Hey guys, this is about a big block Chevy. Hopefully that’s OK. I have a really good friend that builds engines and probably built 60 engines are more in his life. He used comp cams musclecar series regrind of us L 78 solid lifter flat tappet cam, used Howard’s lifters the ones just got the weep hole drilled in them to make sure there’s no failure.( normally he’d use roller cams, but he wanted to build an old-school engine for his L 78 69 nova). Brad Penn 30 weight break in oil, primed the motor, rockers set, fired up on the first revolution held it for 15-18 minutes at 21 2200 RPM.. weird little lifter clatter about the 10 minute 12 minute thing there’s a little tapping once we shut it off we pulled the valve cover and one rocker was lose. Long story short, off with intake and that one lifter failed miserably. I guess my question is this guy does everything meticulous and I just failed I mean what the hell you think more than one would fail not just one. Any thoughts? Is it just a crapshoot anymore on these hydraulic or solid lifter cams?
His thought is **** happens and he should have known better than use a solid flat tappet cam..for me this just shouldn’t happen when you go that extra mile to do everything correct, use the correct oils, the correct lube, everything and then have one fail..blows me away

 

I will never even attempt another flat tappet cam. I haven't even had a failure; I've seen enough others on the internet.

 

Had a friend that broke his W31 engine in on straight 30w and additive. Wiped the cam and lifters out of it. We went and cleaned everything back up new cam and comp lifters with Brad Penn 20w50 and broke it in with no issues at all. No additives either.

 

Was it Brad Penn break in oil straight 30 weight? Thats what he used..no additives, just the Penn 30 weight green oil.

 

How did the factory do it 50 years ago?

 

I had that happen with a BBC, #5 exhaust lobe wiped out. However it was not during breakin, the engine had been running for a while. I just swapped in a new cam and lifters and moved on. I don't know what caused it, but my guess is the lifter quit spinning.

 

The short answer- better metallurgy

 

When I reassembled my 455 after a blown head gasket I used all the same valve train parts. There's a little bit of lifter tick at start up, but not enough to wipe out a cam.

 

From a 1963 Oldsmobile plant tour guide book.

 

Factories typically spin the engine via an air wrench on the crank nut. Engine sounds like a large air compressor, because that's what it is. They then run them on test stands. Back then, I think it was every engine.

In addition to better metal, the factory has a great advantage we don't; if something fails, you can just replace it. There are plenty of failures, you just replace the part and move on. If it's a string of failures, you have to figure out why. At my vehicle plant, if we get a bad engine, we replace it with another one and move on. The engine goes back to the powertrain plant for investigation.

 

Oils have changed significantly in the last 50 years due to emissions requirements

 

I remember going to the final assembly Olds plant on Logan Street in Lansing as a guest of my friend who worked there 1975 or so. The brand new Old's had a gallon or so of gas put in the tank and a tube that hooked on the open carb- I assume the tube shot gas into the bowl. Then it was started and immediately revved up. Seems like the rear wheels were on a roller and car was dynoed in a fashion. I remember thinking that they run the crap out of those brand new cars, with no babying or break in. After some other checks then were ran the sh*t out of the building to the lots where they would be loaded on transport trucks or train cars. They talked of many races in the lots especially in the late 60's- early 70's when the 442's were being taken out!