Cam clean-up?

[GB SISSON]

I just got in from a jobsite and my wife is cooking up some porkchops (with the fat trimmed off).... Dang that cardiovascular disease. I will polish this turd over the weekend and get some good pics of the loaded side of the lobes. Gotta say this is kind of fun as it progresses.

[Ol' Ron]

The cutomer is "King" you offer him your experience and suggestions, he makes the decisions. If you don't like them you can refuse the job, Bue determines what goes into an engine, he pays you to do it.. I've refuse to relieve a block or use one that was relieved, except a factory 59"L" block

[Ronnieroadster]

Considering how much work it takes to install the valve train in a flathead why would anyone consider using any thing like this cam. But heck if your sure its not worth the effort to find a better cam and your not concerned you may be taking the engine apart when this causes a problem then just go for it.
Ronnieroadster

[Ol' Ron]

Are you sure the cam is no good? wouldn't cost a thing to clean it up and check it out. I just might be saved. If it can be saved it will save you 270 for just a regrind on your core. Or 350 plus for a new one. I just don't have that much money. I know some of youse guys have some play money and a few grand into an engine is just the name of the game. In my case I have to par for boring a blck and fitting th e pistons. That's more than the cost of the cam. I have to have to have the drank assy balanced, that's more than the cost of the cam. I could go on, but you get the idea I pay for everthing I have here I don't love off the family, I pay the taxes, insurencw an dthe heat. My only income is SS and 325 for the fact that i'can't see very well.. Maybe I should just watch reruns and porn I have an idea on how to get more power from a normaly aspriated flathead. Most of the fixtures are done and a prototypr has been made. If it works I'll just give it too youse guys and you can go and brake somemore records. If it don't, we might knoww hy and make a better one. Buut it's one of the reasons I get up every morning and go putz ariund in the shop. Be 88 i anothe r week or so 34 year sober
Gramps

[cas3]

Job site??? I thought you retired last year!

[GB SISSON]

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Originally Posted by cas3

Job site??? I thought you retired last year!

I don't recall me saying that, but there's a lot of stuff I don't remember....Still hard at it 5 days a week. I'll be 68 next month. Raised 4 kids living on a rock, working with my hands. I forgot to put money away for retirement. I may sell 5 of my ten acres at some point, but the social security is nice to get. I waited til I was 66 so I can work full time and they don't take any of it away. It's all good for now and I get some pretty nice furniture projects and stay away from jobsites and big kitchen jobs for the most part these days. Just my 27 year old son and myself, no more of that 4 employee stuff!

[tubman]

I'm in "Ol' Ron"'s camp. The guys that are doing this for a living just don't understand us "old putzers". I'm more interested in whether this would succeed than the next Bonneville record. And then there's the financial aspect he mentioned as well.

I say "go for it"!

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by tubman

I'm in "Ol' Ron"'s camp. The guys that are doing this for a living just don't understand us "old putzers". I'm more interested in whether this would succeed than the next Bonneville record. And then there's the financial aspect he mentioned as well.

I say "go for it"!

I too would give it a whirl. Only, I would put a couple magnets in the pan just in case. But back in the '80's when Chevies were eating camshafts for breakfast, lunch and dinner I replaced a bunch of them and never worried about the resulting metal in the pan. It didn't seem to hurt anything. Maybe the filters caught it. Often times a cam would have two flat lobes and more were half gone, plus the metal from lifter faces. That is a lot of ground up iron in an engine! Yet they survived and the customer drove away happy. Never had anyone come back with a shot engine.

[Baggs]

Interesting discussion, but I look at it like a bearing race, even cleaned up and polished, I wouldn’t use it.

Now I can see if your wallet is empty and you need to get an engine running to get to work, then sure. I realized these engines don’t run with high spring pressures, but 300 bucks added to the cost of a freshly rebuilt engine, isn’t that much for a piece of mind.

Hey, might last 75k miles, but say you put the 300 into a new cam or a regrind on it, average out what that 300 bucks per mile cost you. Not a lot.

Now if someone brought me a pile of engine parts and said “put it together, I’ll pay you xxx$$”. I’d not think twice, only give them options.

[38 coupe]

Do you have any other flathead cams? The 8CM is nice, but not the only option. I helped a friend rebuild the engine from his grandparent's 50 Merc a couple years ago. The 8CM cam was too far gone to put back in. We installed a good looking EAB cam (the rest of the motor is stock 50 Merc) and the motor runs great. For truck use any stock flathead cam in good condition will work great.

[tobby]

i have a good cam/core? $25 tobby 818-990-0590

[Ol' Ron]

A good point to make here is there is very little difference between ALL the stock cams. A few degrees in duration and a few thousand's lift. I don't think anyone
could tell the difference which one was in the engine during a trip around town.

[GB SISSON]

Good thoughts. I must have a few more late cams around here. When I put the 4" crank in a 59ab in my 38 tonner, we just used the cam from the 59ab. It was a VERY impressive jump in hill climbing power and I gotta say it idled like a swiss watch. Been thinking about building an engine from old parts to mount on skids and run with one head removed at the Lynden antique power meet in August, A good test for this 8cm cam......All depends on what I find here.

[Russ/40]

Finally some sanity on the use of a junk cam. I'd go with that use, running one head. When it dies who cares. Thanks to Ron, who makes a good point. "Just about any stock flathead cam will do the same job.

[tubman]

Ford engineers must have thought there was a difference. If not, why go to all the trouble of developing a new grind for the heavier Mercury's?

Those guys generally knew what they were doing.

[Russ/40]

No doubt there was a reason, and a result. The point being made is any flathead will run well with any flathead cam. A minute amount of performance separates them.

[GB SISSON]

I found 3 cams that are still in '49-'53 blocks, so I gotta tear them down. I doubt very much that they will be rusty, as these are some greasy old things down in the valley. One of them has a pan on it with the big circle of bolts around it for a clean-out. The 255 engine is next winter's project so I won't be rushing into it this week. And the one headed flathead on youtube is a really fun thing to see. At these old tractor/hit-n-miss/steam get togethers the crowd is heavy on the octogenarians that love all the old stuff from 'back then'. While the show is primarily about the farm machinery, my tow vehicle is more often than not powered by a flathead V8. Sometimes I have guys two deep listening to and talking about the old flathead V8 in my truck.

[cas3]

A few years ago when i was having cams checked at my local joint, most times the problem was the fuel pump lobe worn worse than the cam. those guys, been here forever, would just go in the back room and bring out a cam better than mine, and it was a 100 bucks to grind, my cam or theirs. I dont get it, but they have racks, and racks of cams, and the place has been for sale for about a decade cause the old guy wants to quit, sadly, it will all go in the scrap pile someday

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Originally Posted by Mart

I don't think even I would try and run that one, GB. Do you not have any other potential cores to hand?

Mart.

LOL "said the actress to the Bishop" !......coming from the "King of crusties," I nearly "choked on my Weaties" with your comment