines though.

The way I look at it, the rollers when they go, they often take out the whole engine. When a solid goes, it generally doesn't kill the whole engine, at least in the failures we have seen. Goes without saying you have all those small parts in the roller cams that end up all over when it lets go...Most if not all the failures I have witnessed are the rollers falling apart.

Yes you need good oil with a mechanical, and yes you have to break it in properly, but I like the lower valve spring pressures, I like the lower costs, and I like the lower maintenance over all.

For now, I will stick with my solid mechanical cams. I even put one in my new 605 Hemi....