I recently tore down the 324 in my 1956 Olds 98 Holiday.Looked good inside and I tore it down on Monday night.I checked the crankshaft with a micrometer,main and rod journals are in spec and is worth turning.I took out the camshaft,not good and found 5 wore out lobes.I plan on replacing the camshaft with a mild cam anyway.The block,crankshaft,rods and heads are at the machine shop where I work at.The block and heads,good news with no cracks and they were both magnafluxed after being cleaned.I am having the heads ported and the valve seats replaced with hardened seats.The heads still had the the soft valve seats.I have never seen a camshaft do this yet and this is the first time I seen this.What causes this and who makes a mild cam for the 324.I want to keep this Olds 98 Holiday with the original engine.I do have the pistons,bearings and a gasket set ordered for it too,ordered today

 

Even if your engine was somewhat a low mileage, the cams wore out prematurely due to I think was weak metals being used. This is a common problem for early Rocket blocks. There's alot of places for a mild cam for 324's. Try Ross Racing for them

 

The engine has 45,000 miles on it.Luckily I know a friend of mine's father that has several boxes of new mild cams for the 324,he is an Olds fanatic and he said it was a weak metal used.I even showed him the camshaft bringing it over.This Olds 98 is just going to be a street car.The valve seats were bad too,previous person did not pour in a lead additive when this car was last driven.

 

boy...friends with access to replacement sheet metal for '55s and boxes of mild cams for 324's - how do we get access to your Rolodex?

 

Lead is good for valve seats and zinc is good for everything that gets oiled. Be sure you use the right break-in lubricants and procedures and zinc additives or the right synthetics thereafter. Your father's friend has probably been down the road many times and sounds like a good source of information. When anything that touches gasoline is rebuilt, be sure the materials are intended for use with alcohol. I think we are all at E10 (10%) and there is a push to go to E15, at least in the Granola State (CA).

 

I have good resources on this,my friend Jeff's father is the Olds fanatic and that is whom I got the info from.Gave me a few tips on building up the 324s for more power and using the right break in lubricants is a must.

 

56"s cams came soft from the factory, I think there was even a factory bulletin put out because of the frequency of this failure and any new cam will also go flat if not broken in with a high zinc content oil......Tedd

 

I did order the right cam bearings too,1956 to 1958 are by themselves.I was advised to use a high zinc oil to break in the new camshaft in.So far progress is happening,the porting of the heads including the intake is done and just started installing the hardened valve seats.Said the heads will be done tommorrow with a little bigger valves installed.The block,the mains were aligned bored and the cylinders were supposed to be honed today.The honing machine took a dump,the stones broke and new stones come in on Monday.I am in no rush anyway and hopefully put it back together in a couple weeks.I do have a factory service manual for the torque specs,my other 1956 Olds,a 1956 Super 88 has one with it.