Cam bearing failure (pics)

[BADASYJ]

It could have been the oil gally plug. Might have been just hand tightened then overlooked, it would leak more as the temp rises and the oil thins out. That along with the lifters having a deeper groove would for sure relieve the oil pressure in the gally. Was the oil pump gasket installed?

[basscat]

The pump basket was installed. It'll be a couple of weeks before the motor can be torn down. I'll check the plug then. Thanks.

[SilverXJ]

What brand cam bearings were in there?

[basscat]

Clevite SH1980S

[SilverXJ]

Any word from your machinist? I'm hoping he found something as I have the same problem as you.

How did the main and rod bearings look after the failure?

Regarding the HV pump and roller cam, this is a reply I got from 505 in response to his blueprinted HV pump:

We have a standard pump that is blue printed that uses stock pickup that gives about 20 psi a t idle and 50 to 60 running $75 the n we have a hv pump blue printed that is designed for roller cam more psi and volume at idle same at rpm $125

[basscat]

Nothing yet, my motor is still in line.

Sounds like 505 has figured out what my spent cam bearings already knew - more volume and pressure is needed to offset the bleedoff caused by the lifter grooves. Just my opinion at this point...

[SilverXJ]

Did you notice anything weird in the way the oil pump fit? While test fitting my HV pump yesterday I noticed a notchy feeling if it was rotated. I took a closed look at it and the part of the pump innermost to the block was being lifted off the pump seat about 1/16" by part of the block. I took my dremel to the pump and fixed it. I would have preferred to modify the block, but it was already assembled. I haven't checked the standard volume pumps yet on the block, but comparing them visually it looks like it would have the same problem.

[basscat]

I am STILL waiting on the machine shop to tear things down. They've been slammed and so have I. I will pay attention to the pump fitment and post if things look amiss.

[basscat]

Update:
The machinist and 505 both feel the cam bearings died from oil starvation while at low rpms. Once the oil warmed up and got thinner, it flowed through the grooves cut into the lifters and dropped the pressure too much. As time has passed, 505 has determined the roller needs to run thicker oil and the high volume low pressure pump for areas that experience high temps - we've been seeing temps beyond 100 many times this year so my area qualifies. Silver, my oil pump fit on my block without any clearance issues. 505 said they'd send me replacement bearings for the bottom end (clevite), coated cam bearings, a hv/lp pump and needed gaskets for the rebuild. He is selling me the components at his cost. The cam looks fine but the crank has to be re-polished.

I'll post more when I've got more. In the meantime, check out the motor parts pics and what has been hanging around my backyard for the last 3 days...

[amcinstaller]

i cant see it

[SilverXJ]

The slots in the lifters, is that something 505 Performance added or did they come that way? They are huge!

[dwg86]

I agree, the grooves are pretty big and look inconsistent, like they were cut with a ziz wheel or something. If you look at crower cam saver lifters, you can barely see the small flat spot on the side of the lifter that lets more oil to cam.
This is just my opinion, but I wouldn't run those lifters.

[6TIME]

Just throwing out a thought here... Why do those lifters even need those slots with the roller setup? There's virtually no friction between the lifter/cam combo. I'll bet the cam bearings had hardly any oil pressure to them...the oil is just going to find the path of least resistance. It seems like it'd much rather dump out through those lifter grooves than squeeze through a cam bearing journal with a few thousandths clearance.

[basscat]

The grooves were done by 505. I asked them why they didn't mill down a flat spot and he said it drives up labor costs and they found the grooves worked just as well. If you look on the first page of this thread, Scalper described his lifters as having the same grooves and he decided to run the HV pump because of intuition. Scalper has two roller strokers running without issues. My bet is I'd be running along fine if only I had run the HV pump from the start.

I told 505 they should make their HV pump part of their kit from the start and then let a customer delete it from the order if not needed. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

[dwg86]

I agree with 6time. I would also ask 505 why they have the slots.