Thread: It finally happened to me

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On this cam break in I tried the Chevron Delo 15-40 recommended by Car Craft, Hot Rod mag and numerous others because the ZDDP additive has not been reduced. I did some research and found that the Valvoline Racing oil has added ZDDP, yes it is a little spendy but maybe well worth it.

Does anybody know if Castrol HD30 has ZDDP in it? Now I am kinda worried about my cam failing, I haven't started the engine just yet.

I put 2 cans of EOS in mine for break-in and all went well soo far.
The roller cam is a better alternative to regular cam because of these issues stated,It just seems much better to start a new engine and idle it,roller cam,than to hope it fires right away and rev it to 2000 plus rpms and hope for the best on the cam,a roller simply will not fail under those circumstances that a regular cam will.
Is the 2 or 3 hundred dollars worth the gamble of go or blow?
A roller cam is a bargain compared to a re-do of the entire engine from the flat tappet cams metal particles in the oil.
It was about 130 bucks for a regular cam,about 200 for a roller ,thats 70 bucks.It was 109 for good lifters for a regular cam,its about the same for factory roller blocks and anywhere from3 to 4 hundred for retrofit roller lifters.
One would be money ahead to start out with a roller block rather than retro fit ones,considering a good block is about the price of a set of retro fit rollers.
I will never build a regular flat tappet cam motor again after watching a few intial starts of roller cam engines compared to flat tappets,i takes most of the worry out of initial firing of the engine and it is easy to pick up on any out of the normal sounds at idle and shut it down,rather than hearing very little at 2000 plus rpm and by the time you shut it down the damage is done at that rpm.
With a roller there is no need to get it to fire immediatly,theres no need for special oil,theres no need to worry at all,simply crank untill it fires and you are then ready to go ,without concern about the cam you cant see or the damage from metal particles,even a sucessful flat tappet cam break-in puts metal particles thru the entire engine anyway.
There is not much to worry about other than loose or not installed bolts on a roller cam engine upon intial fire,regular cam intial fire is a nerve racking thing at best when you consider your only choice is go or blow,snort it to 2000 plus rpm and hope for the best with a regular cam,fire it up and wait and see if the engine survives or dies,not a good thing to look forward to on a engine build.A much better alternative is to start the engine and know in the first few seconds if its gunna live,not snort it to 2000 rpm and worry the entire time if it worked,with a roller cam there is no hope or wonder its just going to work ,end of story,regular flat tappets are broke in on hope and fear.
I will admit the chance and worry of failure made the successful cam break-in seem like a much greater accomplishment than it actually was ,considering the cam should do that anyway,with a roller it just works and thats how it should be,not a hope that it works or does not fail.

Originally Posted by shawnlee28

Is the 2 or 3 hundred dollars worth the gamble of go or blow?
A roller cam is a bargain compared to a re-do of the entire engine from the flat tappet cams metal particles in the oil.
It was about 130 bucks for a regular cam,about 200 for a roller ,thats 70 bucks.It was 109 for good lifters for a regular cam,its about the same for factory roller blocks and anywhere from3 to 4 hundred for retrofit roller lifters.
.

I think your a little off in your #'s. for example on a 454 chevy motor:

Lunati VooDoo hydraulic flat tappet cam and lifter kit from summit: $179.

Crane Hydraulic roller cam: $ 280.
crane hydraulic roller lifters:$ 440.

total is $720 for the hydraulic roller compared ot he $179 flat tappet so a $531 difference is quite large not to mention the push rods are gonna be more expensive for the Roller unit having to be longer i fI remeber correctly. Id agree with your a flat tappet cam is not worth chancing if it was truely only a $200 difference. Even if you call up Competition products and question both cams they will tell you how a roller set up...especially hydraulic roller on a BB motor traditionally when all is said and done costs 600-800 more than flat tappet hydraulic. for the budget minded kid getting into hod rods and building his first motor and Roller is a hefty Part price wise IMO.