Among the many issues with the supply chain and lack of availability of parts in America due to sending out our jobs overseas, what's been lost here are quality tool and die setters and machinists. People you can bring blueprints to and they can fabricate those lifters and cams with the best material to perfect spec. Old school machinists are really much of what our country was built on. We NEED well trained, highly precise machinists still today.

This is a issue that's been going on for quite a few years now and what I've told my buddies is if they have a stock engine they're rebuilding to stock and the original cam and lifters are in good condition keep them in order and reuse them...

Dude, as someone who has had to stop repairing MULTIPLE devices due to a lack of reliable parts, I FEEL this video. It's gotten to the point I have to buy 4 of each part hoping 1 of them works correctly. It really grinds you down to the point you start questioning your entire business. The fact that it's just as bad in your industry should be concerning to everyone in the US. Imagine what else is being repaired with the same crap material that we get...bridges, power stations, the electrical grid...It's scary!

Just want to say that it's refreshing to hear a boss/manager be so transparent in saying 'hey I thought my team wasn't doing a task right but it turns out that wasn't the case and I feel bad about it.' It may sound odd to say, but that willingness to walk something back and reassess also goes a long way to building trust with your employees, and show them that you have their back.

We've been in the engine rebuilding trade since 1969. The cam & lifter (wearing) issue first came to our attention during the late 1990's and early 2000's when the motor oil companies started cutting back on the zinc contents of the oil. This time, it's due to inferior quality, offshore manufactured lifter that wear away quickly and chew up the camshafts, even though all precautions and preparations are followed during assembly with the proper lubricants. Still, the providers of cam & lifter kits deny responsibility.

When using flat tappet cams proper break in, and break in lube are a must including oil high in zinc

This is an on-going issue in the classic car world where camshafts and lifters prematurely wear. If you are using NOS parts as a replacement then you need to consider that modern oils lack zinc in their formulation. The ZDDP in the oil acted as a sacrificial layer between the cam and lifters. Old school components will require old school lubrication. Good luck on this one Wizard.

I recently finished a 455 Pontiac engine build for my GTO. The cam & lifters I used were NOS Wolverine Blue Racer pieces made in 1992. For oil, I’m using zinc enriched Brad Penn oil. Ran engine at 2000 rpm for 30 minutes for break in verifying that the pushrods were turning. No issues. Everything worked out. Engine runs strong.

Uncle Tony's Garage looked into this. Evidently, they stopped making new flat tappet hydraulic lifter castings back in the '90s when roller lifters became common. "New" lifter bodies are actually cores that are being recycled. When installed they often fail to rotate in their bores or defective components/clearances cause the internal plunger to leak down. Good lifters will have a "crown" on the cam facing surface(can be checked with a straight edge) and will remain pumped up once filled with oil and bled. if they fail to rotate or bleed down after initial startup, they are defective.

Wiped a lobe twice eh? Might want to double check the proper break in procedure is being used. For what it's worth be careful with the NOS GM parts. A lot of those old 305 parts were junk from the factory. Many a wiped out cam lobe or broken camshaft on 305s from the 70's/80's.

Non-roller lifters are not supposed to be flat. They have a "crown", that is, the surface that touches the cam lobe is very slightly convex. The cam lobe is not ground perfectly parallel to the cam, but with a very slight angle. This causes the lifter to touch the cam lobe about somewhere between the center and outer circumference. As the lobe goes round and round, the off-center contact with the end of the lifter causes the lifter to rotate and spreads wear evenly across the end of the lifter.

Same thing with wheel bearings. I got an Mot failure on wheelbearings, installed new bearings and these made more noise then the old ones 🙈. So I installed back the old ones (from the 70s), with new grease, job done.

It's scary that it's not just the soft parts, like sensors and such, can be from a "bad batch", but real hard parts also.

This is the problem when once-decent companies out-source their manufacturing to save a couple bucks. People get crap components, and said companies lose their reputations. "Made in USA" is pretty much an almost dead concept. Time to fix that.

The first car I learned to drive on was a brand new 75 Nova (Mom's car). Wish I still had it. I do still have my Dad's 1976 Pontiac Grand Lemans that he purchased brand new at the Auto Show in 76. Love your channel......have learned so much.

