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Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:56 pm

Me and my son are starting to rebuild an engine. I don't have any specialized tools to measure camshaft lift,but I wanted to check the condition of my camshaft.
I used a digital caliper to measure the lobes and each one measured 1.535" +/- 0.003" or so except for one that measured 1.431". This reduction seems a lot for one lobe so I am looking for some insight as to why this may have happened.

Here are the specs:
1915 cc
042 heads port and polish with dual valve springs
engle 120 cam with 1.25 rockers
CB big foot lifters (I think its been a while)

The short lobe is the one furthest from the cam gear.

The lifters appear to have some pitting and are dished, this is consistant among all the lifters. I can post some pics if necessary. Any help is appreciated.

Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:50 pm

from your description, i would say new cam and lifter time. post some photo's if you can

Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:58 pm

The cam and lifters are dead, and not savable. Lifters should always have a positive convex, never concave.
You will need a new cam and lifters, the cause of this can be due to several different things like; poorly made lifters, over-rev, poor or lesser valve springs than what are required, valve train interference, and the most common cause is the use of the wrong type of oil.

A good safe combo for cam and lifters is the complete kit from Engle with their cam, lifters, and springs. The correct oil can be found by reading the 128+ page thread of useless information in the oil sticky, or just use Amsoil Z-rod 10w-30 and move along happily. :D

Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:05 pm

SRP1 wrote: The correct oil can be found by reading the 128+ page thread of useless information in the oil sticky :D

:D

Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:32 pm

Ill agree the cam is dead, have a funeral for it then a party , then go get a new one with new lifters.deburr the cam, use the correct lube & have fun.