well i got the motor fired up first turn of the key, so i immediately brought the rpm's up to 2500 - 3000 - 3500 and would fluctuate.

as i was breaking in the camshaft, my brother noticed i was leaking oil and coolant from the front of the motor, culprit, the timing cover?

when i installed the timing cover the 2 front oil pan wouldnt go in, so i smeared a whole bottle of rtv sealer around hoping it would fix the problem til the camshaft broke in then i would replace the oil pan with a new one i got.

well after 5 minutes of run time, my brother noticed a spark, and i shut off the motor quickly, then a fire started, i got it out quickly then cleaned the ground of oil and coolant.

now, will i hurt the camshaft since only 5 minutes of run time or when i get the problem fixed just fire it up again?

 

hahaha, you have no luck at all! (sorry though).

what cam again, xe274? you should be ok, but you are on the razors edge. only one way to find out....

what was the fire of? like what was burning, coolant and oil?

why wouldn't the top 2 timing cover bolts go in? I mean, holes didn't line up? or...?

 

no, timing cover is on fine.. the 1 bolt on each side of the oil pan (front part that mates up with the timing cover) wouldnt go in, the oil pan hangs down too far. not sure why, so i loaded the sealer there so i could break in the cam but it didnt work.

i dont think the coolant was coming from the timing cover but maybe from water pump or from a hose ill re-check that.

 

IIRC there is an order you have to follow when installing the oil pan and timing chain cover. if you install it opposite you can run into this problem.
i could be mistaken, however.

 

well i dropped the oil pan a couple inchest in the front... timing cover slid in, then i tried to bolt up the oil pan but the front 2 bolts wouldnt bolt up, but the rest would, so i covered it in rtv sealer.

maybe the gasket that goes IN the timing cover sticks out too far?

 

You'll probably be fine. Stuff* happens.

Ideally, you hope you'll be able to fire it up, let it rip for a 20 minute break-in and no probs. -ideally....

 

lets hope, i just need the oil pan fixed and ill fire it up again.

do you think i hurt the camshaft for only running it at 2500 for 5 minutes?

 

I had a similar type problem with my motor last summer, the rubber seal that goes between the bottom of the timing cover and the oil pan was too big preventing things from lining up. I went downtown and grabbed a fel-pro timing cover set and that seal worked perfect!

 

i picked one of those up, maybe im not shoving it in far enough, im pushin as hard as i can and it wont budge. the rubber seal sticks out a little still...

 

is this a roller cam? as far as i know you do not have to break in a roller cam. now a flat tappet on the other hand requires a break in. if its a roller then you should be fine.

 

well i already knew this, its a hydraulic flat tappet.

 

can someone tell me where sparks would have came from, and why there was a fire??

 

well, as far as teh sparks, where did the fire start? and what kind of fire?
If you have as much as a pin hole size hole in one of your spark plug wires and its clost to any metal it will ark. and if you happen to have a tiny fule leak close to the ark, then theres your fire. Also need to check the HEI cap and coil combo to make sure thats not leaking any arks. when your breaking in a new motor you should have a FULL TUNE UP. Its worth it, all new parts for your ignition. Just because it started up fine dosent mean the parts are in good shape. If you have an external coil that could be grounding out to the body and alos causing sparks.

As for only running it for 5 mins you should be fine. Shut it off, fix the problem and continue the break-in for about 20-25 mins. If you havent started it in about a day since you shut it off after only running it for 5 mins, then i would recommend you take the intake off and cover the cam and lifters with some more "break-in" lube. Thats the BEST insurence. BUT, if you wanna be lazy you should AT LEAST pre-lube the oil system again, assuming you did that in the first place. TRUST ME, ive been there. Take your time and do it right. Its worth your time to lube the cam and lifters again if you let it sit for a while as opposed to wiping out the can and destroying all of your bearings,cam, lifters,rods, crank and having to rebuild the entire bottom end again. Let us know how you make out.

~Vinny

 

well **** me sideways i gotta take the camshaft out again.

everything is new ... distributor, plugs, wires...

my brother seen a spark so i shut it off. i looked under the fire was up by the motor mount, i gotit out then it started on the ground, i got that out to.

s i have no idea.

