Machinist will not build engine unless roller cam is used!

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harrisonm

harrisonm

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My friend Mark is having the 327 for his 67 Camaro completely rebuilt by a local reputable performance-oriented machine shop. We took the engine there on Tuesday. The shop is beautiful. I was very impressed. When the shop owner was going over the options with Mark, he added that if he did do a complete rebuild, Mark would have to go with a hydraulic roller cam. He said he was tired of new flat tappet cams failing, so he went to the roller cam policy. He told us that his contact at Comp Cams told him that all the lifters are made in China now, and that Comp did not have the manpower to test each one. The Comp Cams guy admitted that their lifters were flawed.
Just thought you guys would like to know about this.
 
Fewer issues with a roller. In a way I don't blame him from a liability standpoint. He needs to check for proper lobe taper and proper crown on the lifter faces.
 
Fake news. I have a personal friend that works for Comp Cams and he says the claim that shop made about the lifters is false.
 
Melling is made here in Georgia, Michigan and in Mexico. Just food for thought.
 
oregon cams sells these. says they are made in america.

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-Boosted- said:
Fake news. I have a personal friend that works for Comp Cams and he says the claim that shop made about the lifters is false.
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Which claim? That they're made in China, they don't have the inhouse manpower to test them all or that they admit that the lifters fail?
 
With the hydraulic ft issues I am of the same opinion on tappet choice for a performance engine. If I had to go hydraulic ft it would come from Jones or Oregon Camshaft.

For the last build we used bushed comp sportsman roller lifters with good results. I was interested in trying out the comp evo hydraulic roller lifters in a street engine. I am not sure if I will try them after finding out that Comp no longer services their lifters.

Back to Isky and BAM for now.

It should not be a huge deal to upgrade a 327 to a hydraulic roller cam. Surely GMPP sells retrofit lifters etc.
 
We highly recommend hyd rollers for all street performance engines. Flat tappet failures have been very common over the last 10 years due to a combination of changes to oil as well as the loss of Johnson lifters. Once Johnson went away the lifter market was taken over by low quality offshore parts and the whole thing turned into a mess. There are some bad hyd lifters out there as well so buyer beware. We use Gaterman lifters whenever possible.
 
I wouldn’t blame any machine shop these days with the amount of failed flat tappets. The good ones take pride in what they do and want to build quality engines. Hard to do when quality control is lost on global economies. No Idea where parts are made could say US but the metal is inferior metals from over seas.
 
My machinist is one of my closest friends. He's 81 years old and has been a machinist for almost 60 years, and having built many engines for NASCAR teams and drivers that put a lot of big names in the winners circle. He will no longer build a street engine with hydraulic flat tappet cams because of massive numbers of failures. I really can't blame any competent performance engine builder/machinist that takes that stance. He still builds and freshens up a lot of GM crate motors for specific racing classes, like the 601, 602, 604, etc. Those race classes require HFT cams, but all that stuff is a whole different level than the junk Comp has been putting out. I put a Bullet hydraulic roller in my 273 and used Morel Hydraulic roller lifters and couldn't be happier with it. If I'd bought by the cheapest price....it might be a different story!
 
diymirage said:
Not just comps, do the words "hemi tick" mean anything to you ?
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Don't forget all of the 5.3 LS nightmares. I have a friend who is a lead tech at a Chevy dealership and although the numbers are down, used to be ALL he did was warranty engine swaps from bad lifters and cams. .....and there's no other way on those trucks than to REMOVE the cab from the frame to do an engine swap. Ridiculous.
 
I have been using Trend 513 tool steel SFT's, and pushrods. in comparison they have a huge radius , weigh like 65 grams as compared to 125/130. I don't need heavy springs any longer. I also use Ti. intake valves basically same weight as exh. ss. But i back out at 6300. 512/400. I know this post is about rollers though. This will be my 3rd. engine, same lifters but spendy.
 
cryplydog said:
I have been using Trend 513 tool steel SFT's, and pushrods. in comparison they have a huge radius , weigh like 65 grams as compared to 125/130. I don't need heavy springs any longer. I also use Ti. intake valves basically same weight as exh. ss. But i back out at 6300. 512/400. I know this post is about rollers though. This will be my 3rd. engine, same lifters but spendy.
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i don't see a sbm offering on the Trend website , do you have a part number .
 
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