I'll get flamed for this but here goes, for those on a budget...
Put in a new stick and lifters, flush/clean the motor as best you can and change the
oil and filter after the new cam is broken in. Improper breakin procedure is most likely what led to the bad cam's failure. Change the
oil a LOT initially after the repair to try to get as much debris out as possible. The only other choice, and one that is OFTEN expressed here is: Tear the motor down ALL the way, clean and rebuild. Hey if you aint got the money, you do the best you can with what you got to work with (flame suit on).
A new fat tappet cam failing is actually pretty common for one main reason, to much initial valve spring pressure. The lifters MUST "rotate" in the bore and they MUST start that rotation immediatly upon the first fire up. If not, they get eaten! I assume you have double springs AND a damper spring? The center spring (smallest one) should be REMOVED before you start the motor. Fire it up and run it 20-30 minutes at 2000-2500 rpm right from the get go. This gets plenty of
oil splashing on the cam and varying the rpm gets that oil to different areas of the cam. Make sure that bad lifter bore is nice and smooth so the new lifter will start to rotate. After 30 minutes or so you cam is either broke in or it aint. If it aint, you'll eat another lifter within a short time (miles).
After that 30 minute run, drain the oil and change the filter. Change the filter several times within short order. You might cut it open and inspect internally for debris. Keep changing fliter/oil until you feel you did the best you can within reason.
My hunch is:
This is NOT catastrophic and the motor WILL survive with a good internal cleaning. The debris particles (small though they be) will find their way to your rod and main bearings and could cause some scoring which will lead (eventually) to "premature" bearing failure. But premature could be a LONG way down the road and possibly more miles than the motor may EVER see!
Double check your valve spring specs and make sure those springs match the cam suppliers recomendation. You'll need to use compressed air with the piston at TDC when you compress the valve spring with the "special tool" to remove the keepers and finally to remove the inner spring. AFTER break in, repeat this procedure to re-install the center springs. It's a pain in the butt, but it beats doing your cam over AGAIN, and AGAIN!
See my "Engine Blog" thread for pictures and additional details to the "inner spring" removal problem.
HERE:
427 side oiler engine build "Blog"
