[zeebo]

so i take it that if one wants that H8 cam, we will have to contact bullet cams and have them custom grind it? it does sound like a great cam for a hot street motor!

[Ken -Ace- Brewer]

Originally Posted by rad400

Nik I did hear from Ace and he said the TC02 will be great in a 455 but the choice is yours Greg Merrick sells UD cams.

TC-02 at 236/244 is perfect for your app. It's a flat tappet version of SD's "Old Faithfull".

Ace

[big_gto]

Don't forget the RA 4 cam & Rhodes lifters. Spending close to $1,000 just to switch over to a roller cam is just cost prohibitive if one is just updating a cam profile. I thinks it's price gouging considering roller cams for Pontiacs have been available for over 10 years.

[Nikwho]

So, with my UltraDyne 280/288 cam, I am curious what lifters and rockers I should run? I was thinking about running some 1.65's. Is this a good plan? I know that I will need to clearance the heads to run them, but now is as good of a time as ever to do that! My engine is apart and my heads have not been assembled yet. I could do the work and then send them in to get vatted. And should I run the Rhoads lifters? Other thoughts?

Nik C.

[A.W.Dille]

Nik I spent an hour on the phone with Greg Merrick when I bought my Ultradyne 280-288 and he told me not to use 1.65's with this cam, stay with 1.5's. You may want to call him on this. As far as lifters I would use an anti-pumpup lifter with a quality set of roller rockers, i.e. Harland Sharps, Crower,etc. Check with Ace or Greg as they both carry quality lifters and rockers.

[aktattoo]

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...roller+lifters

[stickboy]

No need to use Rhodes lifter with that cam. It will make plently of vaccuum and responsive off idle. I did run it with stock stamped 1.5's and then switched to Harland Sharp 1.65 rocker arms. Wonder why Merrick said not to run them?

[Nikwho]

Thank Obeid! So, my machinist is very worried about me running a used came that doesn't have the original lifters in order. He says if the cam flattens out, I have to pull the engine completely back apart and rebuild it because of metal shavings. Is there any thing that I can do to stack the odds in my favor other than just buying new lifters, doing a proper break in procedure (vary between about 2200-2500 RPM for 30 min?) and running the proper oil? I'd really LOVE for this cam not to flatten out! And should I just run comp or crane lifters? Does it matter much?

[stickboy]

Nik, I switched to a roller, so I don't know what's out there for flat tappet lifters nowadays, but I would look at some of the ones with the small hole for positive oiling perhaps, but they are pricey and you could probably make it work with standard lifters, just a little more care on breakin.

I kept the lifters for a while, but tossed them when I moved recently sorry otherwise I would have sent them. They were some Johnsons packaged as Melling from AutoZone, nothing fancy. But this was before the ZDDP crap, just put the additive and run the good oil....maybe someone else can recommend. My buddy runs a flat tappet in a 440 chrysler, aggressive Mopar .904 lifter lobes, broke it in with rotella deisel and he's been running it everyday driver for the last 3 years.

Maybe take out the inner springs and then reinstall after breakin?

[Nicks67GTO]

Use the old grey crane moly lube paste on your cam and lifter faces. DO NOT use that red comp cams ****. That stuff is junk i don't care what anyone says, professional or otherwise. I put that stuff on a cam, came back the next day to button things up and it was all in the bottom of the pan. Junk.

Its been several years since ive done a flat tappet break in but i used 2 bottles of GM EOS and some castrol straight 30 weight oil, pulled my inner valve springs, set lash, primed the engine and fired it off varying between 2000 and 2700 RPM for about 20-30 minutes.

[lust4speed]

I don't see many flat tappet cam in an engine that I would reinstall. Almost all are showing some signs of early lobe failure. My friends aren't happy when I break the news to them because they had planned to offset the cost of the new cam upgrade by selling the old assembly. That doesn't mean that any particular cam can't be good, it just means that normally the odds are not in your favor.

