Ok, you're supposed to keep the lifters matched to the same camshaft lobe.


Won't this be thrown out with the bath water if you move the camshaft and lifters to another engine?

(What's the likelyhood of all the tappet bores being in the exact same relationship to the camshaft on another engine????? )

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Your point has been made before and yes, some people have had failures when keeping a lifter matched to it's lobe when going from one block to another, but it's better than not keeping the lifters matched to their respective lobes. New or properly resurfaced lifters are safer.

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Joshua

This is true but your chances are better keeping them in order.

One of the most important things will be to start the engine up with the right oil, and then keep the RPM of that sucker up over 2500 RPM for a good 20 to 30 minutes.

I always run one of those radiator backflush kits so I can keep good cool water going to the engine when doing this. Then dont let the engine get to hot by turning on the water when cooling is needed. Its best to do this with no thermostat and that will allow you more control over water temp. I let it stablize around 120 degree and use the water to keep it there for a few minutes, then I let it get a little hotter ( maybe 150 ) and run a few minutes there, then I bring it on up to 180 and run it there until the end of the 30 minute run in. The hole time I am trying to work the throttle and rev the engine up and down without letting it go below 2500 RPM
( sometimes I even use 3500 rpm as my base, low RPM rate).


I have re used cam & lifter sets many times before and sometimes did not keep things in order with no problems ever showing up. But thats been a while back and things are diff now with the new oil and cheaper metals. Good oil, the right break in, keep things in order they came from, dont let it over heat, or run with missfires going on, the proper valve lash to start with, and do it when all the plantes are inline, and when the moons are not mad at you, and you will have a 50/50 chance of it working. Which is about the same chance you have of a new setup working.


Jess

Follow Jess' advice. I've mixed and matched before too without problems but like Jess noted things are different now. I also use a good thick moly paste on the cam lobes and lifter faces. Diamond used to sell a nice size tube at a reasonable price.

Use cam lube and maybe consider "diesel" oil (rotella t,delo) they have more adatives for mechanical cams. This goes for new agressive cams too. You can try to find the article I read this in on comp cams website (it doesn't say anything about used cams just oil and cam wear)

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1970 Vitamin C Duster 225 2bbl 904 eventually turbo efi r154 5 speed

1969 B5 blue roadrunner 383/727 soon to be turbo slant (JK)

1972 Barracuda was green 318 who knows?

i never worry about lining up lifters on the same lobe, just treat the cam install as a new cam and run it in with the same procedure( over 2500rpm`s for 15 minutes), as for cam lube a mix of 50/50 gear oil and motor oil on the lobes and lifter on install works for me

I have kept lifters in order, but swapped several cams between different short blocks and never a problem.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I have done the same thing with success.

I think the key is to be sure the lifters you use still have some "crown" on them, you can check this by putting a straight edge accross the face and holding it up to the light.
Without the slight radius (crown) and the slight angle ground onto the cam lobes, the lifter will not spin and if the lifter does not spin, failure will occur. I always "paint dab" the pushrods so you can easily see the spinning action once the engine starts and runs.
If you find a lifter that does not spin, stop and change it out for one that does spin.
DD

I do the paint on the pushrod trick, it helps to spot stuck lifter real easy.


One mistake you see people do if they are running heavy springs is to not break the cam in with only the outer spring. It makes for extra work to run only the outer spring and then swap in the inner spring after break in but it saves a cam. High lift ratio rockers can be a problem with new cam break in also. I know most of us dont run heavy springs and 1.6 or higher rockers, but if you are its best to break in with stock rockers and only one spring. Just dont rev the engine up higher than 4000 rpm if only one spring is run for breakin.

The fast ramps of todays cams, the lack of good oil and cheap lifters are the cause of all this extra caution needed. Although none of the off the shelf cams we have really have all that fast of a lobe ramp. Some of the new Erson cams may have really fast ramps though, IDK myself I have never bought one of them. By looking at the specs for some of the Schneider cams they may have some fast ramps, one that really stuck out to me was this listing.

14506 Oval and bracket cam. 3000-7000 RPM. 292-96F
292 296
258 262
.550" .500"
.020" .020"
108

Anyone ever run this cam to know its performance and requirments for springs.



Jess