Where does one send a camshaft to get hardened? Getting parts together for a rebuild and worried about new cam break in. Non roller
That’s part of the manufacturing process. Not something you do later. It’ll either break in ok, or it won’t. Do your best, hope for good luck.
Some grinders offer it as an extra when you buy a new cam.I believe its called Mellonizing.It surface hardens. I believe GM Delphi lifters have a hardened face. The lifter has a ring around the bottom 1/4 inch which identifies them. Make sure the lifters spin free in their bores too.
There is also a surface treatment known as "Parkerizing" that you may want to consider. It isn't a hardening process but provides a thin coating that helps retain lubrication during the breal-in period. Years ago many flat tappet cams came with this coating already applied by the manufacturer. I don't think it's obscenely expensive to have this done to an existing cam. If you have trouble finding a local machine shop that will do the job you might want to talk with a gunsmith.
Actual hardening (heat treatment) must be done prior to grinding. If you have a finished cam, it can’t be heat treated.
Well... Normally when you buy a cam, all of the treatments HAVE been completed. Why do you want to do it now ? Partially what TRENDZ says, heat treating is done before final grinding. BUT, yes you CAN have it treated after finish grind, but you'll need to have the cam final ground again, after the heat treat. Part of the heat treat of a previously ground cam is an "annealing" process, which brings the material back to it's original, soft state. Then the heat treat process goes the other way into the hardening sequence. And like Clay says, the Parkerizing is also a part of the normal, "finishing" part of the process. This helps with the breakin that you do. Mike
Comp Cam offers Parkerizing on their cams for a hundred bucks Lubricate everything well during build up, spin it up for oil pressure, get a base line set for start up, use a good quality break in oil, run it for 20 minutes at 2000-2500 RPM
Old HAMB metallurgist here. Yes, heat treatment is done before final grinding. *Any* type of heat treatment will cause some distortion, so no way to do that on a finished cam. The surface treatment Parkerizing, which is a brand name, is just iron phosphate coating. It is a dull grey color and the crystalline surface helps hold the lubricant on the surface. But it is wiped clean fairly quick under operating conditions in the engine. It is not a long term solution for cam wear. I personally do not think it is worth the cost of $100 quoted above, the actual cost is more like few dollars. Pure padded profit for the cam company IMHO. If they really thought it was needed, they would do it as part of the std production process on all of their production. I think the bigger issue is to use a good molydisulphide paste on the lobes and lifter faces, plus get the rpm up at first start. This does two things: gets the lube splashing onto the cam since it does not have a direct oil feed to the lobes, and it promotes lifter rotation which is vital. Ensure when putting things together that the lifters all spin free in the bores, before sealing it all up and firing the engine. A non-rotating lifter will wipe a lobe for sure.
Vintage motorcycle restorers use parkerization as a finish on brackets and bolts . Part of the do it at Home process is done by boiling parts in 30wt . But I would think the heating of a cam at home would be detrimental to the life of the cam .
This hit the nail square on the head. I see a lot of people using ***embly lube that would be used mainly on bearings and piston skirts. I've used thick molybdenum disulphide paste for many many years, and have never had a cam go flat. Lobes, lifter face, ends of push rods, rocker tips. The moly gets wedged in and bonds at the molecular level. The key is, as you say, get the rpm up quickly. Set the thing up so it will start and run without excessive cranking. It really needs to light right away. I see these guys on TV shows cranking and cranking, twisting the distributor this way and that, getting a ball of flame out of the intake, and when it finally fires, they let it idle. Bad, bad news. My guess is this is all done for TV drama, and the thing had already been fired up and run for several minutes before inserting the drama. I like to have everything ready so the car can be quickly started, and then go driving around and have it adjusted for a high idle. You can also load the motor so the rings seat quickly too. If it won't survive that, then it won't survive babying it either.
Why not just go with a roller cam? Lot more efficient and a lot fewer worries. Yes they cost more, but not as much as a cam failure can cost.
