The Coronet suffered a heart attack :(

Well as some of you know the Coronet was suppose to go to the track last night and race and get its 12. Well for the last couple of weeks, i've noticed my valve train was getting a tad noisey. I have a set of Harland Sharp 1.5 roller rockers. Anyway, first set never done much with them and I figured they might be out of adjustment. Well initially they were really kind of out of sort and it seemed like, 1 or possibly two of the pushrods, but after looking them over they appeared well, what wasn't well was my lobes on my cam. 4 confirmed out, we stopped counting after that!

I actually thought about this a bit and i think I know when it happened too. It was my last track night with the car and my second to last run I was crossing the line near the end and that car kind of hiccuped and seemed as if the valves floated a bit. At the time i thought that was kind of funny, and came back time looked good, 13.0's but mph was down 2.5 mph from previous run. i honestly didn't think much of it.

Well anyway, disgusting. I broke this cam in following Comp cams stuff to a T. Used Rotella, for added ZDDP and was really good about changing the oil religiously, and sure I get on it some with a a few spirited jaunts and a couple track runs, but other then that I'm pretty easy on that car.

anyway, so that is the story.

Mike

That sucks, but its part of dealing with a car. Time for upgrades

Sorry to hear Mikey. So what's gonna be the plan, new cam and springs?

Bummer. Broken stuff is always a good excuse for better stuff

Well as of now. Just cam and lifters springs should be good, they were rated to .600 lift and I am getting nowhere close to that, at this time.

Mike

Mike..... the new Rotella T (like the past 1-2 years already) does not have the higher zinc & phosphorus levels.

I used Rotella T 15/40 in my Cutlass (SBC flat tappet) & right after I sold the car I read that the new blend of Rotella no longer has the higher levels of ZDDP. That's been two years ago now. Fucking eco-NAZI tree huggers

My opinion is that you get some ZDDP+ or ZDDP-MAX & add it to your motor oil of choice. This what I do for my car. 6 bottles of the ZDDP-MAX can be bought on eBAY for like $30.

OR..... if you can find it, Mobil-1 15/50 still has enough ZDDP in it for the time being. But if you go the Mobil route, keep tabs on the blend. I know this is what Zac is using after his engine ate the cam.

1twisted6 wrote:

Mike..... the new Rotella T (like the past 1-2 years already) does not have the higher zinc & phosphorus levels.

I used Rotella T 15/40 in my Cutlass (SBC flat tappet) & right after I sold the car I read that the new blend of Rotella no longer has the higher levels of ZDDP. That's been two years ago now. Fucking eco-NAZI tree huggers

My opinion is that you get some ZDDP+ or ZDDP-MAX & add it to your motor oil of choice. This what I do for my car. 6 bottles of the ZDDP-MAX can be bought on eBAY for like $30.

OR..... if you can find it, Mobil-1 15/50 still has enough ZDDP in it for the time being. But if you go the Mobil route, keep tabs on the blend. I know this is what Zac is using after his engine ate the cam.

Thanks Tom, that is VERY good to know!

Do you know if people have had luck with comp cams break in formula?
Mike

Mike... you mean the break-in additive or the break-in oil?

The oil I can't speak for, the additive is what I used in the SBC along with the old Rotella for break-in, & changed the oil after 100 miles.

Ask Zac what he put in/used in his new engine.

new cam and lifters better be hydraulic rollers

^^^^^^ this.

more lift for the duration and you don't have to worry abotu all this oil stuff.... don't do solid rollers as they tend to beat up rollers and it is just not needed unless you want to turn LOTS of rpm

Tom

I had meant the additive. I was going to follow your advice about talking with Zac about the oil he uses.

Steve, I'll think about the rollers it is actually a good idea, but you know I've never had issues before putting in a cam. Unless Comp cam has gone the way of the asian parts makers. Now, I'm no expert, but I have done a cam a change on four or five other 440's including mine in high school and never have had issues like this before, so part of me thinks some how I fucked it up this time or didn't use the proper additive.
Mike

back when you were doing those we had good oil... that is not the case at this time so thats why i will only run rollers in my motors. yes it costs mroe but id rather not have to swap cams and have all the metal going through the motor.

Farm and Fleet has the 15-50 mobil 1, as for the cam make sure you check everything else out as well it may be more than just a defective cam or improper break in that caused the failure.

Bod89lx wrote:

Farm and Fleet has the 15-50 mobil 1, as for the cam make sure you check everything else out as well it may be more than just a defective cam or improper break in that caused the failure.

This is what I run in my car. Other oils that are available with zinc include Z-Alt, Brad Penn, and Valvoline VR1.



I have yet to see an engine fail due lack of ZDDP though.