Don't bother calling Comp CAMs Tech

[trularin]

I have spent three days off and on trying to get one off their techs on the phone.

Finally I called the switch board and the snooty lady there said that since Crane has gone belly up, they were it. I would have to get in line.

Her attitude was so bad, I was about to send back my kit and call ISKy or one of the other cam guys.

So, from now on, if I need a CAM it is going to be someone with better customer support.

ANYONE else have the same story?

[Clois Harlan]

Wow Dave, I guess the Southern Charm has worn off the staff of Comp Cams there in Memphis. I hate to hear of a company that gets an attitude.

Clois

[joyridin']

I tried last year to call and ask about a retro-fit roller cam. I tried 4 times and sat on the phone about 1/2 hour each time with no answer. I finally gave up and just said screw it.

I guess my $1000 for the retro-fit roller kit wasn't worth 10 minutes of their time. The Crane Cam retro works great! Too bad Crane is gone.

[Jerry Clayton]

Tru

I see you have a boss351----just yesterday KC was in conferance with comp about special cam for a stroker 351c we are building for a Pantera using a set of his CnC ported Edelbrock heads---call him and see if it fits your desires

[kobrabytes]

FAST has been responsive to me, which is a member of the Comp Performance Groups.

[Bobcat]

I`ve used Schneider Cams for years and always talked to Jerry Cantrell .... end gotten nothing but great service and advice .

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Nothing new with Comp Cams.....when I was building my race engine 3+ years ago, I called the tech line for some info on 2 or 3 cams I had picked out and all I got was an arrogant little a$$hole on the phone........at the time they were the only ones that had a cam with the specs I wanted, so I ended up with a comp cam and it has been a good one........

If their tech department was 1/10th as good as their products, it would be a lot better........good thing they have a good product to keep them afloat, cause their service surely is the pits.......

maybe next time (if their is a next time) I'll tell them I'm John Force's engine builder and maybe I'll get better treatment........

David

[Camarofreak69]

If you want a good cam go through crower they have the best cams and the best material to make them from. From what is hear(this is from an engine builder that knows his stuff out here) comp doesn't spend the money on good materials and he has seen plenty of cams in race engines shear for torsion or something along those lines. Never heard anything bad about their customer support.
Just my two cents.

[RodKnock]

I've always had great treatment from Crower, including the Mr. Crower himself. Comp Cams shouldn't treat any customer that way, especially in this economy.

[blykins]

Dave, I thought you already had your cam? What do you need to know? I guarantee you that we know more than the high school "tech guys" at Comp.

[427 S/O]

This thread got me to thinking,,,,,,,so I called 'performance coatings' just to make sure their still in business. Whew!, they are thank goodness.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by blykins

Dave, I thought you already had your cam? What do you need to know? I guarantee you that we know more than the high school "tech guys" at Comp.

I asked which distributor gear to use and they never would give me a straigt answer.....I ended up with a bronze gear and at the end of each race season, the gear is worn out, you could shave with it, the teeth are that sharp...... I'm gonna get one of those new fangled composite gears this time. Now that my motor is "down' and I'm gonna build a new one, I'm going to change cams. My present cam has 588 lift and 288 duration. I like it a lot but want a little more, Would like to get into the 600 to 615 lift area, but would like to keep the duration about the same...I'm running a solid roller comp cam with comp solid roller lifters, I find it is "noisy" so I was thinking of a cam upgrade in size that is,but wondering if I could use hydraulic roller lifters on a solid roller camshaft?????????????

David

[Doug I]

Did you find out what parted company on your engine David?

[PLDRIVE]

You get what U pay for, call LSM

[Karl Bebout]

I just read that Crane Cams has been sold to the guy that was their HMFIC and S&S motorcycle company. Hopefully the excellent quality and engineering will continue with the new ownership. BTW, I have a friend that has been well pleased with the cams he's gotten from Chet Herbert ('way old school). He provided the spec's and Chet ground what he wanted, for very reasonable costs.

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by DAVID GAGNARD

I asked which distributor gear to use and they never would give me a straigt answer.....I ended up with a bronze gear and at the end of each race season, the gear is worn out, you could shave with it, the teeth are that sharp...... I'm gonna get one of those new fangled composite gears this time. Now that my motor is "down' and I'm gonna build a new one, I'm going to change cams. My present cam has 588 lift and 288 duration. I like it a lot but want a little more, Would like to get into the 600 to 615 lift area, but would like to keep the duration about the same...I'm running a solid roller comp cam with comp solid roller lifters, I find it is "noisy" so I was thinking of a cam upgrade in size that is,but wondering if I could use hydraulic roller lifters on a solid roller camshaft?????????????

David

The bronze gear is soft and sacrificial so the cam gear lives, it's really only meant to be used on distributors only since driving an oil pump loads the gear and wears it out.

Why not run a steel gear, after all, gearboxes and diffs run gears made of the same material.

Ultimately if you don't pull the engine down, it will stop from no spark and/or no oil pressure.
We have exactly as you speak with our 355, cam eout for an oil leak at 11000km.

You can't use hydraulic lifters on a solid cam and vice versa.
Solid and hydraulic cams are ground differently, base circle concentricity, opening and closing flanks and ramps.
This applies to ALL cams - roller, flat tappet, mushroom tappet, OHC bucket and shim, OHC rockers etc.

[RICK LAKE]

I talked to tech on thursday. It took 15 minutes on hold. Like alot of other companies in rough shape at these times, they are slow. As Far as tech info in any high performance company, if you do your home work FIRST, you will save alot of time. Techs in these companies do the same thing you can do, look on a computor screen and follow what it said. 8-10 times they don't know any thing more than you. If you want a joke, go to any NHRA meet and talk to the manufactures techs, They all get a deer in the headlight look after 10 seconds. You know why,,, Most of the time the guy you talk to is the TRUCK DRIVER, who drives the rig. I do have a guy working with me on a problem at this time so I can't say that they are not helping. Rick L.

[blykins]

David,

You can run solid lifters on a hydraulic cam, but you can't run hydraulic lifters on a solid cam. The ramps are too steep and you would end up losing control of the valve train.

If you look at a hydraulic roller camshaft, there is a big difference between durations at seat and durations at .050"....usually around 50-60°. On a solid roller, you get differences around 30-40° depending on the lobe. The solid roller cam would be lofting the lifters sure as the world. Hydraulic roller lifters are very heavy, and SBF valvetrain isn't the lightest in the world either.

If you want a nice, smooth solid roller grind, you can go to their "street roller" section. The ramps are smoother, so you can get longer life out of your springs and lifters. If you want an extremely aggressive lobe for a race car, you can use their "TK" lobes. However, your springs and lifters will call you names behind your back.

I use Comp Cams quite a bit for street/stock builds, and I also use Mike Jones for a completely custom grind. I am a distributor for him and have used his cams in my own engines. He says that his grinds are 20-30 hp over comparable Comp grinds.

BTW, how much lash are you running?

[blykins]

This is a Mike Jones hydraulic roller, 250° @ .050", .620" lift, 112/110.





It went in this:



That is a 445ci Windsor, Dart Block, Trickflow TW-R heads, Super Victor intake, etc. It made 584hp/572lb-ft on the very first pull on the dyno with a hp peak rpm of 5900.

[RICK LAKE]

blykins Brent when did you start building diesels for cobras.5,900 rpms and out of gas, I bet there is over 600 HP if you hook the spark plug wires up right. Rick L.