Don't forget to pour in a bottle of zinc additive and immediately rev the engine between 2000-2500 RPMS for 20 minutes the moment it fires. Be sure the carb is in proper working condition, fuel bowl is prefilled with gas, and distributor timing advanced at least 5-10 degrees past factory settings. The engine needs to immeadilty start, too much cranking can wipe the cam lobes very quickly.

It's the lifters. I've been dealing with this for years. There are only 2 companies in the world that make flat tappets, one in Mexico, one in China and they're both bad. I now only build engines with roller lifters and have had no cam problems. I did build a Mopar 225 slant six for a fellow last winter. There were no roller cams available and the original cam and lifters were bad from running modern oil. I wanted to use new old stock cam and lifters but the fellow wanted a hotter cam. I told him no way unless we used N.O.S. lifters, and then he was taking all responsibility. He agreed. I was sweating it during break in and made him dump the oil twice. I cut open both filters and there was only minimal swarf in the first one, as I expected. Since then he's put a fair amount of miles on it without failure. The fellow in the comments who said to re-use the original flat tappet cam and lifters, when possible, is spot on. Also the zinc additives don't work very well. Either use new "old" oil from before 1988 or use "Joe Gibbs Driven break in oil" only - no other brands or additives. I was sad to see that happen to you, Wizard. Wish I had said something before.

Broke when bought seems to be the way of things as of late. When I did the LS Swap on my 240SX the swap kit came with power steering rack fittings that were too short and would not seal properly. It caused me to have a catastrophic leak "oil everywhere" killing my P/S Pump. Even the A/C swap hoses had lousy AN flares that would leak. I had to use at my own expense special AN A/C flare seals and Nylog Blue to remedy that. I've heard about this soft cam and lifter issue for years. It's really annoying that people in the automobile parts trade are just there to collect your money with no pride or thought to quality - or doing the right thing when they know there is a problem. Sorry you are dealing with this as well.

The 429 in my 64 Caddy was rebuilt late 2020. The machinist recommended having the original cam reground, as opposed to a new one. He said the original core was much better than new cores, so that is what I had done. It came back looking like a brand new cam. We put Melling lifters in it, if I recall correctly. It has break in oil in it and I did the elevated RPM run for 30 min total although I did have to shut down one for a different reason, then resumed break in run. The car is still off the road, but it has maybe two hours of run time on it. Runs fine so far. Dumped oil and filter once, and refilled with break in oil and WIX filter again. Didn't see any funny stuff. So far so good. Car will be driving again very soon.

Thanks so much for keeping us up to date on the Nova. My first car was a 1979 Nova Rally 305 , 4-spd. Never seen such "caved-in" lifters with new parts! Times are a changing......

This is a very common problem, I've had multiple new lifter failures over the years. I've been fairly lucky lately but there's been a lot of times I buy multiple brands and inspect then soak and prime in zinc break in oil and run a good zinc oil. Zinc is an absolute must for flat tappet lifters. I use a high zinc break in oil then after 500 miles I recommend a quality conventional non synthetic oil with a zinc additive or a conventional racing oil with zinc for 2000 or so miles then you can switch to whatever synthetic you like. I personally use royal purple HPS which is a nice high zinc synthetic oil it's different than the store bought royal purple. Edit: I thought I'd add that I've been told there are only a few lifter manufacturers for all the brands and it's been recommended to me by multiple engine builders to look into Johnson lifters. It is extremely difficult to find high quality parts nowadays. I don't work on a lot of normal cars anymore I mostly do offroad oriented builds and work on 4 wheel drives it's what I like and people keep coming back. I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking into ways to keep these vehicles ultra reliable for long distance travel, I can't go to oriellys for parts I have to find NOS OEM or specialty companies. I don't even buy brake pads from the parts stores anymore, I was just talking to someone a few days ago about how long it's been since I've purchased parts through local parts stores because they are so horrible. Last time i shopped locally I got 6 reman jeep cherokee rear wiper motors in a row from Napa and oriellys that didn't work before going to the wrecking yard for a used one. I have tons of stories like this.

