is it common for an engine to wear farther away from the oil pump. i noticed my front cam bearing and the front cylinders had more wear than the rest. is a .oo1 taper on the front cylinders gonn cause probems? it is tapered more at the top. but by .001

 

I'm sure .001 is within operation limits. A good manual will tell you so, IIRC my Helms allows .003 for service limit. Unsure about why the front wears more.

 

the farther away from the pump the faster the bearings wear. you see this because, like the commercial says " starting your engine is a terrible thing to do", it is the truth. cold start up kills the bearings from lack of lubrication. the thicker the oil you run, the longer it takes for it to start providing proper lubrication to all the bearings & that means more cold start up damage.

i would say it is also the reason the front cylinders always seem to have more wear on them, they are the last ones to get oil sprayed on them at cold start up.

people who put straight 50 weight oil in a street driven motor are not helping it to last longer, they are helping to kill it sooner.

a few years back 1 of the oil companies did a test using identical engines. from cold start up in 0 degree temps it took up to 3 minutes longer for straight 50 weight oil to get to the rocker arms Vs the engine that had 5w 20.

for those who insist on running that thick heavy syrup in street car, get a oil reservoir that holds at-least 2 quarts & set it up with an electric solenoid so it opens up automatically when you turn
the key on & then give it some time to lube up the motor before you start it.
i run nothing but 10w 30 almost year round unless it gets really cold here, then i drop to 5w 20.

 

.001 taper or out of round would be acceptable wear and not uncommon in any of the holes. i tihnk the timing gear and chain being mounted closest to #1 cam bearing may factor into it wearing more. all in all i would spend a lot of time thinking or worring about it since it's all pretty much normal wear. also like was said above i'd stick with a 5w-30 or 10w-30 oil and would strongly consider synthetic.

 

That's nothing, 4 lobes on my cam were just about gone in the 305. Felt like it would hit a wall at 3,000 rpm