Oh Mike... I feel for you buddy...
Comp's "great advice" also cost me a couple grand when their suggested hardened steel dizzy gear chewed up and spit out my camshaft gear... At least they replaced my camshaft free of charge up front though....
For my 385 series motor, I had them wittle me a custom grind on one of their "billet" hydraulic roller camshaft blanks, for which they suggested a hardened steel dizzy gear for my MSD too (bought the gear from Ford Motorsport). Well 2 issues with this setup in my case.
1). It comes to fruition after my first camshaft goes bye-bye that Comp's "billet" steel camshafts are not entirely "billet steel" afterall. So, this dizzy gear selection was incorrect from that standpoint...
2). My first camshaft had ZERO final machining done to the cam gear... I made a mental note to myself about the first camshaft and just how sharp the edges of the gear/gear teeth were when I did the install. But, since I had never installed a custom/billet/roller camshaft before, I just assumed that everything on this "custom" camshaft would be fine.... NOT!!!
Unlike you Mike, I made it about 750 miles before this combo went bad... But, when I brought all of the bad tech advice to Comp's attention, they ponied up with a replacement camshaft for me, but that's all...
The second camshaft I got from them had MUCH better final machining done to the cam gear (nice bevels in the gear teeth/gear edges), but I still burnished the gear with a power wire wheel before installing it (something that Comp didn't tell me to do on the first camshaft either)... On the 2nd one, I also opted for a bronze dizzy gear... If they had any of the newer polymer type gears for the 385 series motors at that time, I probably would have gone with one of those....
One other thing that I would suggest of EVERYONE installing a camshaft in a performance engine, is to do a cam/dizzy gear oiling modification..
In the block, there are
oil gallery plugs that are situated directly behind where the installed dizzy gear rotates. In mine, I drilled a .0032" hole in that plug and I also indexed/angled the hole I drilled so that when that gallery plug was fully seated, there is a nice stream of
oil squirting directly onto the dizzy/cam gear, ensuring good lubrication of this traditionally "poorly lubricated" area of the engine...
I have a few thousand miles behind the new camshaft now and all is well with respect to dizzy/cam gear wear (I pull the dizzy out periodically to check it...).
I'll tell you one thing, I have been wrenching on motors for most of my life and I have previously had zero problems with any Comp Cams products. But, after my latest dealings with them and their supposed "tech" guys, I will never install another one of their camshafts ever again....
Good luck in court Mike if you try it... Let me know how it comes out if you do (so I can sue them too)...
I thought of doing the same thing but if you take a look at Comp's camshaft "warranty" paperwork that you got with your camshaft, I am not sure that you can get anything out of them in court besides a new camshaft..... I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but it seems that Comp has ALL of the "C.Y.A." clauses in that warranty card so that the ONLY thing they are responsible for is the camshaft replacement alone (no labor, no other consequences of their bad advice)....
Good luck,
Pat
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