cam break in update

Comp Cams e-mailed me back to say how sorry they are that this happened, and he even had the warranty manager call me. That guy sent me a new cam, and a call tag to cover shipping costs of the old cam. I have the cam out and ready to ship back; 12 of 16 lifters and lobes are toast. Comp had no great epiphany of why my set up failed, but he did note that just behind BBC's (with their small lifters), the most returned cam has been the 385 series Ford.

ALSO - he said the recommended springs for this cam are 317# open, which he said was a bit high. He reiterated what was said here, that 270-280 is nice for break in, and "use stock springs if you have 'em", for break in". Wow.....that felt weird that the warranty guy said, informally, to not use the recommended springs to break it in. He did say it should be fine if you DO use them to break in the new cam, but if the option is there, use the lighter spring (assuming they are lighter at that lift - I'm working on that). I suggested they market a set of super light break-in springs, and he said they used to, but not enough people bought 'em.

Anyway, the bottom line for me is, I'll gladly use Comp again (assuming the new cam works!! ). I think the fact that two managers contacted me directly speaks well for a company, and they went around Summit to get me a cam ASAP.

If anyone cares, I'll let you guys know how the bearings look. The bores are fine. Speaking of which, what are your collective thoughts on re-using the bearings and oil pump if they look OK? I won't hesitate to buy new stuff if that's what it takes, but I don't want to throw away any extra $$$$ at this point.

IMO, If the bearings look good and no sign of metal, use them. But make sure there's not any metal anywhere in any part of the engine, and you know what that consists of. I would take the pump apart and inspect it,and change filters also.

i don't know bearings are cheap and available, i would probably throw new ones in for piece of mind considering the cam got wiped and all that stuff got through the motor, not sure about oil pump i would probably go with the same of taking it apart and cleaning and inspecting JMO


rick

Clean, clean, and clean the block again. I wiped one several years back, and it took the crank as well. Make sure and check the crank real good, and I'd get some new bearings, just for the peace of mind as well.

Glad to hear that Comp is standing behind their stuff like this. The one that I wiped was a Comp from Summit too, and all I got was a "tough luck".

I ran over the crank, too. Mains and rods are wiped. Strangely, I'm OK with that. Perfect opportunity to stab in a nice 4.25" crank, right??

No, I now need to figure out which way to go. Rebuild this one? Buy one? Buy a new truck (something with a Dana 60 and three pedals sure would be nice!!)? I guess time will tell.

Thanks for all the advice! I'll be back when it's time to break in my next cam!! And, I guarantee the next one will not fail!

Now that's customer service!

good luck with the rebuild...

Although their customer service is excellent when their product quality is so poor that they openly admit it I would be pretty hard pressed to use their product again. How many times are you willing to keep tearing this motor apart till they send you a good one? If you were 1 in a million yeah everyone can have a bad run or a bad unit but dang, it seems like they have a boat load of cams going south.

it seems like they have a boat load of cams going south.[/quote]

mybe thay are getting there cam cores from China

Or maybe they sell so many more cams than anyone else that you'll hear about it more often....
cam cores come from EPC in Grand Haven, MI

Something is sure going on. We sure did'nt have this issue a few years back. I've stuck them in w/only STP years ago and never had a worry

It all originates in China, that is my guess.

Barry_R wrote:Or maybe they sell so many more cams than anyone else that you'll hear about it more often....
cam cores come from EPC in Grand Haven, MI

I was wondering if it was something like that Barry but it still doesn't make it any better.

Do you think it could be a lifter issue and the cam is just a result of the lifter going south first?

I think it's all in (or what has beed taken out of alot of) the oils that are being produced these days.