[Singleton]

I'll get a better look at the cam when it comes out, the lobe is under the valley webbing, so it's difficult to see clearly

[Gach]

If you would take some pictures of the opening and closing side to. I know its a bummer.

[Dragncar]

That is a lot of metal that went through your engine. Even a small roller lobe is not "small".
Insect your filter, you might want to pull the engine just to clean the insides.
Sucks.

[Dragncar]

When a solder roller cam goes bad, how can it be because of the cam itself ? Its going to be a lifter issue or a assembly issue most likely.
Nice sideways crack at Bullet.

[mysticmissle]

i had similar issue couple years ago. Hopefully you will not have the same issue as i did, and all those missing particles went through your pistons rings and rode up and down for a short while. Mine needed to go +.010 to clean up so 040 over total. you sill be able to see the scratches in the bore easy enough.

[chuckies76ta]

Sorry that happened to you. I'd be curious what springs and brand your running? My engine is basically a copy of Richards. We went with the 55mm cam and .903 Crower solid lifters with bushings. My seat pressure is around 195 seat and 530 with 1.5 rockers.

[Formulajones]

Sucks Singleton but not unheard of. In fact there are quite a few solid roller failures around other than the small Pontiac community.

What you experienced is almost always a lifter failure first, usually bearing/wheel locks up. Happened to Dad too, running a Comp solid roller cam and lifter setup that Tony Bischoff spec'd for his street build. It lasted a couple thousand miles on the street, so not very long. Spring seat pressure was 240 lbs. (new, after run in they are typically less) which is not considered very aggressive for a solid roller, especially for a Pontiac with a very heavy valvetrain. He was also using the very nice Crower solid rollers with pin oiling, didn't make any difference obviously. When they decide to go, they just go. Crower didn't have an explanation for it either.

Your spring pressure isn't much less than what Tony used, from what you posted but I'd check it to be sure.
As a side note I'd never trust a cam company to recommend spring pressures. Typically they always favor the light side, which is worse than too much, and in engines like Pontiacs, BBC's, BBF's, that have heavier than normal valvetrains usually what the cam manufacture recommends tends to be a little too light. I much rather trust a good engine builder that is familiar with certain cam profiles and different brands of engines that has run these things 1000's of times on dyno's and knows what is needed for spring pressures. In just about every case I've ended up with more spring on an engine than what the manufacture recommends. Unfortunately when running a solid roller on the street it's just the chance you take. Even with routine lash checks, tight lash rollers, hoping to keep the beating they endure to a minimal, they still fail occasionally.

Hopefully you caught it early. When dad's failed we were maybe 3 miles from the house. Drove it home, I found 2 loose rockers, tore it down immediately. Cut filter open and it caught what looked like most of it (bypass blocked) Top of heads were clean and I couldn't see any trash in the lifter area either so I gambled, installed new cam and lifters and ran it. Changed oil 3 times after running for very short periods and at every change cut filter open and found nothing. That was a few years ago and thousands of miles later, engine is perfectly healthy and still running strong today.

[steve25]

Drop that good lifter in the Bore that the bad one came out of,does it rock more in that Bore.

I ask because the bad lifters body shows signs of a lot more concentrated ware perpendicular to the Cam .

[HWYSTR455]

Might be just the pic quality, but the lobe next to it looks like it has excessive wear. Maybe from crap flying on it from the one that failed, dunno.

Lifters can fail, and it doesn't matter if it's HFT, SFT, HR, or SR, they can all fail without an obvious reason. Just have to know you're doing the best at reducing the risk factors when making parts selection and installation/maintenance.

People want to blame the parts, I get that, but usually it still boils down to human error, which can happen way before you even think about buying a part, like before it gets to you. And it's any part, not just lifters.

And it always sux more when it happens to you.

I don't like it when it happens to other people too, and usually have a moment of silence. Because I know how it feels. But that's hot rodding, it's all part of it.


.

[BILL BOWMAN1]

Mine actually when Square

[Gach]

I mean roughly 10 k miles my buddy with the BBC Nova got 5000 and just replaced his, out of paranoia. LOL I know I know sounds like allot of money but the enjoyment and attention car gets is worth it. BBC Schaeferoff motor.

[Gach]

Originally Posted by BILL BOWMAN1

Mine actually when Square

WOW !

[Singleton]

Got the camshaft out. Pictures actually make it look worse than in person. By my digital Mitutoyo calipers, the worn lobe is showing .003” less than the others at peak. I don’t have a 1”-2” micrometer in my set for greater accuracy.
I’ll contact Bullet after the holidays about getting it reground.

I checked the wheels of the other Crower hippo lifters, 12 of the 16 showed no signs of wear. Other than the one failed roller, two of the four showed slight slop, and one, (#8 intake), had significant slop. I feel that this one would have failed very soon.
I built this engine in 2016, and haven’t kept good record of miles, but I feel 10-12k miles is about right. I check the lash annually, and up until now, it has never changed. I actually checked the lash about 4 months ago and it was fine. Replacing the lifters periodically is something to consider.

Someone asked about the springs. These are Howard 98644. SDperformance set up these 340 cfm edelbrocks up in 2016, 1.870-1.880 IH, 225-235lb seat, about 550lb @.650”.
I’m not anywhere near coil bind ,(.750”) with these .388 lobes x 1.65(.620 lift). ,I’m just chalking this up to luck of the draw with running a solid roller on the street, and not pointing fingers at Crower or anyone else. I’ll fix it and continue on. Thinking of going with BAM dlc coated steel roller lifters

[tom s]

I guess what a lobe would lol like when a wheel stops turning and grinds on it.Tom

[Gach]

Yeah with SD setting them up definitely no worries on coil bind. Looking at better picture of the lobe, definitely lifter failure. Be interesting to see Bullet take on regrinding and fixing that cam. Only issue I can think of is the heat treating, if there’s enough material left.

[Dragncar]

You have about .030" worth of heat treating so you might be able to save it.

[steve25]

I would get the cam fixed if possible and then run a hydro roller lifter since there designed to live at street rpms and more importantly street oil flow and splash rates.

Some 35 years ago I ran a crane solid roller with Comp roller lifters on the street.

The lifter bores where set up as in the HO racing book with .030” restrictors and a mere 185 psi on the seat.

My net lift was only some .500”.

Very early on in the motors life and with it never seeing over 5200 rpm much I had a roller lifter get pretty grinding sounding and another going bad in its foot steps.

I then got 2 new lifters and opened the restricters up to .055” and never had a issue again.

[tom s]

I never restrict for a street car.Always used a high idle.Tom

[Singleton]

Originally Posted by tom s

I never restrict for a street car.Always used a high idle.Tom

My idle on this motor is 1000-1050 with no restrictors. Might bump it up a little now

[Gach]

With all the issues with hydraulic roller lifters, you couldn’t give me one. Went though it with my brother and a few friends. Let others be the Guinea pigs until they get all the issues resolved. Definitely restrictors.