I have my engine apart for freshening, noticed the wear pattern is really narrow and to one side on the lobes.

It's a Howards cam with their EDM lifters.

The lifters are not really overly crowned, they actually seem less convex than I remember.

Holding all the pairs, crown side to the side of the lifter, there does not seem to be any crown I can see, maybe because there is oil on them though, that is taking up clearance.

What would you guys recommend be done to make sure the cam and lifters are good to go?

All the pics are of the same orientation on the bench.

More Pics

Is this pitting on the nose of these lobes?

That pretty much looks very similar to the wear on all of my flat tappet cams from my past engines. Except for what Dwayne mentioned that looks like pitting on the nose. What exact oil have you used with this setup?

It looks like all of them have this porosity/pitting

Broke it in with Joe Gibbs break in oil, then used Amsoil Synthetic with zinc. 10/40

Sorry about the pic quality, looks horrible blown up.

Solid or hydr? What lift and spring pressures?

Solid, .616/.620 speced with 1.5 rockers, I run 1.6

I forget exact pressures, I think around 175/340.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hrs-720152-08/applications

To a degree, a lot of what you’re seeing on the nose is the result of using “race car parts”....... on the street.

The surface in that area of the lobe is very highly loaded. It gets work hardened over time from the high spring loads, and little pieces start to fracture and fall off........ and you end up with that pitting.

The smaller the nose radius(generally......the result of more lift in the same duration), the higher the required spring load, and the higher the rocker ratio(the cam sees the spring load x the rocker ratio)....... the quicker the cam starts to experience the pitting on the nose.

Usually, once they start doing that....... it starts spreading.

I think if you put that cam in a lathe and measured the lift for all the lobes, you’d see they have probably all lost some lift.

It would have kept running fine until they got noticeably worse than they are now........ the question is........ do you put it back in during a freshening?

As they say....... there is no free lunch.
One of the drawbacks of fast rate high lift flat tappet cams is...... reduced operational life.
For lack of a better description, in that type of application....... a fast rate/high lift SFT cam becomes somewhat of a “consumable” item, much like valve springs, or solid roller lifters in a street application.
It also follows the old saying....... “speed costs”.

What you’re seeing is one reason I tend to shy away from the fastest rate/highest lift cams when the vehicle is going to see real street duty.

Usually when they get to looking like this, the shape of the nose radius has been altered.

I'll chalk this one up to caught it in time. Thanks for all the help!!

I’d say so.

How long has it been running? And approx how many miles and how many track passes? I have a similar speced cam in a motor right now. Comp Solid 640/648 with about 262/268 @.050”. Howards edm solid lifters. I used the Isky 8005A springs. About 3000 street miles, and 60 or so track passes. Power has not fallen off since new and when i changed intakes this past summer, wear pattern looked just like yours except the pitting.

4 years, About 3000 street miles, and 60 or so track passes

I'm using the Trick flow springs that are the 2nd option up. Guess I'll be buying roller springs soon.

My plan is to keep running it and keep a close eye on my lash inspections. Any changes in lash and i would rip intake off for further inspection and then make a decision on replacement. Good luck with yours.

Unfortunately, there is conflicting info from TF regarding this spring.

There is the info for the springs in the paperwork that comes with the heads, and then there is the data on their website in the valve spring section.
The data in the head paperwork is incorrect.

The springs are made by PAC.
The PAC number is 1294.
The specs are 175@1.900/442@1.275, 442lb/in.
These are the same specs listed on the TF website, but the paperwork that comes with the heads shows them to be a fair amount less.

As delivered from TF, the springs are set up at a nominal 1.950 installed height, which would put them at 154 on the seat and 431@.650 lift.
Pretty stout spring loads for a fast rate SFT cam seeing regular street duty.

So more than needed for SFT, too light for roller.
Pretty much sums up the course for everything so far.
I'll be giving you a call soon.

Well...... too much for a “street” car with an aggressive SFT cam IMO.

Those springs were developed for aggressive SFT oval track applications where the rules specified flat tappet cams.
In that environment, the cams rarely go more than one season of use and get replaced.
Running that type of combo is just what’s required to remain competitive.

Even on the FT oval track combos we were building years ago(that used cams and springs quite a bit milder than what you’re running), before the crate motor craze took over, whether or not a SFT cam was good enough to reuse after a season of racing was 50/50 at best.