i honestly don't believe that it can be that bad to reuse a flat tapped cam with its original rods and lifters if you put them back on random lobes i actually feel like doing it to find out because i don't care if i ruin a 305 and waste a few paper gaskets let me know what will happen or i may try this some day

 

If you can't match the lifters to the lobes, just install new lifters and reuse the cam.

I tried to sell a flat tappet solid cam on Ebay last year. Everyone kept asking if I still had the lifters. Nobody was willing to just install new lifters and wouldn't buy the cam.

Never reuse old lifters unless they go back onto the same lobes they came off of. You can reuse a flat tappet cam with new lifters. Putting used lifters onto lobes they were never originally on will greatly decrease the life of the lifters and cam.

As for pushrods, I never put them back into the same positions.

 

The parts have worn together over the years. That means that as they wear out, they start to fit to each other. When you mix and match these parts, what you do is put a lot of mis-matched parts together to run. Because these parts don't match anymore, you get the parts to wear out 10 times faster than if they had been put back in their original spot.

It's like machining two parts to go together perfectly and then swapping half of the assembly when you bolt it together.

Your engine will run, and probably run fine, when you first do this. The difference is that your oil pan will start to fill up with microscopic metal shavings quickly and this will contaminate your oil and excessively wear the rest of the engine parts out.

I am a heavy diesel guy by trade. You can re-use many of these parts and they often are re-used in different positions. Sometimes they are even used in different engines. The difference is that they are machined much better when they are produced and they don't wear in a funny pattern like cheap gasoline engine parts.

It's your money, do what you want.

 

I like some of the new con rods like in the later DT466E engines. They machine the rod then where the cap is attached to the rod, it's a very clean break. When you look at the 2 halves, it looks wrong because it's not a machined surface but the 2 parts can never be mixed up since no 2 will break exactly the same. Put back together and it looks like a one piece rod. It really had me wondering the first time I took one of these new ones apart.

A factory replacement rebuild you can do whatever you want. Nothing has been perfectly balanced or machined. It's all just within the acceptable limits so if you want to swap lifters onto different lobes, that's your decision. The engine could last 5,000, 20,000 or 100,000+ miles.

Flat tappet lifters rotate in the lifter bores. That's why when you find a very worn out lifter, the bottom looks like a little shot glass. How it wears on each lobe is unique. Although the bottom of a used lifter may seem flat, it may be already concave worn a few thousands of an inch to a specific lobe.

 

I had a race engine that some how got the old lifters put in the new motor on the new cam (flat tappet). Wore down 3 cam lobes the shavings took out the main bearings all during break in.

 

well all that seems like fun i guess the reason i didn't realize it was so bad to do is because my lifters don't really look worn i wish i had a lifter that was worn it would look cooler and thanks for the info guys