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Originally Posted by Excaliber
BREAK IN is very important with a new flat tappet cam and the new EPA mandated engine oils which are MISSING key ingredients we USE to have. These new engine oils DO NOT provide sufficient oil protection and during break in you MUST use certain additives. As well you should remove the INNER valve spring for break in and re-install afterward. |
On another web site I visit, an Engineer that knows a lot about oils, said the same thing about EPA mandated removal of additives that is causing flat tappet cams to wipe. He even mentioned that older well broken in engines are having cam failures as a result. I'm no expert on this, but I have heard a bunch about wiping cams all over this site and others. Maybe there is something to it.
All the rituals about breaking in a cam does not make sense to me. I hear it all the time. I could be wrong, but I think it is a bunch of voodoo practiced out of superstition, not science. The cam manufactures push this, as it gets them off the hook. Breaking in would mean that the cam lobe and lifter bottom are going to wear and polish off metal until there is a better fit and then this polishing off of the metal is going to miraculously quit. Why would it quit? The metal is not going to get any harder as it wears down. If it is going to get smoother, why wouldn't the manufacturer just polish the metals to the correct smoothness and then harden it? Since the lifters rotate in the bores there is nothing that needs to be fitted better. A film of
oil should always be between the two parts, and they should never touch, so there should be no wear. If I have it all wrong, please educate me.
My guess is that the lifter fit too tight in its bore. Too many people do not pay enough attention to the lifter bores or how tight the lifters fit. I would recommend getting this figured out or the next cam may wipe too.