I went to break in my flat tappet cam today. Took a little while of cranking before i realized that the oil pressure sensor was NOT hooked up and was shutting off the fuel pump. Then after about 5 or so minutes there was a fire (see my last post for all the dramatic details). So i had to stop it. My question is. Can I continue breaking it in? Or am I doomed to flatten a lobe. If there are already threads on this, please link me to them

 

Things like that happen frequently. Most often there is overheating during break-in of a new cam/engine, and it must be shut down. Just repair whatever needs attention and resume the break-in procedure. The critical part is to maintain sufficient RPM to force windage oil up to the camshaft so it gets bathed in oil as it polishes the lobes. Get your total time accumulated on the cam then allow the engine to idle and cool down, and don't forget to dump all that nasty oil and filter right after the break-in.

 

Thank you. This puts my mind at rest

 

Well failure to start killed one of my flat tappet cams - that and higher spring press. I dont want to bust your bubble but the first few minutes of break in is fairly critical with flat tappets. So i will say once the break in is complete (>2000rpm, >20min) check to make sure the pushrods are rotating. Easy to use some colored marker and inspect each one for rotation with eng running. If any fail to rotate im sorry to say the life of that cam lobe will be short. Dont feel your alone if the cam wipes. Its just an lesson we dont forget.

 

Minimize time spent at below 2000 RPM's and you'll most likely be fine. I wouldn't stress it all that much.

 

Mark/locate and pull the dizzy, then prelube via the oil pump before starting. You can remove a valve cover (or both) and watch for oil to come out by the valves. It will take a while for all of them to prime and requires a relatively strong drill. Google: SBC oil pump primer, or you can make one out of an old dizzy.

I've also read where if you have dual springs you can remove the inner one during break in to help the cam. It depends too on how extreme your cam is as well as spring pressure. I think around the time they changed the additives that cams were also more aggressive.