I am building a FE 445 stroker for my other car. I did the 312 with Mummert heads, cam, etc. a ways back. I had no problems with the cam or lifters and it runs fine. Recently, there has been discussion on other Ford forums about cam lobe/lifter failures on first startups after rebuilding. I was intending on using conventional a flat tappet hydraulic cam and lifters on the FE. Have folks here had trouble with lifter/cam failures? Some of the failures seem to possibly point to current quality of metal being used by manufacturers. Any thoughts? I need to choose a valve train combo soon. Thanks.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark;

I'm sure you will get lots of good responses from several of our experts on this site. While I have not had any bad experiences with premature lifter/cam failure (just lucky I guess), I did learn a lot on my last engine build. I think one factor to consider is the cam lift. If your planning on a high lift cam you will need to use heavier valve springs with higher seat pressures. This could cause problems with lfat tappet lifters. Also, I make sure I use lots of assembly lube on all moving valve train parts and a good quality break-in oil. I remember some past posts that did talk about the lifters breaking, but I think these are rare incidents. Good luck with your build!

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

Mark, Hopefully Ted will chip in on this, but if you're using a cam with a dual spring setup, consider breaking it in with some form of Cam lube and only the outer springs.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Thanks for the replies. I will be using out-of-the-box Edelbrock aluminum heads, about 9.8 compression with dished Probe forged pistons, Probe rods and Scat stroker crank. This is for my daily driver so a C6 with a stock stall speed converter. Mild cam with a good idle for driving in traffic. Lots of torque and will never see over 5k RPM. 3.0 or 3.25 TruTrac rear, Edelbrock Performer (not an RPM) intake, single vac secondary 4bbl. Have MSD ignition stuff and FPA headers already. Swapping out the original 352 in the 65 Galaxie. Would really like to avoid the cost of a hydraulic roller set up if I can.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark, the biggest factors I have seen are the metallurgy of the lifters, taper on the cam lobes and of course lubrication. You must use a good break-in additive and a suitable oil afterward.I doubt that metallurgy of the camshaft is a problem because there are only a couple of sources as long as it is a US cam core.
Most of the failures I have seen in the last 10 years were insufficient taper on the cam lobes. This will cause the lifter to slide on the lobe instead of rotating.
We are using Gibbs XP8 in our race Y. It is recommended for no more than .0025" bearing clearance.
Gibbs has lots of oils and lots of people are using Brad Penn.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Ask the cam manufacturer for a recommendation on start up oil.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

have a look on Mr Eatons website, he has a list of factors contributing to cam/lifter failure. it scared the life out of me and i went outside and undone all the rocker shaft pedastal bolts. i tend to let my rebuilds sit tooo long

stuey

Insuring that the lifters are free in their respective bores and that both the lobes and lifters are thoroughly lubed prior to installation would be at the top of the list in preventing flat tappet cam/lifter failures. In addition to this, then double checking that the heads are properly assembled so that there is no binding or guides being too tight helps immensely. Beyond that, here’s the link to the list of other items that can contribute to cam and/or lifter failures.

http://www.eatonbalancing.com/blog/2012/11/06/camshaft-and-lifter-failure-causes-2/

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)