It's always 'pucker-time' when I do an initial fire-up! Get that carb bowl full of fuel...ck Get the timing just right(leave distrib loose)..ck Get that battery fully charged...ck Get radiator full of water only..ck Get ALL the wires needed hooked up..ck Get fire extinguisher..ck Get OUTSIDE garage..ck Get timing light hooked-up..ck Get the lifters primed with a drill..ck Say a prayer! Hit the key! 6sally6
I've always used Isky Rev-Lube on all of the valve train parts during ***embly, never had a cam go flat, even in the old days when we didn't do the modern break-in procedure. I didn't use the often-supplied red stuff because I wasn't confident it would still be there if I didn't start the engine right away. I don't know where you got your cam, but it should be ready to run, as-is, with good ***embly lube and the prescribed break-in procedure. Lighter valve springs may improve your chances if it's a high lift version, but I've never bothered.
The day you fire up a new engine for the first time is a good day to cut back on the Starbucks and Red Bulls. To add one step to your list . . . Hook up some mufflers, if you can.
no roller cam for engine. I would like one though. Haven't bought cam yet. I just don't like surprises. Someone told me they got it done after they bought the cam.
Howard Cams offers a hardening option, you should probably call them and speak to a Tech to get the cost and a straight answer to your questions.
i have mine polished. no break in. just go. and i run a 671 on a 350 buick. one of the worst engines to deal with because of the oil system. but @6500 + who cares. lol www.negearpolishing.com
Is it possible to have it plasma nitrided? I'm not sure on a cam, but a plasma nitrided part is usually ready for use. It calls for no machining, or polishing or any other post-nitriding operations. The process causes little or no distortion. There are some very good suggestions above on cam break in. Also, if you are running dual springs, do your initial start up and break in with the inner springs removed, than put them in afterwards.
Comp Cams uses nitriding....I believe the mentioned plasma nitriding in the above post. Howards Cams uses Parkerizing. You can also have the cam ground on a preferred harder core, called a P55 core. Not everybody has them. Call Mike Jones, Jones Camshaft Design, to get the harder core and the preferred hard face lifters. He goes by CamKing on many of the performance boards, and owns the Speed-Talk forum. he's the only guy I'd buy a flat tappet from.....no way in 'ell I'd use a Comp Cams mush cam. Howards has been okay, but I haven't bought a flat tappet from them in a few years, so i can't say currently....
Yep.......Mike Jones aka Camking is the cream-of-the-crop! He's probably spent more time on the ****per than most of the other cam guys have been in business!! A lot of his business is designing and grinding camshafts for NASCAR and Indy cars! Quality stuff & knowledge = $$$. 6sally6
I would add a 3rd thing it does. The lubrication regime that exists when the lifter is on the ramp of the cam lobe is known as Hydrodynamic Lubrication. A good ****ogy of hydrodynamic lubrication is the way a water skier will sink down into the water when not moving, but once underway he will pop up on top of the water surface. This is the "dynamic" part of hydrodynamic lubrication. A slow start will have the skier plowing through the water, which is pretty miserable if you've ever been there and done that. What you really want is a fast enough start to pop you up out of the water quickly. Same thing with getting the cam/lifters out of the boundary lubrication regime and up into hydrodynamic regime quickly, to reduce contact and wear at that critical point in time. Hmmmmm, I'm not sure this is accurate. Moly is a dry lubricant. It's pretty cool stuff really, able to withstand very high loads, and high temps, which are good things for lubrication. But I'm not sure there is any molecular bonding going on there. When training people about moly additives we always use the ****ogy of a deck of playing cards; moly particles are wide and flat like a card, and they stick together to form a dry layer between moving parts. They will take a great deal of loading before they break down, but the forces causing them to stick together are not that strong, so they slip, like playing cards that are stacked up will do. That's how they reduce friction. Good stuff. But eventually the moly will wash off the surfaces, it's just hoped that by that time the mating surfaces will have worn together enough to prevent accelerated wear from occurring, and then it's back to ZDDP based tribo filma and good old hydrodynamic lubrication to keep things going properly. p.s. the lubrication regime is different for the tip of lobe than it is for the slope. The motion transitions from sliding to rolling, then back to sliding on the back side of the lobe. On the tip the regime is called elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication, which is the same regime as rolling element bearings experience. This is actually where the highest forces, and the thinnest lubrication film, exist. The mating surfaces actually deform plastically at the point of contact, hence the "elasto" part of the term. Moly doesn't help with this regime, only with the sliding motion.
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