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By ray - 14 Years Ago
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Any experience swapping a good original stock Ford cam and lifters from a problem engine into a good block? Are the tappet bores accurate enough between blocks that the original wear patterns will be the same?
tia,
ray
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By snowcone - 14 Years Ago
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You should replace the cam bearings but the lifter bores will be OK provided there is no existing damage to them
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By Rono - 14 Years Ago
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Ray; I think it can be done, but there could be problems if you don't replace the specific lifter on the came lobe it was riding on when you put everything into another block. This is because of different wear patterns on the lifter face. If you make a lifter holder and number the lifters to match the cam lobes you should be okay. Rono
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By 314 - 14 Years Ago
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keep things in order and you will have no problem.ive often mixed them up and still were ok.
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By ray - 14 Years Ago
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Thanks for the replies and thoughts. The question is academic now anyway. I dropped the rack holding the lifters . So now the original cam and lifters are on the way to Oregon Cam grinders.
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By 46yblock - 14 Years Ago
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Happenings like that can bring out quite a few choice words . It is all for the better though .
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By slumlord444 - 14 Years Ago
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How about regrinding it to the blower cam spec's?
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By PF Arcand - 14 Years Ago
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Sum; Might be feasible but a re grind like that apparently often requires reducing the base circle. It may not be practicle to get the proper lift etc. Best start with a new blank..
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By ray - 14 Years Ago
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This cam goes into a working 272 powered F-350 so I want the power / torque at idle and just off idle. I have few doubts the original cam will not grind to original specs but I told the good folks at OCG I want a new cam if this one will not grind to specs. Thanks.
ray
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By Ted - 14 Years Ago
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Ray. It sounds like your question was settled for you when the lifters got jumbled up. The reusing of lifters is a controversial subject and has been brought up before. Here are links to past threads on the subject. Some of these threads are several pages long and reading the additional pages will be necessary to get the full picture.
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic60188.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic53489.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic52298.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic33040.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic1161.aspx
Performing a search on the site will bring up more threads on the subject and you’ll see that opinions vary widely on this subject. From my own perspective, used lifters being moved from one block to another is a substantial risk. There’s already enough risk in using new cams and lifters without increasing the chance for failure by using used lifters from another engine. From a shop’s perspective, the risk is simply too high to provide any kind of warranty that could cover this. If I had to use a camshaft from another engine, I’d at least put new lifters on it to reduce the amount of risk of cam lobe failure. Valve spring pressure also plays into this and an increasing of the valve spring pressure over the stock values compounds the issue.
I’ll add that as long as new U.S. made lifters are available, I’ll not use reground lifters in a given application. I reserve the regrinding of lifters for those engines that no longer have a viable new lifter source available for them.
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By Vic Correnti - 14 Years Ago
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Okay okay I have to put my $.02 worth. The location of the lifter bores are different from engine to engine (manufacturing tolerance) so I think that the lifters and or cam will wear differently and no way would I chance having to tear it down again!
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 14 Years Ago
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Vic: Now you have given me something else to think about while I'm staged and waiting for the lights to come down. I have used the same '70s after market cam and lifters in 3 or 4 different blocks without giving thought to lifter bore/cam bore relationships possibly varying. However, so far so good.
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By 314 - 14 Years Ago
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all this talk about cam wear has everybody running scared.everyone mixed old cams and lifters in all directions in the past didn matter what engine.the only bad lifter was one that showed wear.an old mechanic friend who is about 75 now ran a stock car for 10 years on the last dirt track around here.58 ford 312.he put a new cam in it just a mild ond and a used set of lifters.it never failed.to much caution ruins a good thing.
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By snowcone - 14 Years Ago
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I can't see what all the panic and fuss is about.
It's not rocket science. There is a round hole and you have a round lifter that is microscopically smaller than the hole. Put it in!!!
In my Chev race boat engines, if I had a lifter failure I just rip it out and throw another one in and back racing again.
Even lifter bores that had been gouged a bit could be saved with a brake cylinder hone.
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By ray - 14 Years Ago
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Vic Correnti (12/3/2011)
Okay okay I have to put my $.02 worth. The location of the lifter bores are different from engine to engine (manufacturing tolerance) so I think that the lifters and or cam will wear differently and no way would I chance having to tear it down again!
Yeah, this was my concern. Even though the cam will move fore and aft a slight amount, I suspect there would be a different wear pattern set up with the lifters in different blocks. "Tear it down again" Yes, especially with the captured lifters.
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By 314 - 14 Years Ago
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i am sure no two blocks are the same but thats my point.lots of people are changing them and they are lasting just fine.if you got money to burn go ahead and use new parts ill stick to used.
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