Details:
LT1 355 on 10-16 psi of boost for the past ~20K mainly street, some track.
Comp Cam 22X duration, lift .501 .513
Crane Spring and Retainer kit Seat 130 lbs Open 402 lbs
Manley SS Valves
Crane Gold Self-Aligning 1.5 RR
Melling High Volume oil pump
Comp Cams OE replacement hydraulic lifters

The cam gear has significant wear. High Volume pump?
Alot of wear evenly across all lobes and lifters.
The engine was pulled because of leaking head gasket.

Any ideas on the wear?

Thanks for any info.

 

Valvefloat or a bad core from comp.

 

Cast iron core belongs under a flat tappet or in the garbage. Could also be a result of valve float as speed demon says.

High volume oil pump wear would be on the gear at the end of the cam not on the lobes.

 

The new cam per the engine builder and comp will be a billet 3 piece with an everwear gear. The everwear gear is "softer gear" that shouldn't wear out the oil pump gear that meshes with the cam gear.

The oil pump gear that meshes with the cam gear had about 70% worn teeth, so that was a separt wear problem. Good thing the head gasket showed a problem before that oil pump gear failed!

Valve float would be a harder one to pin point. The cam's lift is moderate, and I would think those springs should hold. I know there is more to it than that but....?

Maybe just a bad core?

 

what do the lifters look like?

 

Can't find a pic, but there was a similar wear pattern evenly around each of the rollers. So they are going to be replaced. Comp said the OE replacement rollers should work fine.

 

Check valve train geometry and how the rockers are loading the tops of the valves (wear patterns).

 

I agree on checking the geometry, and pushrod length. Seems maybe they had been overloaded causing them to dig into one another. Another possible scenario is all the small metal filings from previous machine work, or dirt was introduced into the new system and thats what it looks like. I would no doubt go through the entire block to see where else damage has occured, that metal went somewhere and scored it up along its way. Just my humble opinion.

 

I would image that the metal from the wear was just as fine as bearing wear. I had a Comp GTP6 cam have similar wear on a few lobes not all.
I would suggest when running any cam with more than stock lift to spend the extra $$ and get a billet cam. The cheap azz metal used now days for these cams is getting rediculous as far as the quality of the metal goes being ground in Mexico or even China.

 

Did any coolant get into the oil? Coolant and oil mixed together make a horrible lubricant.

Lee
96 Z28 M6

 

Would anyone suggest running a cam in this state? I have a little wear on my CC502 that I got from a buddy. Machine shop said it was ok but a few lobes had me worried. They are in no way close to this bad but a few are starting.

 

The cam in the pics is toast. No way should it be reused. Eventually the cam or the lifter will fail then you will have metal in the motor assuming something doesent go kaboom.

 

yep, once the surface is worn through it starts to go quick from there...like surface hardening. I'm sure you can see how it is no longer smooth in those worn spots compared to how smooth it was new.

 

I hope you find the cause for this then pass it along.

 

if that cam was meant for flat tappets and you used rollers then that's the issue