I've also watched Paul from Fabrats channel experience the same issue. He rebuilt a chevy 454 for his son's truck and the cam and lifters wiped out the engine. It had glitter all through the engine. Bad parts were always a rare occurrence years ago, but seems like now the good part is the exception.

Poor junior mint !......my 22 yrs old Cherokee has not had any major issues ( yet....lol ) my mechanic, who is also a good friend, said the best thing I've done for the jeep was change the oil on a regular basis....love you and Mrs. Wizard.....great team !!!!

Always learning something new and informative from the Car Wizard!!! 😀😀

Seems like it was more of a problem with the lifters, not the cam. Lifters malfunctioning destroying the cam.

Have to be sooo careful with Chinese parts, I actually managed to find some assembled in UK parts for a land rover but it's just luck and searching, that's what happens when you de skill a nation, USA, UK, the same. Everyone wants some ridiculous degree and a job doing nothing, very few people would work in a foundry or an old school production line anymore, been taught it's not the way to go, sad.

I've rebuilt Chevy engines with flat tappets and used Valvoline 20w-50 oil that has zinc, primed and running immediately for 1/2hr. Not had a cam failure.

Wizard, I'm a hobbyist and build SBCs for my cars. I have had terrible luck in the last few years with flat tappet cams going flat. Both Edelbrock and Comp Cams flat tappet cams are terrible. In fact it is so bad that Summit will with no questions asked simply send a new cam when you report a flat cam. So with that, for the last SBC I built I used a roller cam and retrofit lifters. The cost is around $1000+ dollars, this compared to ~$250, but I think the added cost is worth it. I just fired my first roller SBC engine over the weekend and all is good...so far :)

Chickens of a throw away society are coming home to roost

I had a 400 Olds with the big lifter bore, and I had the cam and lifters reground to avoid this issue. There is lots of oil science behind break-in, but it's not effective with junk "new" parts. Olds worked perfectly.

We have the same issue in the motorcycle restoration industry. Substandard parts are common. Like you, we keep a list of quality vendors along side a list of vendors to stay away from. Sad. Thanks for another great video. My best to you and Mrs Wizard. Have a Deluxe week.

Yeah, this is a really sad, increasingly common problem. Tony, from "Uncle Tony's Garage" talked about this around a year ago when _he_ ran into it with a Chrysler engine rebuild - exactly the same looking wear on the lifters. Same solution too - NOS.

NOS parts could become like vintage wine, some clever shit re-fills the container with cheapest stuff around.

Over 10 years ago Comp Cams published a really well written document on this whole issue. Several suppliers sell "Break in oil", thats already got sufficient ZDDp in it, and its LOW detergent standard oil for the base. No real billet manufacturing has occurred in the US for years, we machine the billets but most billets come from China/Far East. TO really do it right they recommend no more than 500 miles on the break in oil, dump it and do it again.. Diesel oil no longer has the high ZDDp either, it was phased out slowly and now they are dependent on the new wonder mixes like gas cars..

Ran into a similar issue recently: Had a common issue with 6th & 5th gen Civics, and tried getting a sensibly priced aftermarket part, only to have 2 new aftermarket ones not even power up. (Searches for a OEM part) An OEM Fenso IACV old-new stock parts for a 6th gen Honda Civic is $200+.... for a froggin' civic! I hear you completely Mr. Wizard. Keep up the good work!

I was a Engine Tech for Mercedes for many years and have built 100's of motors. I would pull the motor, tear it down and have it cleaned. There is metal in the oil galleys. (Crane Cam and matched lifters) I had a 454 LS3 I built wipe a cam in 7 minutes. This was a hand built motor with roller rockers. It turn out that the OIL is the issue. There is metal in the oil galleys. I highly recommend you run Royal Purple Racing oil with ZINC. I would also add ZINC additive to the oil for break in. Once you get through break in regular oil would be ok with a ZINC additive.

