Eight year old cam wear analysis

BC847

BC847

Member
Joined
May 14, 2006
Messages
851
So, I broke my block and am pulling stuff out of it in hopes of reusing it.

I got 188/220 steel cam and 24v lifters from Zach in Feb of 2012. I'd been running his 110 (?) valve-springs with his 1st stage HD (whatever) pushrods.

Anyhoo, pulling the cam out this afternoon and standing back and looking at stuff reveals things like:

- The lobes of the cam have a surface of anywhere from smooth to heavily cratered (?)
- The lifters smooth to heavy cratering (?)

1 - Exhaust . . . .

1-EXH_zpsiyz7qyf8.jpg




3 - Intake . . . .

3-IN_zps48aaglyg.jpg




5 - Exhaust . . .

5-EXH_zpsuct75kc5.jpg




All of the lobes present with shadows on the ramps . . .

Shadows_zps9m24zfv3.jpg




I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I've gotten my monies worth from the rods, huh? Some have grown nipples.

Worn-Pushrods_zpsurpexymo.jpg




I've always run a good dose of the ZDDP supplement stuff with Rotela. Ya reckon there's any salvaging of that cam?


Crap! :doh:
 
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PM Zach. He's pretty active on here.

I'm surprised there's that much wear. How many miles do you think you've run? Was any of the wear enough to need a valve lash adjustment?
It's so hard to get good/telling pictures of that stuff!
 
Cam really doesn't look that bad to me, but those pushrods look pretty rough.
 
Can't help but wonder what my OE parts look like at 300k.
 
Spalling on the tips.

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Not sure why you choose to run a steel cam on the street for a low rpm engine. Also it looks like you ran std 12v 5/16" pushrod ball tips with 24v lifters ?

24v lifters require the 10mm ball end on the 12v pushrod
 
The pushrods are your biggest issue, there had to be some kinda mismatch in size, or severe coil bind on your springs to cause that.

I'm betting coil bind.
 
CorneliusRox said:
PM Zach. He's pretty active on here.

I'm surprised there's that much wear. How many miles do you think you've run? Was any of the wear enough to need a valve lash adjustment?
It's so hard to get good/telling pictures of that stuff!
Click to expand...
I figure perhaps 75k +/-. Always kept up with the lash. Once a year minimum.
 
Nascar said:
Not sure why you choose to run a steel cam on the street for a low rpm engine. Also it looks like you ran std 12v 5/16" pushrod ball tips with 24v lifters ?

24v lifters require the 10mm ball end on the 12v pushrod
Click to expand...
I got the cam at what I thought was a very good price.


* I confess I did not know about the rod difference. DOH! That certainly brings that in the image above in focus. IIRC, I had the pushrods before the 188/220 and 24v lifters with a 181/210 and narrow (?) regular lifters. It's been a while.


Crap! :doh:


I think you sold me the head I've been running. :)
 
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Looking at the lobes and lifters, what you have there is known as contact stress fatigue. As the lifter rides up on the lobe, the load causes a ripple or "wave" action to the case hardened layer of the parts. Eventually, the layer separates which is the spalling that you see. This doesn't mean there was a lack of lubrication; the elastohydrodynamic layer of the oil transfers the load to the parts while preventing adhesive wear at the same time. In this example, the load exceeded the capabilities of the case hardening. You need either deeper hardening or less load(spring pressure).
 
BC847 said:
I got the cam at what I thought was a very good price.


* I confess I did not know about the rod difference. DOH! That certainly brings that in the image above in focus. IIRC, I had the pushrods before the 188/220 and 24v lifters with a 181/210 and narrow (?) regular lifters. It's been a while.


Crap! :doh:


I think you sold me the head I've been running. :)
Click to expand...

Yep, it's been awhile.
I've seen less wear on 400k cams & lifters. lol
Do yourself a favour & go with a cast cam ( no matter what price ) & match your lifters with the correct pushrods tips. as mentioned, if you are going to run 24v or 1.45" lifters, you need 10mm ball ends on 12v pushrods.
 
mhuggler said:
Looking at the lobes and lifters, what you have there is known as contact stress fatigue. As the lifter rides up on the lobe, the load causes a ripple or "wave" action to the case hardened layer of the parts. Eventually, the layer separates which is the spalling that you see. This doesn't mean there was a lack of lubrication; the elastohydrodynamic layer of the oil transfers the load to the parts while preventing adhesive wear at the same time. In this example, the load exceeded the capabilities of the case hardening. You need either deeper hardening or less load(spring pressure).
Click to expand...
One upper.
Are you the designated AFA at your facility? Seems different dealers handle it differently.

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biggy238 said:
One upper.
Are you the designated AFA at your facility? Seems different dealers handle it differently.

Sent from my motorola one vision using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yup, it's just me. They won't pay to send anyone else to Peoria, it might cost them 0.000000001% of what they make in a year. :bang
 
Hey man, sorry I have been off of the forums for a bit.

do you have a pic of the spring you ran?
 
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THat is odd. I will be happy to get you a new cam and tappets. Send yours in and we will trade you out. We also have gone to a new spring design. Send those in and I will update you as well.
 
^^^^ That right there is why I run Hamilton in my truck. Top notch customer service in my book.
 
also if you have your valves out put your throat diameter at 90% of valve diameter and flow will come up a bit ;)
 
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