skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

I ran into a little problem with a Summit 1103 camshaft and lifter kit. I found that they are too soft to use with high performance valve springs. I was using comp 986-16 springs. The cam and lifters were coated with plenty of moly lube and broken in at 2000rpm for 15 minutes. The oil was drained and I noticed a very excessive amount of metal in the oil. Upon disassembly I found excessive wear on the cam lobes and lifter. I used these same springs with a "comp cams" hydraulic flat tappet cam with no problems. I also have been running a summit 1102 cam, with stock springs, for 3 years with no problems. I'm not sure if it's just a "freak" thing or these cams just can't handle "good" springs.

UnderCover89TBI

iTrader: (25)

Yeah to be honest I havnt been impressed with the looks of the summit cams. Looks to be inferior metal. I like the shiny lobe look better. I try to stick with Comp, crane, lunati for the mass produced cams or go with a private custom cam company

QUICKCHICKEN

iTrader: (12)

986 is a dual spring and when using these on a flat tappet you are supposed to remove the inner spring upon break in. also what il did you use? standard off the shelf 10-30 should be avoided, you want rotella 15-40 being it has the additives that the standard oils dont have.

did you prime the motor before you ran it? how much time went by between the time you installed the cam to fire up? all of this is important when daling with a flat tappet.

you should also run the motor for 30 mins @ 2000-2500 and vary the speed during break in.

with the low hassle of roller cams and the possibility of rolling a lobe on a flat tappet and then having to spend more money tearing everything back down being all of the particles went all thru the motor, a roller is the way to go. if you roll a lobe you will spend more in the end than if you went with a roller up front.

dont go into an eng shop and say performance flat tappet and big block chevy, most cases they wont touch it as BBC,s have lifter bore issues.

give summit a ring and tell them what happened and chances are they will warranty the cam.

undercovertbi, that shiney is for rollers and the black is the "parkerization"(sp) which you will find on all flat tappet cams.

BTW all of the cam cores come from EPC and one other company i cant think of. each mfgr puts their own profile on the cam.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

The 986 springs are leftover from when i swapped them for 954 when i went from a comp magnum 292H to a solid roller. I broke in the 292H the same way and didn't remove the inner springs. I ran the hell out of that cam and I still have it and it still looks new...But anyway, yeah, I agree, I already have a roller picked out. Camquest says it'll give me 430hp...COOL! I wasn't really happy with the way the 1103 engine turned out anyway. I won't need the 10.25:1 compression to make good power with the roller.

UnderCover89TBI

iTrader: (25)

Ive changed a plenty of cams. and not all hydraulic flat tappet have black lobes.

QUICKCHICKEN

iTrader: (12)

unless the cam has been sent to be nitride treated or a NASCAR cam, its flat black.

QUICKCHICKEN

iTrader: (12)

you got lucky on the 292H, when i was in warranty it was normal for me to talk to folks that broke their cam in with the inner spring still in after wiping a lobe.