Hello all, I have a LPE 211/219 that i had checked by LPE and they told me the runout was too much. Here is the email I got back. Also this is the "cam card" for it. Is this bump stick a really expensive paperweight?

"Your camshaft is going back out today via USPS mail. I spoke with Comp cams, and their cams leave their facility with no more than .001 runout. We measured your cam, and it had .002 and be measured again, and found it to be .0015. So we did see a little variation to our results. Comp said that with the load of the lifters, springs, and valvetrain, this could effectively help the problem. Knowing what we know of your cam, it could also be potential to take a cam bearing out of the block also. Comp said that sometimes when they are this far out, the cam will not physically go into the block."
THANKS

 

I would use it if it goes into to block easily.
It takes very little force to "bend" a cam .0015 or .002".
No big deal when you consider how much force a valvetrain with stout springs puts on it.

 

Their report shows the runout at 2/10ths and 6/10ths, not thousandths.

Has anyone ever checked a factory cam?

Did LPE check the journals only, or is there runout in the presumed centers of the lobes (I'm not even sure how they might check that on a used cam)? The dist. gear theoretical centerline can be checked, and if that is off, the cam may be toast. If it's just overall journal runout end-to-end, I might be tempted to run it.

 

OMG, I just now looked at the attachment, Vader!
6 ten-thousandths is nothing.
The only way I've checked them is rolling them across a granite surface plate and checking with feeler stock under each journal as it rolls. The used ZZ4 cam I'm running in my truck checked about .0015 at the worst point. I was concerned about it, but my expert engine building buddy said it would live a happy life; I trust him and it's been good for 40k miles so far. The brand new stock GM cam we pulled out of the new L31 longblock checked about .001 using the same method.