Mystery film on cam lobes

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64physhy

64physhy

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I just bought a rebuilt 340 long block & noticed the cam lobes are covered with a waxy substance. It’s dry & kind of waxy feeling. It has been sitting for a while since the rebuild, so I’m thinking maybe it’s some kind of cam assembly lube that dried out or something. Is this a coating that’s still good, or do I need to pull the cam & clean the lobes & put fresh assembly lube on it?
 
64physhy said:
I just bought a rebuilt 340 long block & noticed the cam lobes are covered with a waxy substance. It’s dry & kind of waxy feeling. It has been sitting for a while since the rebuild, so I’m thinking maybe it’s some kind of cam assembly lube that dried out or something. Is this a coating that’s still good, or do I need to pull the cam & clean the lobes & put fresh assembly lube on it?
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Can you put heat to it and it melt some or liquify ?
Yeah it's just old cam lube. Schneider still uses it, some others too. Many have gone to the red stuff that is very viscous and the other like light weight grease...then theres Lucas which has a nice green assembly lube like comps I like as well....then the old cosmoline type that Chrysler used/s... lubriplate napa...lol...sta-lube moly grease ...I think I've used it all...theres a few more too I'm forgetting..
You could just add more to it...or like you said spray it off and start over.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Can you put heat to it and it melt some or liquify ?
Yeah it's just old cam lube. Schneider still uses it, some others too. Many have gone to the red stuff that is very viscous and the other like light weight grease...then theres Lucas which has a nice green assembly lube like comps I like as well....then the old cosmoline type that Chrysler used/s... lubriplate napa...lol...sta-lube moly grease ...I think I've used it all...theres a few more too I'm forgetting..
You could just add more to it...or like you said spray it off and start over.
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It does kind of resemble really old cosmoline, maybe a little darker. I haven’t tried putting heat to it, but it does seam like it would melt off if I did.
 
My preference is either the black/gray moly paste or the Driven assy grease.

“If it were me”, I’d get the old stuff off and start over.
 
An alien used it for a dildo.

Without pictures, how in the world do we know?
 
RustyRatRod said:
An alien used it for a dildo.

Without pictures, how in the world do we know?
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crystal-ball-fortune-teller.jpg
 
Schneider Racing Cams has an interesting cam lube I’ve not seen elsewhere, a very thick grease. A very unique consistency. And of course there’s my go to for engine assembly in general: Isky Rev Lube. When you find what works why bother changing things. Same with whatever you prefer. If it works it works
 
Really? I have pull many of engines out of strange placed and never took them apart to get then running again. Sounds like you are looking at the camshaft already... intake is off? Just pour oil on it that has zinc in it and make sure everything is lubed good. Put some in the cylinders too. Leave the spark plugs out and get oil pressure up by cranking it. Put the spark plugs in, get the timing close and fire it up. It will be fine. The older cams are the good ones. I hope my crystal ball is working on this one too.
 
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Wow, this forum has really changed from when I used spend more time on it. A bunch of rude punks now. Can y’all feel a pic? It just looks like lube. It wasn’t until I touched it that I could tell it was dry. If you need a picture of a lubed cam, you probably shouldn’t be giving advice
 
64physhy said:
Wow, this forum has really changed from when I used spend more time on it. A bunch of rude punks now. Can y’all feel a pic? It just looks like lube. It wasn’t until I touched it that I could tell it was dry. If you need a picture of a lubed cam, you probably shouldn’t be giving advice
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We're just bustin yer chops man. Lighten up Francis.
 
Hellrats said:
Really? I have pull many of engines out of strange placed and never took them apart to get then running again. Sounds like you are looking at the camshaft already... intake is off? Just pour oil on it that has zinc in it and make sure everything is lubed good. Put some in the cylinders too. Leave the spark plugs out and get oil pressure up by cranking it. Put the spark plugs in, get the timing close and fire it up. It will be fine. The older cams are the good ones. I hope my crystal ball is working on this one too.
Click to expand...
Bought it as a long block, so the intake was already off. It’s never been ran since it was rebuilt, so it still needs broken in. I was just making sure everything was clean before putting it together to run, when I noticed the cam lube was dry
 
X2 on the Schneider Cam Lube suggestion above. I coated a cam for storage with it when it was more like a Vaseline consistency and years later it had more of a waxy feel when I took it out. Schneider claims it is full of zinc and phosphorous so makes sense.
 
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