Well have fun at the fair!

 

Finally got ahold of my buddy who has the car trailer I borrowed last year for the drags! So confirmed I can use it this weekend! I was starting to wonder if I'd make the drags as anything more than a spectator this year!
The Billetproof Hotrod Eruption Drags near St Helens is probably the best drag racing event of the year! All '64 and older cars, (but they have let a few later 60's cars run when things slow down late afternoon). It gets everything from high end full on drag cars, to stock Model A Fords! Many street driven hotrods that are driven to the event, and raced, so a nice variety. Riverdale is a non NHRA 1/8 mile track, and puts on a great show every year! They need the revenue like most small tracks, so it's good to see this event is so successful!

 

Another great Billetproof Drags is over! I made about 10 passes Sat., and only a few on Sunday. It got really packed Sunday with all the cars who didn't do the test and tune Sat., so the staging area really got packed!
The cool looking Hurst slicks didn't hook well all day. I tried all sorts of tire pressures, and different launch rpm's, but nothing worked to hook up. Did huge smoky burnouts from the water box, and still couldn't get them hot enough to hook up. The Falcon spun the tires all the way through 1st and 2nd, and it was a pedal fest trying to get it hooked up. Even bogging off the line with a 1500 rpm launch didn't work, because as soon as I started to roll into the throttle they broke loose again.
I'm going to start looking for a pair of 10x15 Ford pattern wheels, and mount my Goodyear Eagle wrinkle walls on them. Hopefully they will hook much better.

 

Looks like I did some damage to the engine on the Falcon at the drags! Not sure which day, as it sounded off a little Sat., and worse Sunday. I did a compression test Thursday, and found all cylinders at 155 psi, except #4; it was 30#.
Pulled the valve covers and found three rockers off their pushrods! Pulled the tunnel ram and found two exploded lifters, and one bent pushrod. Used my spring compressor to check valve stem travel and all was fine, just the two bad lifters and one pushrod.
I installed new lifters, and pushrod, and did another cam break in today for the two lifters. Reset the timing, and double checked valve settings and preload. Everything back together and running great, but I have a note in to Comp's tech line to ask if they've had any issues, or suggestions. Got lucky this time, but not sure I want to go through this ever again! It's too much like what happened with the Austin's 327 and lifters!

 

yeah comp has been having issues lately with there cams lately.

 

The cam is fine, it was the lifters. Hard to blame one brand of lifter since 70% of all flat tappet lifters sold in the USA are from one maker, Sanadyne. If a lifter failed with one brand of cam, it would fail with 70% of the cam makers. The lifters I had fail with my Isky cam were identical, and most likely Sanadyne purchased also.
The myths about bad lifters in general came when Sanadyne ceased operation back around 2008, and many companies began buying off shore made lifters from China. A huge number of these were improper materials or heat treating, and caused cam/lifter failures. This coincided with people blaming oils for the failures, and some cam makers getting a bad rap. I spoke with Isky and Comp about this back a couple years ago, and both assured me they never bought off shore lifters when Sanadyne ceased production. They went to Eaton until they closed lifters down, and then Johnson. They buy from Sanadyne again, since they went back into production after fixing internal management problems.
The real problem with all flat tappet hydraulic lifters today is the method they use to retain the internals. They stopped using a flat metal clip, and went to a round wire clip that just doesn't hold in the groove well. Any high rpm's can cause the lifter to come apart if the valve adjustment is not quite right. The key is enough preload that the lifter doesn't "slap" the cam, or jump off the cam surface. If the lifter comes out of contact with the pushrod or the cam surface it will allow the compressed spring to snap back against the clip, and possibly knock it out of it's groove.
I've always used very little preload on high performance cams/lifters, but after having two failures with different engines and different cam makers, I've cranked in more preload after zero lash to hopefully end the possibility of future failures. From what both cam makers tech people told me, it's possibly the only solution, since nobody wants to change the retainer back to a good one, like they used to have.

 

yeah we just had a bad lifter in the new 348 we just built, but comp as well has had some issues with the cams. a couple people I know have had lobes go really quick even after doing a proper break in and using the zinc oil

 

Did they use Comp's additive they spec in their instructions? I've heard they wont warranty their cams if you don't accompany the return with a receipt for their cam break in oil or additive.
I put it in mine, plus used a bottle of their red assembly lube when assembling it also. I've never had a new cam fail on lobe loss. I've had them fail on old engines, and once a lifter goes it takes the cam lobe out. It's tough to say which goes first when you have a lobe failure, or what looks like one. Could be the lifter went and took out the lobe, or the lobe went and took out the lifter.

 

Got tired of looking at the centers of my ET spokes. The previous owner had made a decent attempt at trying to take the as cast gray finish off, but couldn't get it all off down around the hubs and lug nut area, so they always looked dirty there. So today I pulled all 4 wheels off and sanded the centers. Then cleaned them good with brake cleaner and let them sit while I adjusted the front brakes. Then I masked off the outer rims and gave them several coats of VHT graphite colored wheel paint.
I like the dark centers much better than what was there. I saw Rocky had done this with his spokes when he brought the Evil Twin FED to Riverdale last month, and it looked great, so figured I'd copy his.

 

Comp's answer to my question of whether they sell a lifter with a better clip:
"Seems to be there may be a preload issue or rocker nuts backing off. There looks to be too much travel if the plunger in the lifter body is hitting the clip to knock it out and allow for the internals to come out of the body of the lifter while installed in the engine. We do have a better lifter that you can use for the with a stronger clip. Look into our Race hydraulic lifters part # 84000-16, $89.63 or our Hi-Tech lifters part # 880-16, $118.12"
So it seems they do indeed still offer lifters with a better clip. I'll be ordering my cams separately from now on, without the lifters, and ordering the lifters with a better clip.