[Cliff R]

Here is some good reading if you have time:

http://toplineauto.com/wp-content/up...on-Catalog.pdf

I've never had any lobe/lifter failures here with any of the engines we've built with flat camshafts but I do a few things a little different than most.

I do NOT worry much about "break-in", but absolutely and for sure the engine is "static timed" and carb has fuel so it doesn't make a full revolution till it's running. A few minutes at fast idle is all they get, no special oil used in the engine but I do use Moly Grease on the camshaft instead of the purple lube supplied with the cams.

I do NOT use a lot of spring pressures on my engines. Most are very close to stock spring loads when using flat camshafts. I also test any springs supplied no matter where they come from with the retainers being used. Not uncommon at all to find the springs have a LOT more pressure when you check them than what the literature supplied with them would indicate. Case in point, the last set of Comp 995 springs I checked showed 160 pounds on the seat at 1.700". and up near 400 pounds over the nose...yikes! The customer supplied the springs and the retainers. I did not used them, installed Crower 68405's instead closer to 120 pounds on the seat and nearly 100 pounds less pressure at full lift with the cam we were using.

I avoid flat camshafts with super-quick seating velocity. Specifically Comp XE flat cams. I've seen so many of those cams fail I wouldn't touch one with a 200' pole and they don't bring anything to the table for making more power than a plain old Melling cam with similiar .050" numbers.

Have had perfect success with Crower cams and make great power with them. The flat grinds don't have very aggressive lobe profiles so pretty easy on the lifters and valve train components and will run fine at high RPM's with "normal" spring loads.

No special oils used either. I stick with Rotella 15W-40 simply because my brother buys it in bulk for his work trucks and diesel farm tractors and I fill my jugs from his 55 gallon drums of it. (One day I'll pay him for it!...LOL).

I use Lucas oil additive and have dating back at least 2 decades. It was more by accident but I started using it back in 2001 when I bought my first Harley Davidson Road King. Those engines get really hot and I felt it would be a good thing to have some additive in the oil.

In my roller cam engines I use 10w-30 NAPA oil and Lucas additive. I pint per oil change, I think the Morroso pan holds 7 or 8 quarts.

As a precaution I paint a white line on the visible part of the pushrods under the valve covers. Once the engine has returns to idle, checked for leaks, verify timing, set the mixture screws, etc I shut it down and remove the valve covers. Very quickly I'll fire it up and at a very low idle speed verify that ALL the pushrods are spinning nicely. Ya, it's a little messy but I want to know that I'm not grinding up some lobes and putting a butt-ton of ground up metal into the assembly, that NEVER works out well.

With the valve covers off areas where oil "pools" up are inspected to look for metal. If you see any "glitter" better pull the oil filter and cut it open and take a look. It ALWAYS tells the story if something is getting ground up or coming apart someplace.

Most of the engines we've done were dyno tested. Great way to find oil and coolant leaks or anything else that may lead to issues later on. For the most part after you've made a half dozen pulls or so on the engine if the oil filter media is clean when you cut it open the engine is headed for a long healthy life for the end user.

It is my opinion when it comes to this topic that most of the issues that started showing up in force around 2004-2005 are simply a combination of circumstances that came together all at about the same time. Crappy lifters flooding the market from Mexico and China and the MAIN culprit. The problem is amplified by companies pushing camshafts with ultra-quick seat timing events, recommending WAY too much valve spring pressures for "street" engines, and maybe a little less protection by removing some materials from the lube oil. The oil thing is so easy to cure it really isn't a player here for me as additives that add film strength to lube oil are abundant as blades of grass in your yard these days..............Cliff