lifter trouble

What oil was used? How long was it from the time the engine was asembled to when it was fired in the car? What additives wre used in the oil if any? Did you preoil it? was the lifter rotation verified during assembly? 302 heads have a closed chamber (smaller, and you cant see the full diameter of the cylinder on the head). All 340/360 LA heads have larger open chambers (where you can see the whoel round shape. So what did the chambers look like? I have enlarged the 318 sized intake ports to 340/360, but you need to do a bit more work than just that to make them work. It's a lot of work when a cam is destroyed. Especially with hyper style pistons. You MUST (IMO anyway) pull the engine out, and completely disasemble it. Down to the bare block, and clean out all the iron particles that are now pumping thru the oil system, getting caught between the pistons and walls, and destrying the rings and skirts. The cam needs to be replaced, but building performance engines has changed a lot in the last few years. Things have changed, that is seperating out the "good builders" and average builders. If every little item isnt checked and verified, failure will result. 5 years ago,m this was not really the case. DO NOT keep running the engine. Drop the oil from the pan if you doubt me. The cam material will look like metallic glitter, and is too small to get caught in the filter. My guess is, the pistons, oil pump, pickup, bearins, cam bearings are already showing signs of contamination. The wrong oil can cause this. As can not having the engine fire instantly.