Major cam problems!!!!

I'm definately not a know it all on cams, so i would trust others over myself. I had my shortblock assembled at Hughes engines in Washington, IL, they are just a couple hours drive from me so I went there for my machine work. Dave the owner really knows his stuff. From what I have learned from him, that lifter rotation is very important. If you can't just drop the lifter in with a little oil on the sides there is a problem. Also on the same note if there is too much clearance then there is also a problem. A couple of years ago, he contributed some cams either free or at cost to a group of people on the moparts board, they were building a engine for the popular hot rodding engine master's challenge. Anyway the engine that they were building had excessive clearances and wiped out a couple of cams on the dyno. They finally found the problem and had the lifter bores sleeved and that fixed the problem. might be your problem as well. The only other thing that Dave @ hughes engines makes a big deal about is that the engine must start in the first couple to three turns over. That might possibly be another source of problems, but I would doubt that one, since you pre-lubed the engine, and it started with-in the first 15 seconds. My bet would be check the lifter bores, if they are to loose or to tight that could be your problem. Check out hughes engines and talk with Dave, he'll try to help you out, that is if you go with one of his cams. I haven't had my car running yet, so i can't tell you how the cams work, but I have good things about them. Hope some of this helps you.

Dan