Great video, as always! A trick I use with certain parts, is to weight the parts, to compare them! And can u do a hardness test, to see IF the parts are any good? Love your channel! Hello, from Newfoundland : )

Not really a "new" problem , I have replaced quite a few flat tappet lifters since the 80s and thus why I despise flat tappet cams . Trying to force a flat surface up a ramp is always sketchy

She will love her car when it's done. I always have my engines built by the engine shop. Puts all the details in their hands and I, almost, never have an issue. Just a smooth running stock or near stock mill. Cheers 🇨🇦

It's a common problem. We have 2 engines both a 350 that had the same issue. We eventually ended up sending the new cam in for repair and hardening and we bought 2 sets of lifters for a 4y Toyota engine. It immediately solved the issue. We here in South Africa do not have the convenience of going to a local parts store to get new spare parts because 90% of our cars is 6 and 4 cylinders

The roller lifters out there are in good shape, new flat tappet lifters are junk

The 79" Nova is certainly a labor of love that got even more expensive than already intended.

Been a mechanic 40 years.. we had very good experience these parts aftermarket..there is a lot motors right from the factory where cam and lifters have failed.. one motor the hemi with 30 thousand miles

O, Crap! I had a rebuild shop, do a stock build on my AMC 360. Bored 30 over, & such. I bought a cam & lifters, from Summit. Got it back & installed it in my Jeep. Somewhere around 600 miles, a lifter went out, taking the cam lobe with it. It Looked like, the lifter, jammed in it's bore, & ran until it ate a hole through it! And like your video shows, it was wore off crooked. I honed out & polished All the lifter bores. Flushed all the oil passages, pulled the oil pan & cleaned it too. Just buttoned it all back up, with a New Melling cam, & lifters. But,,,, I noticed the lifters, are made in Mexico! Your Crushing my Hopes!

We had that problem in the diesel Community a while back when there was a massive recall of camshafts in paccar engines. They're short cutting the Heat Treating process. What I've come to discover, is that the majority of these camshafts are made by a single producer. I was on the loading dock of one of these places a while back loading John Deere camshafts and there were also Crane Cams, Comp Cams, and Edelbrock cams all sitting there. I don't think the consumers are really getting their money's worth anymore

Last two older engines I have assembled I retrofitted with roller lifter conversion kits just to avoid this break-in issue on the flat tappet cam. Crazy in this day of age we can’t buy a decent set of flat lifters!

Sad story... thank god the engine is still OK. Here in Brazil we're flooded with counterfeit parts. Fake SKF Bearings, Fake Iridium NGK spark plugs, fake timing belts and super low quality oil filters, idle motors and shock absorbers... here the good shocks (Kyb and Monroe) last about 60k km in city use and a little more in road use. I wish luck for us all... insane times we are living... Keep up the great work wizard!

Unfortunately it's been going on for a while I just hope two people who are having starter issues had brand new ones put in there paid something to do it and the starters failed within the first day one of them didn't even work at all went through three before we got one that worked properly. And I'm just a heck helping friends out I couldn't imagine the stress that puts on you having to run a shop it's so unfortunate as always another great video thank you truly enjoy your channel I've learned a lot from watching you.

Proper break in procedure like the commenters are saying is mandatory! If you are not doing this, you will get the same results as described almost every time. It takes some extra time, but well worth it. Nos parts will soon not be available, so follow the procedure in the comments. Plus, nos cams and lifters can fail too. The lower zinc level and lack of proper break in will eventually get them all unless you get lucky!

Looks like the cam didn't get broke in properly. Can't just start a flat tappet cam and let it idle. Slather the cam with cam lube, and run it at 2000rpm for 20 minutes immediately after starting. No variance from this is acceptable. Younger mechanics not used to flat tappets may not know this.

Back 15-20 years ago, had a rash of cams losing 1or2 lobes. Brother in law worked for Universal (Crane) cams in the induction heat treat, never had an issue with his, lol!. Zinc, proper break in helped, but it was a poor metallurgy & Improper tempering that was causing the issue. B in law was a diesel mech/combat engineer & a machinist all his life, could tell by color if the cam was heated proper, but was becoming worse when car companies started rounding corners... Thanx for the updates, sure seems a crazy world for quality...

Uncle Tony addressed this issue too. There should be legal action taken. Ots almost like this has been planned. They want you in thier rolling computers, people.

