Cam break in on 460 Ford.... Spooky!

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blacksheep

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
956
Location
Ludowici, GA
Been doing some reading on cam break in . There are some spooky stories out there about guys wiping the lobes right off their cams . This motor still has assembly lube dripping off of it after three years of sitting bolted to an engine stand wrapped in shrink wrap ,and bagged in a plastic bag. But, I still think I need to try and get some good lube on the cam lobes before firing this beast up. I have a tool that I made from and old distributor that will allow me to spin the oil pump to get everything wet on top . And , I plan on using some good break in lube additive for start up. Also , I will make sure that I'm TDC and the carb is primed and squirting fuel out of the carb. But, dangit , this is a spooky ordeal here fellas. Once she fires I'll have the carb set to run at 2000 RPM's. Is there anything else I need to watch out for or do? Oh, important info..... Flat tapped lifters.
 
Make sure to vary the rpm now and then to splash oil into different areas of the engine.
Fords aren't as bad as Chevy's about wiping cam lobes. Pull the push rods and make sure the lifter rotate in their bores easily. If you pull the lifters, you can put new assembly lube on the bottoms of them too.
 
Make sure your cooling system is up to the task - if this is an all new install, there's a lot of things that need to be performing right, the twenty minute 2000 RPM run can uncover any weak links. Monitor the progress of the heat, checking hoses, gauge, fan(s) do you have a fan shroud ? - even an auxiliary fan set up in front of the car, blowing at the rad is a good idea ( like they do on dynos ).
 
Some people suggest putting weaker springs on the valves just for break in so that there isn't as much pressure on the cam lobes, but I have never done that, I simply run the ones that are going to be on the car.

I do prime the heck out of the motor first with a preluber like you have, and I use a whole bottle of Lucas Break In Additive with straight 30 wt oil. I run the motor at 2000 rpms for half hour, even if I have to do it in 10 minute segments. Watch the temp gauge and oil pressure during the break in. DO NOT LET THE ENGINE IDLE FOR EVEN A MINUTE !

Once the break in is over I immediately change the oil and look for any metal in the pan. Some people cut open the oil filter to look for debris, but I don't have one of those cutters, so I don't.

We run half a bottle of Lucas Break In Additive with EVERY oil change for the rest of the motor's life (this was the suggestion from a tech at Lucas) and so far we have never had a cam lobe issue. We had to tear down my Son's 455 Olds after it had been on the road for a while and the cam looked brand new.

Don
 
Well, the good thing is that we ran the other motor in the car several times and it ran good but smoked. I have a good fan shroud out of a Ford van (flipped upside down) haha, and will make sure that I monitor the oil and temps. Thanks for all the replies. This seems almost as stressful as when I was a concrete contractor, and would see the smoke from 4 concrete trucks rounding the corner. Stress level always went up wondering if I remembered to do this or that. Hahaha
 
No question that we all hold our breath until we get a lot of miles on an engine, so much can go wrong. I am feeling the same way about the 394 Olds I will be using for my rpu project........I rebuilt it maybe 7 years ago and it has never been fired yet. But as long as we lube the heck out of everything before fire up we have done everything we can do.

Don
 

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