Howdy y'all, I have a question that I feel kinda dumb for asking. The last bird I bought has a 334,, I didn't build it.. Anyway, last night I was replacing the valve springs, when I noticed exhaust rocker #4 and 8 weren't moving all the way, they were only traveling half of what all the others were. She still sounds th same as two months ago when I got her, and there's no popping out the exhaust or intake, or really any symptoms, other than an ever so slightly miss. A new cam isn't in my wallet right now..
My question is, by changing my oil more frequent with something thick and an additive, think I could get a few months before the lobes comoletley wipe? I already baby her, being a DD

 

Too late. Cams are surface hardened, you're past any hardened surface so it's all downhill from here. All of that metal has already been circulated thru the motor. Thick oil is just thick oil, it will make the oil gauge go higher but doesn't give any more benefits unless you're reaching high temps.
Why were you changing valve springs?

 

They were weak and floaty. Compression was/is 119-123 on all 8 cyls, still erratic vacuum.
Only had time to change springs on cyl 1,3,5 and 7, I now have a more steady vacuum reading.
I reset the valves when I got the car, I think I just missed that two rockers weren't moving as much.
As of last night, those two valves were still adjusted to zero lash, no change from a month ago. No media in my oil or filter, and it hasn't been changed..since I got the car, approx a month and a half ago.

Welp, hopefully it'll hold out till I can get a cam, and not take out the bearings with it

 

The bearings are likely where most of that metal from the cam is now.

You really need to plan to pull the motor and clean it out. Doesn't have to be as expensive as it sounds but it does need to be a thorough job.

 

Changed my oil last night. Didn't see much in the pan oil, but the filter had a trace of very fine metal shavings. I need to pull it to do it proper, sadly that's not an option right now. In with a cheap summit cam and lifters, and to Craigslist in search of another motor!

Sucks, I was planning on 5.3/t56 swapping this thing, having to burn money on a new cam and another motor delays the project pretty decently. Oh well- all part of daily driving a project car!

 

I have to agree, been there-done that.

 

Yup, I wouldn't waste the time money or effort on a cam for that motor, it's all going down the toilet. Once the motor gets metal chips in it like that, it is doomed.

Pretty good chance the reason it failed was The Lifter Bore Problem, wherein the lifter bores aren't pointed straight at the cam. This causes the rolling action that's supposed to occur, where the lifter spins on top of the cam lobe because of its concave surface and the lobe's angle that together cause the contact point to be out near the rear edge of the lifter, to instead turn into a sliding action that fails to spin the lifter. If your motor has that, you can change the cam every day, and twice on Sundays just for good measure, and you will STILL have wiped lobes.

I'd suggest instead, advancing your 5.3 plan. EVERY DIME you waste on that stooopid 305 thing puts you just ONE DIME FURTHER from your ultimate goal. Don't take a dead-end detour on something useless.

 

This is my DD. My only DD. Going 5.3 isn't an option right now. Not enough cash to 5.3/t56, and not the time. Funny how that works when you're 22.
So, in with a new cam! It'll allow me to get to work and such for a little while longer atleast. Option B is find another 305. When I don't need motors, I can find good 305's for a couple hundred. Now that I might need one? No one has one/wants 800 for a TBI pullout. Yeah right.

It's a 305. Well, 334, technically. All the stuff I care about is just bolt ons. Seeing as I didn't **** with boring it and stroking this thing, the internals are also not worth a thing to me. So, guess I'll see what happens! Worse case scenario, I just toast a 305

 

I wish somebody had told me when I was 22, what I just told you.

Or maybe they did, and I just thought I had it all figured out and blew it off, and just had to learn the hard way. (like about everything else I eventually learned)

 

are you 100% sure it is cam, and not that you have some dead lifters, or bent push rods?

 

I know I don't have a bent pushrod, possible to have a lifter collapsed. Either way, cam just arrived today.


Yes, I'm aware the proper way is to yank the motor and fully clean it. I have learned the hard way in the past and blown a couple motors in the learning process too not my first rodeo. that still doesn't change that it is my one and only DD, and I have the time nor money to do it the proper way right now, so I have to take a crapshoot.
There wasn't chunks, and I have a magnetic drain plug with nothing on it. My filter just had a very small amount of a silvery substance, the oil in the pan had none.

Plans changed, the 5.3 is going in my Mercedes. She just lost the rings on a cyl after 210k miles.

 

Wow. Here's a new one for those who haven't dismissed me as an idiot yet.
Pulled the cam, journals look fine. Lobes look like crap.. However. The fact that this motor has been running as is for this long and as well as it is..is astounding. There was no cam retainer plate.
Nada. Zip. No cam retention hardware. Yet there's no indicators that any of the lobes stuck the block or other lifters. Amazing. Off to LKQ for another..
Then gonna slap the new cam and lifters and..go baby go

 

you could always pull the lifters and have a look , it would end all question , for sure. and will only cost you some gaskets. personally , i hate the "wonder if " thing .

 

Next thing to my last post- this is a roller block, and had (and is getting) a flat tappet cam. I'm seeing some places online say that, if putting a flat tappet in a roller block..to put a flat tappet gear set on (was already on..) And remove the cam retainer plate. That just doesn't sound right, can anyone confirm or deny this? That sounds like its just asking for the cam to walk out

 

no cam retainer plate on flat tappet cams. the lobes are ground at a slight angle so that the tappet exerts force on the cam towards the rear of the block. this angle also causes the lifter (which is also slightly concave (convex? it's early)) to spin across the face of the lobe. a cam/lobe will fail when the lifter does not spin.

the flat tappet cam should not have the shoulder that allows the installation of a retainer plate anyway.

 

I learn something new every day, thanks!
Got her all buttoned up and broken in, and..whoops. Ordered the wrong cam. Had two tabs open, one wild and one mild, accidentally went mild hahaha. Oh well, she runs fine, a few tuning gremlins to work out, but all seems well! This motor is still on borrowed time/a time bomb with an unknown fuse, though. My pushrods are rubbing on the heads, all 16 of em are, so eventually something bad is gonna happen there, I assume. Oh well, planning on a 350/t56 now, so borrowed time is fine !