Hey, I just picked up a sbc 400 setup that was totally disassembled that is in amazing shape and I got it for a steal. Almost everything in it is aftermarket and I just got finished identifying the heads and now I'm on the cam. On the back end of the cam it has 60 CR (Crane Cams? Crower? someone else?) with 11 17 89 which I assume is the manufacture date. On the shaft it has 0288 right behind the first cam bearing brace. Then right before the next it has D1 on one side and C1 on the other. After the last cam bearing brace it has CSC and then right before the distributor gear it has B. Right after the gear it has 15 or maybe 16. On the face it just has a mark that looks like it might be a 1 but ould be nothing.

Any help on this would be great.

 

Sorry, none of those numbers ring a bell.

You can take it to a shop that has, what I believe is called a Cam Doctor. It's a computeized machine that can read and print out all the specs of the lobes.

Last time I had one checked, a ZZ9, it cost $25 for the service.

Hope this helps.

Jake

 

Cool, I may just end up doing that. I was thinking about borrowing some mikes from a friend and miking them out just to get a rough generalization. I'm already looking at new pistons, camshaft and crankshaft mainly. All the parts are in great condition and could be reassembled without a problem.

I'll see if the local shop has a cam analyzer down there. I'm hopefully dropping off the block soon to have it fluxed and cleaned and possibly bored. The engine had less than 100hrs on it before it's last rebuild.

 

Why bother spending any money checking a cam you can't use? Unless the cam has never been run, it can't be reinstalled unless the lifters were marked for each position they came out of on the engine.
Mixing lifters into different spots on any cam that has been even lightly run is a recipe for disaster! You may completely rebuild the engine, and have lifters and cam go bad by mixing old lifters and cam.

 

Why don't I just spend 60 - 100 for new lifters rather than double that for a cam kit? You can replace the lifters and not worry about the cam. Once it's gone through the break in cycle it's fine and can go with new lifters.

Plus with a low mileage engine there's no reason to replace lifters unless you get them out of order. The bottoms of the lifters create wear patterns with their specific lobe and getting them mixed up can wipe a lobe.

 

Ummmm...no to the first sentence. Your second sentence states why. The lifters and cam lobes wear as a set. Replacing only the lifters with new ones would be taking the same chance of failure as swapping around the used ones. Unless you had roller lifters, but I didn't see that being mentioned.

 

Well I've always been told that you can use new lifters with an older cam but not old lifters with a new cam. The only exception to using old lifters is to make sure that the lifters go back in their lifter bores when reusing the one that they've gotten the wear pattern on. I know with roller lifters you're good to go either way. I know people that have had poor quality lifters bottom out and dimple and replace with a better quality set and have no problems.

 

OK, let's say you have a worn cam and lifters. And as you know, they wear together as a matched set. The base of the lifters can be dished, which is common. That could also mean the cam lobes would be crowned, higher in the middle to match the dish on the lifter. Install new lifters (that aren't dished), and now the lifters are riding on the crown of the cam lobes, not contacting the full length of the lobes. That puts more lbs. per square inch on the remaining surfaces that are coming in contact with each other. That's just asking for a premature cam and lifter failure issue. And, adding some heavier rated h.p. valve springs will compound that problem. Is saving $100 worth taking that chance?

 

Great explanation Camaro69! It wont work either way. I know it's a lot of money to change both, but there's just no option if you didn't keep the lifters in the original order.

 

O.K. I understand everything that you've said. My stepfather has changed out a work truck's lifters and just the lifters and that was when I was a teenager and I'm in my 30's now. I'm sure that vehicle has well over 60k + miles (probably well over twice that amount) on it since then and it's used daily for heavy hauling and still runs great for being a truck from the early 70's. Another friend of mine has changed out only a few lifters in his vehicle and that was about a year ago. Neither of them, that I know of, have had problems with cam failure. Granted, they may not be seeing any performance degradation or anything like that though if the cam has lost lift from erosion and wear due to the new lifters.

Now with that said, I've always done cam and lifters at the same time. This camshaft even has the original lifters with it nicely number and in a box. Buuuut, I didn't catalog them so I couldn't say for sure if they were done correctly or the way they did it to remember what lifter/cylinder combo they went with. I've always heard that you could use new lifters with an old cam but never old lifters with other cams or new cams. That's just what I had always heard.

I even just did a search on the web and the engine builder's handbook by Tom Monroe says it's alright to use new lifters with a used camshaft as long as the lobes are in good condition. It's the number 2 point in the center column.

Even with the search I did to find that I'm finding a lot of responses with people who say it's alright as long as the cam's in good condition. But I'm also finding a lot of people who debate otherwise with the same response you did Camaro69 about the wearing down.

In the end I'm probably going with a different cam as when I checked the cam with calipers it was coming out to like a 430-440 lift with 1.5 rockers. I don't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head though. Also I don't think this cam even saw 1000 miles of break in if you ask me.