 

If I remember correctly, the fule line runs near the motor mout aera so thats might be what happened. Also, if your are carbureted make sure your fule pump is good. when they go bad they have a weep hole and fule drips out to let you know that the pump is badd. DUMBEST THING IVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE..... but thats what happens.........

You dont have to take out the cam shaft again. Just lift off the intake and get AS MUCH cam lube on the lobes and lifter bottoms as you can. But theres is nothing wrong with taking out the cam again and lubing it up, probably the best method. If you only let it sit for a day you might be fine but theres no way to tell if you threw off all of the cam lube while running it for 5 mins. Chances are though, you did. That lube is supposed to help the cam in like the first min or so then the oils system takes over. The very first start up is very critical to the engines life and cam.

~Vinny

 

fuel line is on the passenger side, fire was on driver side. not sure what happened but i sprayed water in there quick as i could.

i dont understand this.. ARc thing?

 

Sparks.....check your electrical connections at the starter.....is your inspection cover (TC) on correctly.....is anything rubbing on your balancer...like the timing tab or something. As far as your cam.......don't bother relubing it. As I posted earlier to you, its a heat treating issue with the cam and no amount of cam lube is going to change the heat cycle it went through on your 5 min. break in. I also said that even with the best conditions, cam break ins are a 50/50 deal. Sometimes it works, sometimes (non roller) it doesn't. The most I would do is fix your timing cover/oil pan leak properly (yes its a pain in the *** with no easy fix, just drop the O pan as far as you can) and MAYBE pull the dizz and reprime the motor but I would not waste your time trying to relube the cam and lifters. Fire it up, thats the only way your going to know.

 

thanks alot, the balancer is not hitting anything that i can see, maybe i tightened it too much and its rubbing against the timing cover?

i never touched the starter to begin with, so i cant imagine a wire is loose or anything now.

thanks ill fix the pan and try it out.

 

good luck

 

can you tighten the balancer too much?

 

on the driver side there are vent lins that breath out from the gas tank did u chech there for any vapor leaks ??

 

No there is a step on the crank that the balancer butts up against.

 

so its prolly not the balancer hitting anything if it can only go on so far.

 

If the timing cover isn't on all the way you may have a clearance issue there or it maybe misaligning the timing tab and its rubbing on the balancer or you might have smoked the balancer seal because its misaligned.

 

50/50 deal?? Im not trying to insult you but thats a comment.
Aftermarket and all cams are built to perform like they should. No such thing as a 50/50 shot that if you buy a cam it might work or it might fail, i dont know, maybe in not understanding you correctly. It sounds like what your saying is that you dont even need to use cam lube on break-in for flat tappet cams. If you dont use the proper lube, the lifters will chew up the cam lobes. You NEED molybased lube to break in a cam and lifter set. Its not like an acne treatment that will work diffrently depending on the individual.

OF COURSE, it depends on the indiviual who is installing everything from the cam bearings all the way up to the rockers to make sure that ALL clearences are correct and specs for that specific build, like pre-load and what not, if using adj.pushrods. Otherwise you will wipe out your cam and possibly the motor.



[/QUOTE]MAYBE pull the dizz and reprime the motor but I would not waste your time trying to relube the cam and lifters. Fire it up, thats the only way your going to know.[/QUOTE]

By then it might be too late and youll have regrets.......

If your not going to relube the cam that might be fine. BUT you NEED to prime the motor again to be sure that the lifters are primed and havent bleed out. You dont want to wast time having the lifters trying to prime and pump up on there own while heating up and causing a tremendous amount of friction without any oil supply to lube or cool them down. If done correctly, a cam will last forever. If done half-a** it might not work at all or work for a few hundred or thousand miles and then just start to fall apart.......

Again, im not insulting anyones intelligence. Just my 2cents and most of my experence........... ~Vinny

 

thanks, it wont take long to prime the oil pump to get oil. i would rather do it this way then just fire up the motor and ruin the motor.

 

thats really all you need to do. but if you are really worried about it then i would remove the intake and re-lube the cam from the top, no need to remove the cam though. its not a big job to do but a bit of cheap insurence so you can rest easy.. definetly prime the oil system though....

