I know your pain
 

I just went throught the very same thing you did. And guess what? I was running the Stainless steel rockers with edelbroock head. had a cam research cam that was broken in before I bought it. 242 and 242 with 590 lift. The push rods were ball and cup design.

DID YOU CHECK YOUR DISTRIBUTOR GEAR?
Mine was worn down to a razors edge.

After pulling the motor and replacing the Cam witha new pre boken in cam research cam had a race car shop install the motor and break it in. 20 miles and the rockers threw a couple of push rods. Ended up pulling the entire rocker assembly and push rods and replaced them with a precision oil pump set of aluminum rockers and ball on ball push rods. The aluminum rockers have better geometry and supply more oil to the lifter area. These stainless rocker I do not believe were designed for edlebrock heads but hey if someone wants them. They are for sale. have less than 60 miles on them. They were the supplier to Shelby and beleive they were set up for the Shelby heads.

Real men run solids and become "one" with their motor by adjusting the lifters from time to time,,, grasshopper. :D

Daryl,

One thing about Crower Cams:
When you call with a question they will put Dave Crower himself on the phone. I'd give him a call.
Good luck.

-Michael

Morgan. I already have ball-ball pushrods. I dont see any problem with them, at half way through the lift the roller is dead center valve tip. When We pre oiled the motor it was oiling fine between the adjuster cup and the ball on the pushrod.
How much for your rockers? PM Me I may be interested.
Michael I talked to Dave on the phone. Im sending Him the cam and lifters along with a long letter with reciepts for the motor. He agreed I did nothing wrong at break in. This cam failure is going to cost Me $1,200 I explained that to Him. He will recieve it Monday so I will know more then I will let You all know how it works out. Darryl

Back in the 60's when I used to race these engines-there was no oil galleys for the lifters and the connecting rods had squirt holes for oiling the cam lobes. Also if the rod side clearance isn't wide enough , you will lose the camshaft also.

Regards

Jerry Clayton

My boss broke one of the cams on his S430 Mercedes at 800 miles...

$28,500. Of course Mercedes covered it, but it can happen to anyone.

Roller cams
 

Hydraulic roller cams are great on the street. Solid rollers require a little more agressive use...more for the track. Crane offers many hhydro roller cams for the fe's.

Hey did you see Kieth C.'s post about his solid rollers? The best money can buy (I would THINK!) at $2200 just for the freakin' lifters. :D

Just an update. I sent the cam back to Crower they recieved it monday. I got a call Tuesday that I missed so I called them.
I asked for Dave and was put on hold.
Soon after Dave answers and says, Yea - about the Brodix heads?
I say - no - told Him who I was and I sent the cam and lifters back as per our conversation. I the asked Him if He got the letter I wrote with reciepts from KCR and a break down of what this cam failure will cost. He said He took a quick look and gave it to His guy Dustin, and He would take care of it. Then got off the phone. I then called Dustin, left a message to call Me.
He called back a few hrs later and said the owner will handle this Himself. So Im just waiting for His decision. Im sure Dave Crower is a busy Man, good to His customers and fair. Its tough just being a PEEEEON !!! Darryl

Ate the Cam in the new 482 %$#^%$#^%$ Reply to Thread
 

What about considering Tool steel lifters or Composite lifters from SM Machine LLC, KC fitted Schubeck composite lifters to my engine, it has done breakin etc with two dyno runs and the camshaft is run in nicely, Composite lifters are so hard they just glide easier over the lobe and dont need the complicated break in process even though KC removed the inner springs with my engine. The only thing to be wary of is valve bounce which can cause the lifters to fail, so I would look at valve springs every 3-4 years pending usage!

Delo 400 is designed for fleet vehicles diesel and petrol has 0.15ppm of zinc etc which is good for scuffing parts etc like camshafts. KC ran my engine in with Castrol GTX 15/40 plus the engine had plenty of moly assembly lube going by the oil left in the oil pan!

Allow me to add my two cents worth.

First let me say that I did not read all the entries on this thread. I'm just too lazy!!
So this may have already been well covered.

I would submit that the problem is the oil you used during break in. It did not contain the needed quantities of Zinc Diakyl Dithiophosphate. There is alot of mis-information regarding oils out there that are said to contain the needed levels of this compound.

Diesel oils that are sold over the counter DO NOT. This includes the Delos and the Rotellas. Some of the fleet available Delos and Rotellas do but it is only available in 55 gallon drums to trucking companies.

What needs to be used is what they are now calling the "Off Road Only" oils. This from Joe Gibbs racing, Valvoline, Brad Penn, Castrol and others. Some of these companies sell a break in oil as well.

I use an additive that is a bottle of the Zinc Diakyl Dithiophosphate from Krban Perfomance called ZDDPLUS. You can use it with ANY oil. I have not had a camshaft failure since using this product. Here is the phone # 215-766-1611 X2.

I use two bottles during break in a one with every oil change.

There is also a synthetic oil I use that has the correct levels of these items in it. That oil is sold by Synergy Oil company. Yes it's expensive. But cheap compared to re-doing your engine. Their phone # is 800-456-7665. They only produce oils with the needed levels in them. I like the 3W-30 sythetic.

One other point. An engines need for Zinc Diakyl Dithiophosphate is not just for break in. This type of oil needs to be ran ALL THE TIME. It benefits ring sealing, rocker arm fulcrums, valve tip to rocker arm, pushrod contact points, oil pump life and so on.


Hope this helps.

Concobra

thread is 4+ years old...

That figures. I don't spend alot of time here. Maybe I should read all the entries in the thread first before I comment.

Remember that FEs came with solid lifters at first. Hydraulic lifters came later . They were almost trouble free, initial break in adjustment and then once in a great while on production stuff. It's the oil that has changed and the radicle cams and springs presures.