Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines New camshaft questions

Hi!
A bought a new camshaft for my used Chevy 250 engine. It's a 270H Isky cam & all (matching lifters,
springs, retainers, etc).
The first question is about the cam bearings. Is it possible to change it just opening the oilpan?
The second one is about the 'cam degreeing'. The engine is 30k miles used. Will it be possible
to degree at 0 degrees exactly for an example? Or it can't be 'degreed' exactly?
The third one is about its fitment. When installing a new cam I heard that it's important to run it
at high revs for a while, to fit it right. Is it true?
Thanks a lot!!!

first,
Dont touch the cam bearing they will e fine. Even old engines have pretty good ones. Often the only real rewason we change them when rebuilding is because the hot tanking process of block cleaning eats them up. The chance of yours beoing bad at 30K is a big fat zero.
Cams should be run in at 3000 to 3500 rpm for 20 minutes and not allowed to IDLE ever until the 20 minutes is reached. it is important the engine fires up right away fso spend the extra time making sure the timing is right and there is fuel in the carb so it will start right away. Cams need to late themselves to the lifters and a lot of oil is required during this mating process. most of the oil on a cam s thrown off from the spinning crankshaft and out of the sides of the rod bearings. at 2000 to 2500 there is a nice ample supply . At idle there is little or none and untlthe cam has mated to the new lifters idleing is often instant death. Dont worry. if you do it this way it will go fine. A streetgrind hydraulic does not need to be degreed in. it is designed to be installed like a stcker and some liberties have been taken in itss design that keep this in considereation. A race engine with a custom or extreme design of cam need degreeing because if it is out even a couple of degrees engine charcteristics will be off of what was before. If you want to degree it you can but most folks would just install it per instructions of they wer hnest with you. if you find someone who says he thinks it shold be degreed in tell him to come over and show you how it is done. Chances are he wil be too busy or his mommy will be calling him for supper. If not and he comes it will be an interesting experiece at the very least but with a 270 H not really in all honesty necessary.

first,
Dont touch the cam bearing they will be fine. Even old engines have pretty good ones. Often the only real rewason we change them when rebuilding is because the hot tanking process of block cleaning eats them up. The chance of yours being bad at 30K is a big fat zero.
Cams should be run in at 2000 to 2500 rpm for 20 minutes and not allowed to IDLE ever until the 20 minutes is reached. it is important the engine fires up right away so spend the extra time making sure the timing is right and there is fuel in the carb so it will start right away. Cams need to mate themselves to the lifters and a lot of oil is required during this mating process. most of the oil on a cam is thrown off from the spinning crankshaft and out of the sides of the rod bearings. at 2000 to 2500 there is a nice ample supply . At idle there is little or none and until the cam has mated to the new lifters idling is often instant death. Dont worry. if you do it this way it will go fine. A street grind hydraulic does not need to be degreed in. it is designed to be installed like a stocker and some liberties have been taken in its design that keep this in considereation. A race engine with a custom or extreme design of cam needs degreeing because if it is out even a couple of degrees engine charcteristics will be off of what was before. If you want to degree it you can but most folks would just install it per instructions of they were hnest with you. if you find someone who says he thinks it should be degreed in tell him to come over and show you how it is done. Chances are he will be too busy or his mommy will be calling him for supper. If not and he comes it will be an interesting experiece at the very least but with a 270 H not really in all honesty necessary.

In addition; be very careful when removing the old cam!! The slightst scratch on a bearing will lose oil pressure.

To use a new (aluminum) gear you'll need to replace the crank gear (new) too. If the existing one (cam gear) is okay, just "switch" it.

Lot's of lube too, like "D" said.

Good luck.

Use Shell Rotella-T 15w40 for break in oil. It is about the only oil left with Zink in it. In fact I would use all together from now on with a flat lifter cam. Now that GM don't offer GM engine oil suppliment EOS any more I would look around for a good replacement...maybe one of the cam grinders would have something....SCRAP

Crane Cams Super Lube Break-in Additive.

Also recommended and sold by Delta cams.

I'm using it together with Rotella SAE30 for my new 261 break-in.

Watch out for the latest generation Rotella CJ rated oils, already on the shelves since beginning of this year.
They don't have sufficient zinc any longer.
Get the old stock pre CJ rated oils instead, if you can still find it.

The 'special cam lube' is probably a good idea but, you don't need multi-grade oil, except in frezing temp(s).

Dello 400 (SAE 30) is a good one too.

Good luck.

When was the last time it froze in Brazil??? This is 2007!! Engine and oil technology have came a long way in my lifetime(73) Old school is ok for old school motors. This a 250!!! with a whole list of parts out of a Chevy V/8's inside. These things will run all day at 6000 rpms. Don't put no STINKING SAE 30 in it even with 30k miles on it.....most likely want hurt a thing but,just can't do it myself and rest easy...SCRAP

Shell Rotella T with a service rating of CI-4 still has high zinc and phosporus....the newer CJ-4 has reduced levels of both...the newest rating takes precedence so CJ-4/CI-4 will be manufactured to the new low level....Brad Penn (Penn-Grade Racing Oil) has a new 30 weight "break-in" oil for new engines (with zinc and phosphorus)...I have heard (but can find no info regarding) that STP additive designated for Four Cylinder use has additional zinc and phosphorus with out the viscosity improvers...as most of you have learned G.M. has removed EOS from the market BUT chrysler supposedly has a equivalent product...wonder how long that will last??

