How easy was the engine to get fired? Please be specific on what you did.
Yes the engine was first fired with Joe Gibbs break in oil, supposed to be good stuff.
I had initially primed the oil system with electric drill. Then when setting the rocker lash there was lots of hand turning to adjust all 16. Maybe I should set rockers in firing order, rather than down one row then the other. This would have less crank rotations.
I plan on driving this car, and not just to shows. It has to survive typical daily use, be able to run long distance highway use, and not break down leaving a $$ car sitting along the road. At some point I start to question the long term street reliability of a truly high performance build because the engine has to idle at stop signs, putt around town, etc all of which doesn't throw much oil onto the cam.
When turning over the 904 profile cam, the lobe ramps were so steep it appeared most of the moly grease was being shaved off the ramps by the edge of the lifters. I know the lifter edges don't touch, but you get the idea of the fast 904 ramp rate. I thought of going to solid flat tappet with lifter face oiling thru the lifter, but from what I've found the .05 durations are too aggressive for my street build...
For engine start, the engine fired instantly, so I was pleased with that, then ran @ 2000rpm for a full 20 minutes, but...I had pulled the pan a couple months ago because of a dipstick conflict with the windage scraper. When doing this a LOT of oil drained out of the oil pickup tube. I didn't want to lay on top of the fender/new paint to sight down the distrubutor hole to pull/replace the oil pump drive....So after reassembly I did spin the engine with starter to reprime, maybe 15 seconds, but that may have been all it took since the engine sat so long between assembly and starting. So your probably right, I killed myself at this point.
I am still surprised the rotating lifter would wear down. The lifter had to be rotating during starter cranking as there is no sign otherwise. Maybe during this time the hardened surface was reduced/damaged.
Along the lines of poor block machining, I am "toning down" the cam, still 1.6 rocker ratio and same 0.05 duration but no 904 ramp rate and less max lift to reduce spring load. I'll save the Engle K56 for the future. Maybe the Bullet 904 profile cam would have been happier without the 1.6 rocker ratio stacked on top of everthing else.
Last time I spoke with Lunati tech, they were a little hesitant to run 904 ramp rates for long term street use, they suggested dropping to Ford ramp rates, still better than Chevy.
Glad to hear you think well of Bullet products. They have a nice selection of cams, etc.
Topic: Lifter rotating but goes bad in 20 minute cam break in (Read 5512 times)