Seems there's a counterfeit parts issue going on in the broader automotive industry. It's been a big problem in the aviation industry for a long time. Looks like the auto salvagers will be making good money until this problem is addressed.

I had a 1980 Camaro with a 350 and it’s cam went flat. It was covered by a recall way back then. Put in a Duntov cam, new lifters, zinc additive and it screamed!!

Excellent video and thanks for the heads up.

are you using proper break in oil? Oil needs to be high in zinc.

Also the zinc and phosphorus has been taken out of oil.

How frustrating! Thank you so much for providing this information.

I just dealt with this on my 2001 Lincoln Town Car. After rebuilding the ENTIRE ac system. Evaporator, condenser, lines, receiver/dryer, switches, compressor etc. The ac compressor failed 4 times! 3 of them were Four Seasons brand, and 1 was a Motorcraft. I even paid another technician to install the 4th one. Each time the lines were flushed, new condenser and receiver/dryer replaced. They either came apart inside, or started leaking externally. Finally after a while the 5th compressor held up. I found out a LOT of people are having this issue. So much so, they’re going to junkyards to get good used compressors!

For this exact reason, my local performance engine rebuilder positively WILL NOT rebuild an engine without converting to a roller cam system, no exceptions.

If you want extra insurance on cam and lifters you must use retro fit roller cam and roller lifters!

Wow, I had to replace head gaskets for my 1976 Eldorado convertible as the car sat for 25 years and did not want to take a chance on the originals. While in there, I was tempted to replace the cam and lifter set. The car only had 48K original and close inspection of the original set decided to leave them alone. Thank God I did. As a hidden bonus when I went to have the heads redone it was discovered that they were not milled correctly from the factory. The surfaces had high and low spots on them. It is the opinion of the machine shop in Kansas that I probably would have blown a head gasket very soon. The car now runs perfectly.

You are a lucky man that your tech is still working for you Wizard. Good techs are worth their weight in gold these days.

I have never seen a set of wiper blades rust in less than a year!

Your honesty on issues is so amazing, sadly many mechanics are not that honest sadly. I have worked in garage doors for 35 years in Québec, Canada, my dad who past away in 1993 had thought me all i needed to know about the industry, the tolls required, parts etc. And he said buy rollers, hinges and springs made out of the USA and nothing else. I've work on doors and operators with him that were made in the 1940's till the 1970's, original rollers, hinges, springs etc, and he said those were made to last 100+ years. I had a neighbour which lived down my street that had such a door, it was 100 years old and still running, good old wooden door, 1/4 inch thick hinges, 1/4 inch cables all original as well. The family there sold that house when he died 3 years ago and they decided they wanted a new garage door etc. Sadly they called a company that couldn't care less about them, but all about profit and how much they could bleed them dry :-( Well in the last 3 years those people have come to my house to go and fix their issues, but sadly i am unable to work due to a previous work accident sadly. But they had bought the cheapest garage door and hardware available, everything is Chinese parts etc, and warranty is useless since that company who installed it is gone in the wind. Honesty, integrity, sincerity and doing a professional job is a thing of the past sadly for customers in all fields. When i did residential, commercial, industrial garage doors i would have used 13 gauge or 11 gauge hinges, long cycles springs. I have customers that still calls me for springs i put up 30+ years ago and they just now have broken, because when i did work i always put long cycles springs that would last at least 50 000 to 100 000+ cycles. So that meant they could open and close their garage doors up to 50 000 to 100 000 times before they had a chance of failure. Just like cars and parts were also made back in the day LOL Not the paper foil cars and trucks of the last 10 years. :-)

Always spray the cam and lifters with a good graphite spray lubricant before install. Lubricates better then just assembly lube included with the cam. Got the tip from a Hemings article

I'm having the EXACT same problem! I'm currently on engine number 3. I bought a 1994 Chevy K1500 short bed as a project. The 350 engine and TH400 transmission that was in the truck were out of an 85 Chevy 1500. The engine was very poorly maintained so I decided to have a new 350 engine with a flat tappet cam built for me the way I wanted it. I went to a local builder instead of buying a crate motor because if I had any issues he was in town. Well, I had issues. The builder did an amazing job with the motor and I was really impressed. Got the engine in and fired it up only to find the driver side cylinder head had a crack and was leaking coolant. No ones fault just a fluke. The builder sent over a new replacement head. Driving home from the mechanics shop I got about 7 miles and the engine lost all power and died. The cam flattened out and put metal through the entire engine destroying everything. The builder made me a new engine. During the brake in on engine 2 the cam flattened out again and again put metal through the entire thing destroying it. The builder is putting together a new engine (number 3) for me and I'm just waiting to put it in the truck. It is a flat tappet cam so I'm preying to the car gods that this doesn't happen again. But I know there is a very good chance it can happen again. Beware guys don't end up like me.