Gentelmen;

Multi-grade oils were developed by the U.S. Army during WW II beecause the vehicles were shipped (all over the world) to operate in "any" tempature W/O regular changes.

It works well in precision engines (freezing areas) where the internal parts actually change size with the tempeture drop.

Otherwise there's no benefit. Especialy in the older engines/those running at high speeds/temps. Just extra cost is all.

Chevron (Dello) and Shell (Rotella) SAE 30, are 'commercial oils' designed for that and work well for 'flat tappet' camshafts in ANY country.

Happy trails to all.

Hi!
I live in the south of Brazil. Here the temperatures are about 40-50° Farenheit at winter and 90-105° Farenheit at summer.
So, I'm using a local oil lubricant called Ipiranga F1 Master. It's approved by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and has a SAE 20W50
multi-viscosity number.
I read some nice info about it at:
http://www.rockettbrand.com/technicals/documents/TechBulletins/MultiViscosityCrankcaseLubes.pdf
But after reading that I noticed that my engine temperature won't ever be at 14°F or even bellow 40°F. But I don't know the maximum temperature
of my engine oil.
Don't think it get close to 212°F anyway.
One thing I think is the colder the environment temperature is, the colder is the engine oil temperature. And the viscosity changes a lot with temp.
I'm using Militec-1 and I noticed the engine water temperature is colder. Also, the performance was improved and cold startings too.
I'm planning to use it when the new cam will be installed. But I read I can do it before installing it melting it with oil and using a oven, etc...
Is it a racional thing to do that to a new Isky cam? What do you think?
Thanks a lot, guys!!!

Generaly; An engine's oil (temp) usually runs about the same as the water (temp) or 180F +/-.

With a flat tapet cam & higher spring pressures more lubrication is needed and this exceeds what passenger cars usually use in "normal" driving, using "normal" oils.

Multi-grade oils have a different detergent additive which lasts longer than 'standard' SAE 30 oil. This is fine for 6-8,000 mile oil changes and very popular in this Country, because of this.

Most 'Hot Rod' engines get changed frequently, so this isn't a factor.

If the oils mentioned can't be found in your area, check a "trunk stop" and see what they use etc.

Good luck.

I required all my race engines and severe service engines in hiperformance applications to use straight grade oils. Multigrades are for only one reason, So the oil cam be used summer and winter and we dont drive our cars in the winter. BTW I dont wanna hear anything about modern technology hitech etc myself.
The world record for HP per cubic inch was set in the 1930s by H Miller and NO ONE, not even WJ or Grumpy or Jack Rousch or R Yates has ever beaten it since. Oils have come a long way, tires have come a long way , converters have come a long way but motors other than becoming lighter and having stronger materials have actually changed little.
Once you get them naked the good ones are fairly similar. 2 cams , two or four valves per cylinder (and even 3 have been around for a long time.)
Maybe I am a bit oversensitive here but I hear all the time that i use old technology (mostly because they know i am old i think .) In fact the folks who say that have no idea what i use. Still I have had an engine in the top five at our drag stip for the last 10 years with a couple of firsts some seconds and thirds almost every year. I keep thinking to myself if that is old technology why isnt everyone using it. ACtually we use a lot of sceince ad planning instead of cubic $$ to build our motors .
Sorry i am off topic. Here is the botom line.
Is it possible for an engine not to recieve sufficient protection from a mlti grade oil? The answer is a definate yes. (Just drain yer 10W30 when the engine os hot. Water has more viscosity)
Is it possible to hurt an engine using the proper straight grade oil . NO
So why would one take the chance? beats me. Of 341 engines I have had 4 failures. One I caused and I looked after right away despite the cost. One I dont understand and two were due to the customer changing the oil pan and pick up assembly and getting a mismatch so the pickup could not suck oil (no room to pan floor(and one of those customers was man enough to phone me and tell me whatthey found when they sorted it out. Because of the results I am not once ever sorry for the oil recomendations I suggest. I want results. That is all that counts to me.
D

D; Thanks for your explaination. I for one appreciate it.I do have a question though. What are the feelings of using synthetic compared to the conventional S.G. oils. Thanks in advance.

Check the following link, and read the chart about 2/3 of the way down. Look at the Zinc levels (Zn) and compare that to what is avalible in Brazil. You want the highest Zinc level you can get for break-in or mating of the cam and lifters.

http://www.lnengineering.com/oil.html

The rest of the artical is very informative.
Those that believe oils are all the same and never change, I wish you luck!

All this talk about Zn and P aside,I just read today ina copy of Diesel World that you needed at least 10,000 miles of breakin on regular oil. If yolu switched to synthetic before then, your rings would stop WEARING IN! Isn't this what we're looking for in the oil we use? Herb

Synthetics/ Seem to lube well but lack "bounce for the lack of a better word.
We use synthetics ni all our auto trans because it seems to more than triple the life. havent seen that in our engine program so we lean toward SG or severe service diesel and severe service gasoline engine oils.