distributor cam gear does it really need changed? do I need to change it to go from a factory billet roller cam to an aftermarket billet roller cam? thier both rollers right?

 

That depends on what cam you change to.

Factory roller cams are not billet. They're cast iron.

As long as you go to another cast iron roller (or cast iron flat tappet, for that matter), you don't have to change it.

If you change from a factory roller to a billet blank, whether roller or flat, you'll need to get a bronze one.

 

Um I dont think so, cast iron cannot withstand the roller running against it. thats why you cant break a factory roller cam they're billet. Maybe cheap billet but they are billet.

 

Some "Billet cams are actually 2 piece with a cast iron
gear pressed onto the end. This type of roller cam allows
a normal steel distributor gear.

both Crane and Comp sell street rollers like this.
But not all of them are.

 

Uh-oh...
So what's the verdict here? Factory cam: billet or not?
Sorry to hijack your thread Tom.

 

Factory cams are cast iron. All of them.

The huge majority of street (or even streetable) hydraulic rollers are also cast iron. Only the very hugest ones are steel.

Don't try to argue with reality, whether you think so or not.

Here's a pic of a stock L69 cam on the right, and a Comp 306 grind (typical moderate street hyd roller) on the left. Note that they're both made of the same material, with the same style of thin parting line, with the same surface texture, indicative of casting sand.

What cam are you planning on using?

 

i'll side with rb, factory cams, roller or otherwise are cast not billit.

 

Let me start by apologising to RB83L69, after Imade my post I started thinking about why I knew they were billet. I remember holding a cam in each hand (hyd flat tappet, and a factory roller) and dropping both to the shop floor. the cast iron non roller broke in 3 places the stock billet roller didnt even scratch. It all started because we were having this same discussion about factory roller billet cams. Then I remembered the cam in our discussion was a stock unit out of a 5.0 mustink not a chevy. The Fords are billet stock but I have held many a hot cam and zz cam in my hand and come to think of it they were always cast. Man, even my comment on the ability of a cast to withstand the abuse of a roller doesnt hold water, because the flat lifters used in non-roller aplications are steel and they dont gall the cast iron, heck they dont even roll against it gently like a roller does. I figured it all out on the drive to work. I had to leave town for work and I couldnt come back to edit my resonse so to you guys that knew what the hell you were talking about from the get go I say

sorry and thanks

 

How about putting ZZ4 cam into L98; do I need to change the gear?

Thanks
Mike

 

Tom —
Apology accepted I didn't mean to sound harsh, I'm just naturally an anus sometimes. And don't feel like you have to think I know what I'm talking about; that might be kind of a stretch!!

Z —
No, you won't need to; those 2 cams are the same material.

 

Thank you, RB

 

Not unless the gear is worn. But it never hurts to install a new driven gear.

And don't get too hung up on semantics. EVERY metal component ever made started life as a casting. The ingots, from which bars, billets, or extrusions are formed are cast in the foundry at the mill. And the term "billet" seems to have gained some more magical implications in its course through the automotive aftermarketing and advertising offices than it may really deserve. Just because a component started life (after casting) as a roller-milled or forged billet doesn't give it any special performance advantages. Just as the term "turbo" is so misused and misunderstood in marketing, "billet" is gaining some mysticism in the automotive aftermarket among the under-informed.

I've seen some "billet" parts that I wouldn't put on anything I owned.

"Billet" doesn't really mean much if it's "billet" Chinesium. Technically, a "billet" is just a close-form casting until it is forged, in which case it becomes a "forging" and ceases to be a "billet". Forgings from rod or bar stock are actually superior in many applications, since the grain of the metal structure flows along the stress lines and are not intersected as much as in a close-form cast "billet".

What's perhaps even more impressive is that the main caps on the LS1/6 engines and the newer GM inline 6 start life as metal shavings, not a "billet", and those engines make 270HP at 6,200 RPM, right out of the box. I guess the sintered metal powder is just as good as the "billet" caps. It's certainly more uniform, from a metallurgical point of view.

 

See RB? That's your problem. Going halfway just doesn't cut it.

As for me, I'm a committed, full-time, 24/7, 365-1/4 A-Hole! None of that "sometimes" stuff for me. I even have the moniker to prove it. Yup, there isn't much beyond my rectal grasp. My resumè even says "ASHL" instead of "AAS".

Don't go there...


I wouldn't sweat it a bunch. There probably isn't anyone here that is going to take you to task for much. It's pretty obvious that you've made a few practice laps (both on and off the track) and have some good basis for your advice.

And the fact that almost all of us have the maturity to acknowledge our errors is a testament to our wisdom, not a strike against it.

Me? I just change the subject...

 

lmao

vader,
so billet is like inbetween cast and forged?...

 

"Billet" is the raw casting from which a forging is made. Obviously it must be of a material that is able to be forged; regular cast iron for instance will not forge, instead it will simply shatter or grind into dust.

 

I have seen pressure formed billets (forgings). Titan oil pumps actually uses a real billet for thier oil pumps and an inexpensive "cast billet" model for sportsman. Titan oil pumps rock! When you see pistons they dont claim to be billet but fully machined forged ones are more of a pure form than all those parts claiming to be "billet". A billet crankshaft though, wow! they start with one huge block of 4340 chromoly billet that has been; de-gassed, x-rayed, and blessed by a buddist monk at the plant in china where it came to life, hauled over here and turned into a crank costing thousands of dollars. this goes for rods too.