Chevy used to wipe out cam lives back in the day, too. Big problem even then. Breaking in the cam properly and the use of high zinc oil is pretty essential on these engines.

It is often the oil. If possible, use a lighter valve spring and a zinc additive for break in. With a performance cam you add the extra valve springs after break in and continue to use zinc add. Zinc was removed from new oil and not using it will even ruin your old NOS stuff.

This is why when I built my mopar small block I just went to a a HYD roller cam.... But while low quality is an issue, do continue to make sure to ensure you have the correct amount of ZDDP (zinc) in the oil.....with stockish valve springs and stock cam/lifters zinc isn't as important, but it still a consideration.

Yep. Aircraft engine , mine . Continental 550 . Cam and lifters wiped out after 600 hours. Overhaul shop said it was a chronic problem with newer engines . Encouraged me to let their outsourced shop overhaul the cam . No further issues

N.O.S. factory cam and lifters $600? NUTS! In the day (30 years ago) a factory cam was $49 and lifters about $30/set. Times change and prices go up. That being said, there is NO reason to be putting flat tappet cams/lifters in engines today. Manufacturers haven't used them in over 30 years. Oils have changes and don't have the zinc in them. I started 40 years ago and stuff isn't the same now. No-name means no-go in my book these days. Skip regular parts stores. No Chinesium engine parts wanted. Cam break-in is critical. Proper break-in lube has to be on the lobes, zinc additives in the oil and when the engine is first started it has to go to 2000 RPM immediately and stay there for about 20 minutes or you end up with round lobes and destroyed lifters. The carb has to be right on the money before starting as you can't be fiddling with it during break-in. With the cost of flat tappet cams and their notorious failure rate, roller lifters are the way to go. Yes they cost double to triple, but who wants a wrecked engine and have to worry about oil? You are spending the $ for a rebuild, don't cheap out on the lifters to save a few $. COMP Cams still has flat tappet cams listed, but why use them unless there isn't an alternative?

Some years they started to remove zink from oil due to high mileage engines beginning to use some oil. Apparently the burning oil would damage the catalytic converters . I am an old time flat tappet cam user. If I was going to use a flat tappet cam and lifters in an engine It was necessary to use a zink additive to avoid the problem you are having. Several oil manufactures make oil with zink, must use with flat tappet engines along with proper cam break in.

Great to see your an honest person Wizard 👍

Now I'm not a mechanic, just a car guy who learned to fix his own stuff the hard and expensive way. Also an amateur Drag Racer. I don't believe you're dealing with a parts issue. It is modern engine oil, and assembly, and break in procedure that is at issue. This is IMHO, the best break in procedure for flat tappet cams, and has never failed me. GROOVE THE LIFTER BORES! Comp cams makes the tool. pn 5003. (SBC) The tool's a little pricey, but cheaper than new cam and lifters, bearings and oil pump, gaskets, etc, plus the labor to re and re and clean. Ask me how I know. Add ZDDP additive to any modern engine oil you prefer. (not just for break in, but forever) Or run a dedicated high ZDDP performance oil made for f/t cam engines. If performance valve springs are used, remove the inner springs for break in, or use 1.3:1 ratio break in rockers. This is exactly how I did mine with modern off the shelf parts. Comp Cams .560 lift (1.6:1 rockers) with 0 lash hydraulic lifters, bee hive springs. ( 383 vic jr @ 7500 rpm ROCKS!!) . 70s-80s gm sbc OEM cam and lifters were notorious for lobe failure. OER could be different, but i don't think these parts are your solution. Love the content. Cheers from British Columbia.

