Burgered Cam & Followers

[Derek]

Sunday on the way to Stoneleigh my hood broke down, well I let my Hood down. The noise coming from the engine was unbelievable, I thought it was a big end that had failed.

Rebuilt the engine last winter. 4k miles later we were stopped just off the M69 waiting for the breakdown truck.

The only reason I can think of is that I didn't run the new cam in correctly, which I will be doing once the replacement is in!

I insured with Graham Sykes and included breakdown cover and it was excellent. Called them at 09:30 and by 11:00 we were back home.

And by 3:00pm I had found the cause of all the noise and loss of power.

 

 

 

 

[Joel]

Hi Derek,

 

What sort of cam was it, and how did (or didn't) you run it in?

 

I'm a bit paranoid about mine as I've just installed a Kent FR32 - the problem being the engine is completely untested so I have no guarantee I'll be able to run it for the specified 20mins at 2000rpm on initial start-up

 

I'd swap it out for the old one, but that means new head bolts, new head gasket, etc, and that just aint gonna happen - this thing's crippling me at the moment

 

Any chance of some bigger pics?

[Guest salty_monk]

Get it all ready to go, oil primed etc & LOADS of assy lube on the cam & followers. If the car doesn't start... don't keep turning it over. Stop & try again. As soon as you get it started it needs to be kept over 2k rpm (maybe 2.5k) for at least 20mins from memory.

 

Pretty sure there are good instructions on the Burtons website.

 

Dan

[Derek]

Bigger picks as requested

Follower on the left was the worst but the others did nor fair well from the abuse.

As far as running in I started it, ran it for just a few mins then shut it down. Adjusted the timing and started it again did this a couple of times, so no running in as such. Wont do that again.

Standard cam from Ford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave R]

looks so familiar !

 

mine munched a new piper cam last month.. hadnt done much at all and it had been run in as per instructions,, only done aboput 40 miles

2 followers totalled...

awaiting replacement, but its not looking good for barkston

 

dave

[Guest Mike Coombs]

did you guys swap the spray bar over for a new one?

 

i've just rebuilt my top end with an fr34, i covered the cam lobes with molybdenum disulphide - this the best stuff for the job it has some amazing lubrication properties under high pressure metal to metal contact. its too good even to use in rolling element bearings - it causes the balls/rollers to skid rather than roll. The assembly lube is rubbish - it just runs off in between assembly and starting.

 

i was a little worried about running it in on a recently rebuilt and installed engine too, its good though as it gives you time to run about fixing leaks and checking everything before you go out. Just make sure you rad fan is working first - i bypassed mine and left it on

 

I've just done an oil change at about 1000 miles since rebuild, renewed the spray bar again to be sure and the cam looks fine - fingers crossed lol