I had a extremely bad experience with Cam Motions and will be sending their cam back asking for a full refund from them. I was wondering who else you guys might recomend, I dont like Crane so they are out of the question, I would consider Comp but have heard some bad things about them.

FWIW this is for a LT1 based motor.

Thanks
Patirck

 

Crower, they have never steered me wrong

 

A buddy of mine at Crane is custom grinding my hydraulic roller turbo cam. Just tell one of the techs what you have and what you plan to do with the car and they'll build a cam specific to the application.

-Chris

 

IMO, you are going to have trouble finding a cam company that pleases you, based on your post. Just curious, is it the quality of the merchandise that you have problems with, or specing out the correct grind?

If it's the specs, perhaps you should engage an engine builder to determine your cam and valvetrain specs and just let the cam company manufacture it. It works for others.

My $.02

 

They ground me a cam that was +/- 5 degrees from the specs we figured for it, the valve lift was -9.xxx", the whole cam doctor sheet was fubared. The only thing that was right on the cam sheet was the LS of 114. The base circle wasn’t even the right size.

The cam snout was neither for a pre 95 opti or post 95 opti, and the dowel pin wasn’t the right size.

I ordered lash caps with the cam, two weeks after I ordered the cam I still had nothing, and I had called to make sure the cam had been ground and was on the way, well it had been ground, but they were waiting on the lash caps, which they said where in stock when I ordered them (it was a convenience to order them from Cam Motions, but I could get them local anywhere.) I needed the cam ASAP, so I told them to scratch the lash caps and get it to me. They sent it out and I received it, looked at the cam sheet, it was WAY off, and the snout was messed up. So I called them and told them, and the lady said she would send out a call tag for it the next day, it never showed up, I called back told her this, she told me to send it back on my own coin and she would send me a check. I sent it the next day emailed her the amount, 2 weeks later still no check.

I was told that they re doctored the cam and it was the specs that we had initially talked about (of course), and that they had put the 95 conversion on it. I have voiced my displeasure about this several times with them, just to have them tell me that I will get my cam, and that they did send the call tag. So the last email I sent to them was to keep the cam and refund me the whole amount, and I will move on to another company that hopefully will be better.

I can understand a cam going out that isn’t correct from a company that mass grinds cams, but not a company that makes a living off custom ground cams.

So to answer your question OldSStroker, I have the cam spec'ed out, its just a quality issue, I am basing my conclusions about Crane from personal experience, since they are less then a mile away from my house, granted Comp is merely hear-say, and maybe I should try them since I was highly recommended to Cam Motions and that didn’t workout, maybe I have reverse luck or something

At this time I have found a company (Elgin Cams) that seems to want my business, are cheaper, and I have also been recommended to them, so I will see what we can come up with from them.

It's just I am very picky when it comes to my car stuff, and I value customer service very highly. I hope I made some sense in this post; I chalk it up to a bad experience, so, live and learn.

Patrick

 

Hey, good luck with whomever you choose. May the Force be with you.

 

LOL, didnt feel like reading it huh? I dont blame you I wouldnt either

Thanks
Patrick

 

Actually, Patrick, I did read it all. Here's the long version of my previous post:

My experience has been that buying your valvetrain stuff from your engine /designer builder saves you, the end user, from the hassle of things like you have gone through.

Most engine builders have a specific cam company they feel most comfortable with. It may be because that company has the best production equipment, or the best cam designers or the best tech support to engine builders...or maybe all three. There is more than one good cam company. There are very few with the best stuff (equipment, talent), because it costs like crazy.

If your engine designer/builder knows all of what you expect, the vehicle, gearing, rev range, etc. as well as all engine specs like head and manifold flow, compressor maps, etc., he/she should be able to provide you with an excellent valvetrain for about the same price (or even less) than you, as a consumer could get from direct dealing with the manufacturer, or Jegs or Summit.

My gut feeling is that is not the way you went. Hence the "good luck" post.

My highly-opinionated $.02

 

^^ ^^