[gto19]

I had my original motor rebuilt last year and installed a comp cams xe268 . Original 1967 gto HO . I’m going to reinstall the original 068 cam that’s original to the motor . What lifters would you recommend? Unfortunately my engine rebuilder tossed my original lifters .

[steve25]

Have you first confirmed that at least the base circle of all the lobes on the 068 Cam are good enough to go through another break in session with new lifters?

[gto19]

Originally Posted by steve25

Have you first confirmed that at least the base circle of all the lobes on the 068 Cam are good enough to go through another break in session with new lifters?

Nope . Have no clue what that means . Very low mileage on the original cam .

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by gto19

Nope . Have no clue what that means . Very low mileage on the original cam .

New flat tappet cams have a somewhat rough surface finish on the lobes. This finish promotes the break-in of the lifter to that lobe, helping it to start spinning and mating properly.

If that finish is worn away through use on the existing cam, it may result in an issue where the new lifter can not marry itself to the lobe and you may end up wiping the lobe.

In this situation, considering that a new 068 copy can be had fairly cheaply, I'd opt to go with a new cam and lifter set.

[steve25]

If you still had the married lifters I would say no problem, otherwise X2 with the above of getting a new 068 also!

[gto19]

Interesting. I’ll pull the original 068 cam out of the attic and look at it .
Where would I buy a 068 cam and what lifters would you buy . I’ll pay for the best

[michaelfind]

I'm not disagreeing with your decision to change cams back to the 068 but I'm curious why you have decided to do so. Is the xe268 not performing well for you?

And I absolutely agree with the advice to get a new 068 and new lifters. I've never seen good results with mixing old and new cam/lifters.

[JLMounce]

Butler sells the the Melling replacements. I think you can also get the melling cams from Summit. I can't really recommend lifters. I don't know what's available and what's quality right now. Traditionally it's been the Johnson Hy-Lift lifters.

[gto19]

Here’s my original cam . Very low miles .

[JLMounce]

Most of those lobes have a near mirror polish on them at this point. I would recommend a new cam.

I know that sucks to hear because yeah that cam looks in pretty good condition. If you had the original lifters and knew which lobe they belonged to, you’d probably be good. With new lifters though there’s a decent chance you’re taking the cam back out quicker than you’d like.

For 188 plus shipping plus your lifters I wouldn’t chance it.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/m...SABEgKyOPD_BwE

[ponchjoe]

Very cool you have a low mile 67 HO GTO! my question is that around the compression ratio. What is the rest of your engine set up? 670 heads are high compression.

[BLUE TA]

hi. summit 2802 129.99

[gto19]

Originally Posted by ponchjoe

Very cool you have a low mile 67 HO GTO! my question is that around the compression ratio. What is the rest of your engine set up? 670 heads are high compression.

Yes
The engine rebuilder bored it .020 over I think .
The only reason why we pulled it out is because of some blow by . It had a cracked ring land and cracked ring . But it still ran great .
It has its original born with 670 heads , distributor etc . Even still running the original starter and starter solonoid . It’s a nice original car .

I should’ve put the original cam back in with the original lifters but I wanted to try Something a little more aggressive so I used a xe268 . It runs great but it’s loud and to lopey of a idle .

[gto19]

Thanks for all the advice. I will order a melling 068 cam from summit . Can anyone recommend what lifters to buy and also what flywheel holding tool to buy . Can I get the harmonic balancer bolt off with a impact ? I haven’t done a cam swap since high school

[67Fbird]

yes on the impact, big flat head screwdriver to hold flywheel, no idea on lifters. I purchased a NOS set from Tom V (1991 original crane brand/wolverine) to go on my 1991 RAIV crane cam slightly used....my base circle shine is about 1/2 of yours and it was swapped in and out 4 different times keeping the lifters separated and marked. until this last time...there was too much oil "stuff" so I pitched them instead of going thru the hassle of inspection blah blah blah...

[scott06]

Originally Posted by gto19

Thanks for all the advice. I will order a melling 068 cam from summit . Can anyone recommend what lifters to buy and also what flywheel holding tool to buy . Can I get the harmonic balancer bolt off with a impact ? I haven’t done a cam swap since high school

You can also get them from Paul Spotts at spotts performance I think he sells Eaton lifters. https://www.spottsperformance.com/layout-2/

I used the slightly different 068HL cam he has ( I think sold as summit 2801 as well or at least on paper same cam...

I can highly recommend Spotts for quick ship and after the sale tech support

[ponchjoe]

I buy Hylift Johnson (Not Johnson) or Crower cam saver lifters

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