<VV> cramshafts

[NicolCS at aol.com]

I don't quite know how to put this... Lotta folks throwing out some big words 
and thoughts today.  Most seem to miss the point that the initial camshaft 
moments are pretty traumatic and IMHO, this trauma is worse with a brand-new 
cam.  I've always thought of a new cam as "soft", perhaps a better word would be 
"rough". Once a camshaft is "smoothed" during the break-in, the trauma seems 
to be over.  If the trauma of this smoothing process is to great, the thin, 
hardned surface is scraped away and the softer core is exposed. Cam failure has 
occured and will eventually lead to a flat lobe.  Of course, a poorly heat 
treated cam will fail no matter what.

At the other end of a camshaft's life, microscopic dirt in the oil, an oil 
film failure, or a lifter failure, causes the camshaft's hardened surface to be 
worn away and again a flat lobe is the result. 

I see no problem putting new lifters over a GOOD used cam.  Putting used 
lifters on a new cam is a no-no since the convex bottom surface of the lifter has 
frequently lost it's convex shape and will damage a new cam in short order.  

Shields Up, Mr Sulu!
Craig Nicol