Well after finding metal flakes on my drain plug a few times I decided to tear into it and this is what I found today.















Cam is an f13 cam and has been in the car for over 2 years. Car itself has 139k on it. I was hoping to not have to pull the heads and replacing the cam bearings as I dont have the funds right now. The one lobe is really the only lobe damaged and I managed to fish out the lifter from the hole in the valley and I could probably fish a new one back in there no problem. Has anyone ever seen something similar? What could cause this?

 

The most common cause of that type of failure is worn valvesprings. You CANNOT run that cam again. You will destroy your engine in short order. At least find a used cam or something to replace it with. We have some used cams here for $250 if you need something. I can see if we have something similar to that cam so your tune will still be good.

Thanks,
Shane

 

It had prc dual springs installed when the cam was installed. At the very least I was planning on picking up another f13 cam and a lifter to get me thru the summer. If you happen to have one laying around or if anyone does shoot me a pm. The cam bearings are nice and smooth just have copper showing. Ive pulled motors apart with 5k miles on them so Im not too concerned about them. I did read about a bad batch of f13 cams sent out so who knows. Im pretty new to ls1s engines and this is actually the first time Ive torn into one alone.

 

The bearings look fine. I disagree that lobe and lifter are worn from weak valve springs. If that was the case all the lobes or at least a few wooooood be worn like that. To test it have the springs checked...........

My opinion is that cam is worn from poor materials and or workmanship.

 

Thats what I was thinking myself. It was strange it was only that one lobe.

 

Guys, I install camshafts for a living. I've seen this on probably 100 cams over the years. It is normally the result of improper valvetrain setup or worn springs. You are running .675" lift springs with a cam that has less than .600" lift. That is NOT the ideal setup from a spring harmonics standpoint. Take the advice or leave it, what I'm telling you is the majority of the time its a valvetrain issue (improper spring choice or shimming, bad lifter, etc). I've had materials analysis done on cams with this type of failure, only on very rare occasions has it come back as a bad cam core. It is possible that is the problem here but not the most likely culprit. The problem usually only shows up on 1 or 2 lobes when you catch it but if you wait long enough they will all do it.

The only other thing that could cause this is if the cam is a re-grind...

Shane

 

I agree with what you posted I just think in this case Its not a valve spring because all the other lobes look good. I woooood expect some kind of damage to other lobes if it was. I'm guessing setup, bad lifter not holding pressure etc.

 

I better add I think this is a tough thing to call. Too many things could be wrong and cause it. Even in stock engines you see this type of damage.

 

Ive seen this in my engines... once from a regrind...once from low oil pressure

 

I recieved the car with the cam and everything already installed and was told the cam has been in the car for a few years. Also oil pressure was around 50psi crusing, I never saw the gauge drop below 40.

 

Definately agree that you have too much spring for the cam, not saying it is the cause but i would look into some .600lift springs, I have seen this happen from bad cores but never on just one lobe, usually at least 3 or 4, same to be said with loss of oil pressure. I have seen very few on only one lobe, one was debris in the pan that was cought inbetween the lifter and cam the other was a stuck roller on the lifter. Your picture looks more like the stuck lifter did. If you must go back together without going through the motor make sure you are very thorough about getting ALL of the metal out of the system. What legnth pushrods are you running and have the heads been milled, block decked ect?

 

Is that means any camshaft has a .5XX/.5XX lift should not use over .600 lift valve spring? I've both single and dual spring and thinking about which to use. Cam is a 224/230 .588/.588

 

You are correct sir. I am just pointing out an obvious problem I see with this setup. Whether you guys believe me or not I can't really control that.

Just trying to help.

Shane

 

You can use a spring rated for higher lift but you should shim the spring accordingly to make up the difference... The spring will be much happier closer to coil bind.

Shane

 

The one lobe is the only one with the damage, and it happens to be where the opening is in the valley. Maybe a piece of debris fell down onto the lobe and damaged the lifter and lobe? Who knows. Ive drained the oil a few times within the past 1000 miles and the oils been clean but there has been debris stuck to the magnet on the drain plug. Im running texas speed 7.400 .080 pushrods and as far as I know the heads have never been off the car. Maybe I should just put a bigger cam in it instead of changing the springs since obviously I need a new cam? LOL

 

I also noticed the opening in the block right above the damaged lobe looks a little chewed up, I just went out and snapped a pic

 

Something with LSL lobes or similar would be a good choice. You could get a custom cam with similar specs and higher lift which should work well with your springs and tune.

If I can help, just let me know.

Shane

 

Well it's a bummer no mater what, we're all cam guys and nobody wants a bad lobe.

 

I just had the same thing happen to me. My setup was done in by some low oil pressure combined with some debris. I had over 70k miles on it. 0.561 lift tr224 with prc dual springs.

 

I just pulled my cam and I've got two lobes that look like that ... 2 more on their way and the rest with "normal" wear ... springs check out good ... no ptv impacts and I have no real idea why this happened ... 65k on the cam ... good luck!

I did buy a new TR cam almost identical to the one I had with about .030 more lift on intake and exhaust ... new springs and related stuff too.