I have a newly built 383. I has a flat tappet hydraulic cam. I had trouble getting the motor started (ignition wiring problem). It took 4 days and probably 50 or more starting attempts to diagnose and fix the problem.

I'm really worried I've completely scraped off the cam lube (Lunati cam with their supplied lube, thick black pasty stuff) and I may have even started wearing the lobes off the thing.

Anyone have any advice on how I should proceed?

a) Hope for the best, and just start and run-in the motor like nothing happened

b) Pull the intake and somehow try to re-lube the cam, then run-in

c) Inspect the cam somehow and replace if necessary?

Anyone have a feel for how much damage I may have done? FYI, this cam has a 260 advertised duration, 1.48 inches of lobe lift and has been nitrided for extra wear resistance. I pre-oiled the motor before the first start and got oil to the top-end, but not on the start-up attempts over the last 4 days. I did see the oil pressure gauge registering reasonable pressure even on short startup bursts (in the 50 psi range). It is a high volume oil pump. I doubt I've had much lubrication to the top-end though.

Thanks for any advice.

 

Ignore this post, as I decided to post in the general engine section instead of 1st gen/V8.