Topic: Cam Going Flat - Oil?

[Plainview]

Hey all,

I'm losing at least one cam lobe and probably two on my newly built 20/22R hybrid.  Only have about 600 miles on it at this point.  Do these engines need higher zinc (ZDDP) oils like old American pushrod engines with flat tappet lifters?

The cam and rocker shaft assembly came from Delta Cams in Tacoma, WA.  The rocker shaft assembly is a rebuilt unit and they assured me the pads on the rockers have been properly re-heat treated after they were ground.

The shaft assembly seems fine so I'll probably just buy new rockers and a cam from LCE.  Just want to make sure I don't have this problem again, so should I be running something like Valvoline VR1 or putting in a ZDDP additive?

[1985CRAWLER]

http://www.22reperformance.com/22RE_Performance_-_Installation_Parts.html

i used joe gibbs cam break in stuff and there oil. worked great

[emsvitil]

Are the rocker shafts in correctly.    (It's possible to put them in the holders backwards...............)

[Cheesemaker]

What oil did you use when your broke it in?


The old Kraut engine builder I got mine from, said to use Delo 400 30wt for mine.  And to change the oil in 100, 300 and at 500 miles.  (or something like that)

[madhunt]

use a good zinc additive when breaking in any new cam and rockers, or rings,, i use lucas zinc addiative and or 30 non detergent oil

[Plainview [OP]]

I didn't put a zinc additive in during break-in.  It's been about 15 years since I last built an engine from scratch and back then no one really knew about how the changes in oil formulations at that time were just beginning to affect zinc levels so it just totally slipped my mind.

As for the oil that was in the engine at break-in, I don't even remember.  I think it might have been Castrol, but I don't want to get into a discussion about oil brands.  As far as I can tell, as long as you use the correct weight and change it regularly it really doesn't matter what brand you pour in there so I just buy whatever's on sale.   I've always dumped the oil right after the initial 15-20 minute run-in, then again in ~50 miles and then again after about 500 miles then at regular change intervals.

That said, an oil like Valvoline VR1 (or the Joe Gibbs mentioned above) is formulated differently from standard passenger car oils and has higher levels of zinc like all oils used to have.  Guess I'll just replace the cam and rockers and buy a case of zinc additive to put in at each oil change from here on out.  One positive - I kind of wanted a little bigger cam anyway.  This one's all about the bottom-end torque...

[Jagdverband44]

Any of the commercially available diesel oils have about 1300ppm zddp and around 1100 Phosphorus which is adequate for our sewing machines. All of the big 3 brands such as Delo, Rotella, or Delvac go on sale at the FLAPS for around $13/gal and are an excellent value. All brands have synthetic counterparts and I know Rotella T6 5w40 is on sale right now at O'reilly because I just bought some for $21/gal. Break in cam with SAE 30 break in oil (brad penn, delo 30w, joe Gibbs etc brand is irrelevant just HAS to have zddp). Good luck