THIS car really interests me. The Nova. The Lambos, Ferrari's, Bentleys, Porsches, And such Hoovie brings in and others you work on are cool. BUT I been spying that Nova in the back ground just drooling..

Would it not be possible to buy the cams and lobes from Summit Racing? Would that be better???

That is such a Kool Car Wizard logo in the intro. I cannot see how you can improve on it.👍🏽

I had a new set of Engine Pro hydraulic cam and lifters do the exact same on my Nova. Now I'm going to try out Isky cam and lifters heard good stuff about them.😎

Supply and demand, those old-new parts a very limited, so yeah, definitely gonna cost an arm and a leg soon.

Wizard, at this moment in time you'll have a better chance finding good parts at the junk yard. And $600 is still cheaper than getting a new engine.

This is why quality matters!!!!! Program managers and some managers in general do not understand why we cannot cut corners. It’s too late when the parts are in the field.

Thanks so much for the heads up just building a new motor for a restomode Dart Swinger. I could've wasted a lot of time and money.

I remember when you could get get a fairly decent nova like that (or something similar) for like 3-4 hundred bucks, and drive it to work and back for a while, with no problems atoll, lmao. And I'm not even that old :D

It's called "Chinese made parts". I had the same experience.

I have a 283 motor I bought without hearing it running. Tore it down and had the crank turned, now I'm looking at putting it back together. My fatherinlaw showed me his box of NOS GM parts he's willing to let me have, and I think more than ever it's a good idea...anything internal needs to be up to par.

love your channel. Love your ethics. Love your content. Thank you wizard for LEADING BY EXAMPLE!!!! Seriously!!!

I've got a louder than normal (but perfectly fine) lifter in my Chrysler 3.8. It hasn't gotten any louder over the last 2 or so years, but I'm not in a hurry to replace it. Too many soft lifters and cams on the market. I don't want it to be worse than it already is if I install new parts. Until this passes I'm not doing anything about it unless it gets significantly louder.

Hope you are using breaking oil with a lot of zinc

I have a 75 Buick Apollo and my shop is putting in a new 350. It’s been over a year, I’m excited to drive it soon

Uncle Tony's Garage touched on this subject as well with the garbage camshafts and lifters and some parts retailers even reselling defective lifters returned by customers.

Ironically enough the early production 305 engines were known to be prone to early camshaft failure due to cost cutting by GM.

I'm going to ask a basic question. Did the oil you used on those two engines have enough Zinc for flat tappet lifters? No Zinc in oil = Death to flat tappets

12 years ago I did a comp-cam in a SBC and a week later it went flat (bad lifter) They covered it under warranty but every cam after I check the lifters. I put a pushrod in a drill press and submerge the lifters in oil and slowly pump them up. I’ve had good luck since, I guess I’ve been lucky with material quality.

I’ve installed two comp cam kits in the last year and didn’t have any problems . I used the zinc additive and rotella shell diesel oil. Can’t run heavy valve springs during break in also .

Looks like they didn't heat treat anything. Wonder if the performance names have the same problem.

I'm pretty sure I have four sets of new GM sbc lifters sitting in my grandfathers old toolbox, I know for a fact there is a full set still sitting in a oil bath that we never used because we went a different route, sitting in a oil soak for..man...15 years..

Ran into similar issues 12 years ago when I was rebuilding a couple of Triumphs. Had the "brand new" oil pump fail while I was running in the cam on my TR3A. Put the 50 year old oil pump that I had removed from the engine back in and it runs perfect. Rebuilt the drum brakes on my "66 Spitfire. Took it out for a test drive and the brake adjusters pulled out of the mounting plates. Replaced them, happened again. Sourced a pair of used adjusters from a gentleman who has several acres of old British Sports cars, problem solved. Not going to say where they came from but now I only by parts made in the USA, Britain, or the EU, or I rebuild the old part.

So glad I finished my build in 2018. Now my dad is building his engine and is having a problem getting a cam. Ordered one from lunati and they said 6 months. Got his money back and ordered a custom cam from bullet cams. They said about 3 months. We will see how long it takes.

The Car Wizard complaining about other people charging market price for parts.