[torqjunki]

Every car will have different results, but I can attest to the performance and driveability of the Tomahawk TC-02 from ACE. Like he said, it is a FT version of the old Faithfull, but maybe more importantly, it is about as close as any cam to the Wolverine grind that has proven to be as fast as any cam for a combo like yours/mine and lots of other folks. Almost hate to keep publicly endorsing this cam, but it does everything so well. I do feel that most all the offerings mentioned will run pretty close if the rest of the car is dialed in perfectly for each cam. I like the idea of the roller stuff as well. Might go that direction some day.

[jonmachota78]

Torqjunki, can u tell us more about your combo? Is your convertor the "jim hand special"? Or whats the stall? And what's your compression ratio? Did you install the cam on a 108 intake lobe center? Thougt it would be good to know since that cam is working well with your combo. Jon

[torqjunki]

Sure. Compression is 10.5. Sent the out of the box heads to my machinist for a precision valve job. Got them back and did some clean up with a cartrige roll and sent them back for push rod elongation and clean up. They flowed 300cfm and were really strong at mid lift. Cam was installed as per card...sorry don't remember numbers. Was ground on a 112. Converter for both the T-350 and current 2004R are Jim Hand tight 10" units. Rest of info in my signature is acurate at this time. Will soon be swapping to 3.42 gear.

[Cliff R]

"I don't see many flat tappet cam in an engine that I would reinstall. Almost all are showing some signs of early lobe failure."

+1

When you really start looking close at used camshafts, you start to see where they are getting "scrubbed" a bit on the sides of the ramps just off the base circle.

Scares me enough not to ever want to install a used one. I just don't have any luck with that sort of thing. I tried it one time, many years ago, and chewed a lobe off the used cam in about a week.

I see others do it all the time, even after dropping half the nicely separated lifters on the dirty shop floor, and mixing them all up, and they never have the first problem one with lobe/lifter failure......Cliff

[72LuxuryLeMansLa.]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

"I don't see many flat tappet cam in an engine that I would reinstall. Almost all are showing some signs of early lobe failure."

+1

When you really start looking close at used camshafts, you start to see where they are getting "scrubbed" a bit on the sides of the ramps just off the base circle.

Scares me enough not to ever want to install a used one. I just don't have any luck with that sort of thing. I tried it one time, many years ago, and chewed a lobe off the used cam in about a week.

I see others do it all the time, even after dropping half the nicely separated lifters on the dirty shop floor, and mixing them all up, and they never have the first problem one with lobe/lifter failure......Cliff

That kinda crap kills me! You take every precaution, do everything by the book, and get your a$$ handed to you; then some idiot says screw it, does what ever the hell he wants and happily stumbles through what seems to be a charmed life! I call that the "Forrest Gump Effect" .

Karl

[Cliff R]

It's just Karma for me.

If I were to steal something I'd get caught.

If I injected heroin it would be an overdose.

If I cheated on my wife she'd walk in on me.......

So I know damned well if I put a used cam in an engine, it's going to scrub a lobe in about the time it took me to type this!......Cliff

[Nikwho]

So, whats the risk of damaging the engine or new bearings if the cam did flatten out? Would I need to tear it apart and rebuild it? Or would I just need to change the oil and install a new cam if it flattened out? Maybe I am just being cheap. Is there any insurance to stack the odds in my favor or is it just not worth saving $100 to try it??? I know the cam is a good grind, but I would just assume buy another cam if it has the potential to cause me to rebuild this engine right after I built it. I know that there are risks even with a new HFT cam, I just need to choose what the heck to do!!!

[b-man]

You will be tearing down after the cam fails.

Not worth the risk, not for myself at least.

[Skip Fix]

If I were to steal something I'd get caught.


That was the luck I always had growing up too Cliff. If I tried to lie got caught-why I never smoked pot or drove after drinking knew I would get caught.

And all those time we would push my car out of the driveway and fire it up down the street to go street racing my folks knew just never let on til I was an adult-because I would take my mother's student for money

I have a NIB original UD 299/296 on a 112 FT I'm tempted to put in something but sure hate to have to do a tear down if a lobe goes.