 

84- you might want to go back and re read my post-----since the motor has already been run for 5 minutes and the cam has had a heat cycle put through it, adding cam lube isn't going to do anything to help his cause.........except waste 4-5 hours of his time and a gasket set. On first start up the cam has NO oil being splashed on it, and since this is how the cam lobes are lubricated you need some sort of lubricant on the cam and lifters to keep them slippery until the crank starts splashing oil around. If the lifters don't start to rotate IMMEDIATELY upon first start up you will wipe out a lobe on your still soft camshaft. The surface of the cam needs the heat from the first running of the engine and the subsequant cooling period after to bring itself to its final hardness. Hence my suggestion to him NOT to bother adding more cam lube. I also suggested he re prime the motor to ensure there is full oiling upon his restart. I think (regarding your comment) you might want to try a search on cam break ins and you'll find out pretty quick from knowledgable engine guys on this forum what I'm talking about.

 

Again, i wasnt trying to insult your opnion

 

Non taken......I just think its important to relate correct information.....and from everything I have experienced and learned from my own builds and other engine builders I know, non roller break ins are surprisingly prone to failure. Even with the best prep. I think my 50/50 number might be a tad excessive but I wouldn't go much more than a, maybe 65/35 success to failure rate. This is probably the area where guys building their first motor don't realize the importance of properly preparing everything. From lube to having every system in the car ready and correct (coolant topped up, all connections tight, timing equipment handy, oiling system primed, valvetrain set correctly etc.) for first start up. Those first 10-15 are critical. I have lost a 427 L88 cam and I was completely pissed as it meant completely tearing apart a brand new bullet with less than 20 miles on it! Not a good feeling.

 

I'd probably put it somewhere closer to 98/2.

Sometimes things go wrong when breaking in, like it leaks, or starts to overheat, and you have to shut it down. Just fix the problem, start it up again without any of this relubing/prelubing nonsense, bring it back up to speed right away and keep going..

 

Ok, im out of this topic because it could go on forever........ Everyones opinion could be diffrent because of diffrent knowledge and experiences. Not to mentiont diffrent motors act diffrently and respond diffrently. All GM motors have there own diffrent personality. I have my own experiences with building and having cams fail on me. It a terrible thing to go thru. It really sucks and id hate to see someone else go through the same crap after buiding there motor..

All i was saying is that if his motor was sitting for a few days after him only running it for 5 mins then it would be a good idea to AT LEAST re-prime.
ive built a few motors and am a good mechanic but i dont concider myself an expert, though...... Good luck man and let us know how you make out.

~Vinny

 

well the oil pan leak was fixed, and then fired back up to finish the break in, the car runs very good now, not leaks, ticks, nothing..

thanks everyone for their help

p.s. while i was fixing the oil pan i dropped the car 2 inches

 

CONGRATS!

 

I think every cam I've broken in has had some sort of problem during the breakin necessitating shutdown. From memory, my Buick 455 blew a plug out of the radiator, my Olds 350 kept getting hot (bad fan clutch, I found out later), and a Chevy 305 I did caught on fire. As long as you don't let the motor run below 2000 rpm, you're generally fine. Every single motor above is just fine; the Olds ended up getting the break-in done in 2.5 minute increments.

Shutting it down during the break-in is no big deal at all.

 

yeah im glad everything is fine, i never let it go below 2000rpm, it did sit for a week before the second fire up though, but sounds great now.

 

I think after about the 20th or 30th one I did, I got over the "gotta fire it up ASAP and hear it run!!!" stupidity.

Nowadays, I adjust the valves correctly on the engine stand; glue the valve covers down; install the motor; put all of the pieces back on that can't go on before it goes in, like AC and PS; hook up the exhaust; fill all the fluids; make sure the battery is charged; check everything and check it again. Then, shut the hood; reach in the window and crank it up; re-open the hood and set the ignition timing if necessary (usually it isn't); and go for a test drive.

GONE are the days of half-assing everything just to get to that magic VROOOMMM! point. If people would actually build their motor right and then COMPLETELY FINISH their install before trying to crank it, there'd probably be alot less flat-tappet cams go flat during break-in.

 

you talkin about me? i went over everything 10 times before i fired it up, i asked all you guys questions. the only thing that went wrong was an oil pan leak, and it caught fire so i shut it off. i fixed the oil pan leak fired it back up, finished the break in and it works great now.

 

No, not you particularly; just people in general.

Glad you got yours going!! Another one lives again.