[Cliff R]

Considering how much oil "floods" the lifters when the engine is running I doubt if any type of lubricant supplied with or used for "break-in" is there very long. The key to success with flat tappet cams is using real USA made lifters, not re-boxed junk from China or South of the border. I've never had a single issue once with flat cams and lifters, but was also lucky back when shortages of USA made lifters caused the market to get flooded with low quality imported varieties I was using Rhoads at that time and never "scrubbed" a lobe.

I actually saw a "fresh" Olds 455 engine built by a good friend and very experienced engine builder wipe over half the lobes right off a Comp XE cam before it had an hours run time on it. He used the recommended springs from Comp at the correct height, their cam, lifters, PLENTY of break-in lube, and the engine was static times and carb (I supplied it) filled with fuel so the engine roared to life instantly and was ran at a fast idle for over 15 minutes. It started to get a little noisy after about 10 minutes of "run-in", and when they finally allowed it to idle down it sounded like a thrashing machine! It pumped so much metal thru the engine it required another complete rebuild and the crank had to be ground another .010".

I also don't run nearly as much spring pressure as we typically see others using nor do I use cams with "short seat timing" and super-quick opening/closing ramps.

It is my opinion that combination of high spring pressures, imported lifters and fast-ramp cams are a death sentence for the lobes and missing tiny trace elements of zinc in the oil have really nothing to do with that sort of thing, at least early in the life of the engine.....FWIW.....