Hyd Flat Tappet Cam Break-In Lube - which one?
 

Getting ready to fire up a new engine on the dyno which has a hyd flat tappet cam in it. Looking for input on preference for type of break-in lube to use on the cam. I have 3 products in my shop at present, always willing to consider others as well.

The 3 are:

Comp Cams "Pro Cam & Lifter Lube" (a not-very-thick red liquid that came with the cam)

Driven "Engine Assembly Grease" (a light-weight oil-dissolvable paste)

Maxima "Assembly Grease" (a medium-thick oil-dissolvable paste)

To put my concern out there, I initially used the Comp lube to wet the cam lobes during assembly but in the course of 24 hours 99% of it has dripped into a catch pan under the engine. There may be a few molecules left on the cam, but I'm not comfortable with that. Am I over-thinking this?

Engine will be fired with Driven break-in oil in the pan.

I'd go with the thicker of the three.... its gets wiped off really quick
I use ISKY-REV Lube....which could be thicker.... I like it because of the MOLY
What lifters are you useing?

Using Hy-Lift Johnson 0951-R lifters.

Great choice.....let everybody know how things go.

Moroso moly paste part number 35000

It really doesn't matter. If you are using good parts as long as it doesn't get a dry-start you'll be fine. The amount of oil delivered to the cam lobes while the engine is running is amazing. They are basically flooded with oil continuously, so whatever you put on there is washed away a few seconds after start-up if not during the pre-lube procedure done prior to lighting it off for the first time......

lucas makes some good stuff that can be used as cam lube for assembly but more so to add to the oil for first fire up & break in. it can also be used as a zddp additive for engines when added to the oil in smaller amounts for those that like to add a ton of zddp to their smaller cams.

I broke my first cam in with Sta-Lube White Grease. Worked fine.

IMHO, it far more important to prelube the engine so all the oil galleries are full. For a lifter to start spinning, the lifter base has to grab the cam lobe and the sides of the lifter need a good slippery oil film right away; so they act like a journal bearing with no metal-to-metal contact to resist spin. It would be a mistake to put thick clingy goop on the sides of the lifters.

Eric

Correct, no DRY STARTS!

In theory the bottoms of the lifters would never actually touch the lobes as we've provided a coating of lubricant from day one. But OBVIOUSLY they do or we wouldn't see so many cams with half the lobes knocked off of them!

The amount of cam failures we see these days is WAY too high. Lots of things can go wrong here, but even IF you do everything right using "soft" lifters from Mexico or even worse China is a recipe for disaster......IMHO.....

I've used Driven Engine Assembly Grease most recently, no issues, lifters very quiet.

The best thing I have ever found for eliminating dry starts is running Lucas Oil Treatment. Its in everything I drive and has been for years. And since I have never blown up a engine in my life its not harmful. Its very clingy and coats everything. Even non moving parts like a distributor, when you pull it out you can feel the film with your hands. It might cost you a HP or two but IMO its worth it.
I would highly recommend using it on engines that sit a long time. Many of our Pontiacs are engines like that these days.
When I started up my first roller cam engine that was all that was on the cam and I dipped the bottom of the lifters in it (after soaking in oil all night)

+2, 3 and 4.

Use it in EVERYTHING here plus I use their fuel treatment in both diesel and gas engines.

You can feel the difference in engine performance and I also see a slight improvement in fuel economy........

Years ago before all the special mixes I used STP on many hydraulic cams never had one fail now we use the Lucas.

Jerry Butler of Butler performance said they experience about a 50% failure rate on flat tappet cams regardless of how much zinc is in the oil. Not good at all and it speaks volumes to the manufacturing of these camshafts/lifters.

+1 on the Lucas. They even make a blue assembly grease that I have used with great results. Dissolves in oil but is as thick as regular grease on application

That stuff is all over the 461 about to be fired up for the first time.

I also use Prolong. Do I know it works, hard to say.
But I also have it in everything I drive.
a few years ago I heard a little noise coming from my Honda Civic when I came home from work. 14 mile drive one way.
I work nights and I forgot to check the engine out and just jumped in the car and went to work the next day.
I found out what the noise was that evening getting out of the car.
The radiator split. It was dry as a bone. White residue all over the front bumper.
Head gasket was fine.
I know for a fact I drove it 30 miles with very little to no water. Might have even been 2 trips back and fourth to work.

Again, I know that stuff does not hurt and I believe it had something to do with my engine not building up a terrible amount of heat and something catastrophic happening.
So that is my concoction. 30 WT Dello 400 and Lucas-Prolong in my beater. The Volvo and Tundra get Wallmart-Costco synthetic with the same Lucas and Prolong.
Race car gets Schaeffers with Lucas-Prolong.
Not broke so its not getting fixed.

anyone remember the lucas stabilizer display at auto parts stores? it was a small clear box with gears in it and a crank handle, had a little bit of lucas on the bottom that only touched the bottom gear.. as you turned the handle it clinged & climbed to all the other gears & reached the top in a very short time. showed how much it clinged to parts to avoid dry starts. i use it in my old lawn mower that consumes some oil during teh season & smokes on start up sometimes, it reduces that a lot, also used it on a 4.0 jeep daily driver i had with 200k+ miles on it, it slowed or almost stopped a rear main leak better than rear main/gasket leak stoppers. it is kinda thick but they have a synthetic stabilizer they say is better for winter use or with synthetics.

i also use the zddp stuff i linked to earlier, it has a very concentration that can be used for break cam in additive or diluted per the chart as a zddp increaser additive.

shaeffers oil is very good too, always has excellent oil analysis, they have a good oil additive too with some fancy anti wear additives. but shaeffers is somewhat hard to find at most auto part stores or walmart etc. i also have great results with supertech oils that have good analysis & tests too.

On all the flat tappet cam builds in my shop I use "Driven Engine Assembly Grease" and use a dedicated break in oil for startup. No failures yet doing this.

Does anybody remember the grey paste that Crane Cams used to supply?
I never had a failure with that stuff...