For those of you that have used or installed the LPE 211/219 cam, did the cam look like this one, its the top one in the pic?
Notice is has a much smaller base circle than the cam below it and is billet.

I'm having some valve train noise I can't seem to get rid of, tried new lifters, new guide plates, went to SA rockers and still taps at 1500-2k rpms alot more than my truck with same cam...but I didn't build the motor in the truck so I have no idea what the cam looked like.

I'm starting to think that the base circle is so small that its causing the cam lobe to have a lot more angle and be more aggressive than one with a larger base circle and its causing the lifter to not remain in contact with the lobe. Using PAC1518 springs (same as the Comp beehives).

I've sent this question to LPE but am not getting any response.

 

Anyone?

 

I bought an LPE 211/219 cam last year 1/07 and it did not look like the one you have pictured. Mine was black and not polished between the lobes. The cam I received was ground by CompCams for Lingenfelter.

 

So yours must have looked like the bottom cam in the pic...both of which were ground by Comp..the top was for Lingenfelter, the lower was a LE cam.
I posted a similar thread when I received the cam about it looking so much different, and one person described his LPE211 as being all black including the lobes which sounded like a flat tappet cam with the coating on it for breakin.

I may drop my oil pan in the truck since its easy to do and take a look at the cam in it. LPE still has not responded to me...I'm going to be really pissed if I have to swap cams again...especailly after all the BS I've went thru trying to get rid of this top end noise...but I guess I may be onto what the cause is.

Thanks

 

Did you verify that the grind number etched on the cam matched the number on the box and cam card?

 

Yes, that is the first thing I looked at when I noticed it appeared to be a billet cam on a small base circle when I received it.

 

Places like Comp use a number of sources of for cores, so they often look different. Comp is not what they used to be.

Rich

 

Its been a few years since I pulled my 211/219 out, but I remember it looking more like the one on the bottom of the photo...Did you give the number etched on the cam to LPE? I'd think they'd be able to tell you for sure...

--Alan

 

So far no response and I sent a follow up this morning, both emails included the pic above. I have the cam card with the part and sn on them that matched the cam, but that may not mean much, but no I did not include that info just the part#.
I wonder why the cam card does not include the base circle dia on it?? anyone know the reason for that..seem like it would be an important # to know..but maybe not...

The base circle on the top on is about 7/8" where the one below it is 1" and the stocker is about 1 1/8" from what I recall.

Yeah Rich, Comp unimpresses me every time I do something it seems lately.

 

A small base circle shouldn't cause ticking, and there is no way in hell you are getting valve float at 2000 RPM's. If you ruled out lifters/rockers/preload then its most likely either an exhaust leak or something is wrong with the heads. I can tell you my old heads with the problems they had ticked like crazy, and my new ones are dead silent, all they have is a faint sewing machine sound.

Have you checked to make sure the pushrods weren't hitting the bottom of the guideplates, and have you checked for exhaust leaks? And you should be happy that you got a billet cam instead of a cast one.

 

The only reason I am thinking the small base may be contributing to it is because of the lobe is very agressive and sharp for this smaller cam than it was for the GTP6 cam I had before, and the LE 1.5 cam in the pic which were both larger lift cams.. yeah the 2k rpm thing was throwing me off though...
I've put in new guide plates, changed to SA rockers, tried the preload from none to almost a full turn and could never cure it.
While in a follow car club members shop for a tranny rebuild he asked about the valve train noise and I told him to have at it if he thought he could figure it out. He pulled all the springs off and checked the valve guides and said they were within tolerance, some were very close but could not cure it either, he wanted to pull the heads off but I didn't want to go that far just yet.

If it were not the valve guides being worn, then what else in the head would cause it to tick?

Yesd, I've ruled out exhaust leaks etc, with a stephoscope and the valve covers off you can clearly hear it by listening to the rocker post as the noise comes thru there very good..and I have switched from NSA to SA rockers so its not the rockers themselves.

 

Update, LPE finally called me last w/e, forgot to post it up, but only after I had sent a blasting email. From the pics, they indicated it was definitely a small BC billet cam. Did not know why that would be since I had ordered directly from their website as it should not have been. They could only surmise that Comp did not have any regular cores available so they ground it on the billet stock...seems unlikely they would do that to me..they'd just wait till it was in stock... Or it was incorrectly boxed...which is highly likely...luckily the numbers engraved on it did match the cam card..and it does run dam good and smooth...
So at least that settles that issue of it being different for sure...

Now the valve train is starting to make more and more noise so I'm guessing my valve guides are going and probably have been a little worn since I bought the heads...once again learning to never buy used parts...not once has used parts worked out for me

 

dont you need longer pushrods on a small base circle cam? just something to think about

 

I did measure for new pr length, it actually worked out to be justa tad shorter..surprised me and it actually made no sense to me why. So I had a mechanic in my Buick Club come over and double check..not telling him what I had found and he came up with the same range, 7.15" fit best..that was using the "make a lifter solid" method.

 

This is the 211/219 cam ordered from LPE some 11 years ago: