Well I’m not an expert but have been involved in the manufacture of camshafts. This cam was manufactured from either a casting or forging and not billet. A crack could have started and/or propagated as the result of a straightening process during manufacture. The crack maybe the result of poor heat treatment/quenching and went undetected. The other possibility looking at the lobes closely is “grinding burn” resulting in surface cracks due to insufficient coolant during final grinding of cam profile. At least a couple lobes look suspicious. Cams I was involved in were all Magna-fluxed as a part of final inspection. Of course a lot of factors are unknown such as manufacturing process, heat treatment, cam material, post manufacturing quality procedures, etc. Not pointing the finger at anyone but in my opinion a camshaft never turning a rpm in a running engine shouldn’t fail unless mishandled or damaged after manufacture. My opinion your mileage may vary!
Sorry, but I've got to tell this story. IHC Bus already in shop, I was given work order to do tune-up (1987-DoverAFB). Change plugs,points, etc. Would not start, distributor 180 out, okay, how'd that happen. Pull distributor out, re-install, still not starting. Pull v/covers, only front rockers moving, broken camshaft. New camshaft comes in, different mechanic goes to install, but can't figure out how to remove rest of camshaft so I take a look, with timing cover off I can see a broken rod laying against the camshaft. So, that's why the original work order had a second line item 'install driveshaft.' The person that originally wrote the wo said he drove bus around compound and it needed a tune-up. I am still wondering how he drove it. Lol.
That is bizarre ... I can't imagine a cam breaking right through a lobe like that unless it was due to a manufacturing defect. Only other possibility (in my mind) is the cam was dropped at some point. No way (again ... in my mind) that it broke like that just from turning it in the block, even if something obstructed its ability to turn. Basically this, if the cam was well made and not dropped, I honestly can't see it breaking where it broke, just from turning it in the block, obstruction or not. It looks like you are in Canada and Isky isn't. Are you sure Isky has it in their possession yet? (delivery confirmation). I'd say, as others have too, give them a bit of time ... there may be more involved in the checking process than simply opening the package and eyeballing it.
wow that looks like a cam blank problem...after close inspection I don't know if I would have even installed it in the first place but I do lots of things I shouldn't too trusting in the manufacturer/supplier the porosity is what concerns me we will see how others check in it's a shame you are having to go thru this but better in your garage turning it by hand than out there flying down the road somewhere in Hong Kong, Switzerland
I was just wondering I drill mine for that too but I have had an old race Flathead that had keyed lifters in it. I was just wondering if someone is still selling those.
My guess would be that it was dropped or mishandled in shipping that caused it to crack most of the way in that spot.
If you watch Stormin Bonneville, one episode he’s building the engine and the cam is broken in half in the box. No mention of manufacturer that I remember. Sounds like a fairly common problem. Good grief!
I'm not the most experienced cam installer by a long shot....... But I agree with the first paragraph above. That looks to me like an unfinished, raw, "blank" cam. Shouldn't the lobes be ground to a profile with a higher polish than that? If there was no clearance because of oversize lobes, that could snap it like a chicken bone in a single rotation.
That finish treatment is know as Parkerizing, it’s done in an acid bath to put small craters on the lobes to hold oil to aid the cam to lifter break in.
That cam has all of the appearances of being welded. The left lobe on the heel and the right one on the toe. Notice the differences in color at the weld parting line. Notice the small pits at various locations. Welded lobes if done properly will be as good or better than original. Isky had ones in the early days he called "Hardface Overlays". They stood up very well. There are several methods for welding cams both for racing and plain damage repair. Most work well.
Welded lobes, well if they were, then they were done by ISKENDERIAN. I open the cam out of the box and plastic bag,before I installed it into the flathead
Well still waiting for a reply from Nolan at ISKENDERIAN cams. First he couldn't find the cam, then found it, and now its been a few weeks and still no reply on what is happening with the camshaft. That is the first and last ISKENDERIAN cam shaft I will ever buy. Their customer service is poor to say the least. It doesn't take but a minute to reply to someone's email
Thunderbird and orange juice, Silver Satin and cherry Kool-Aid, a quart of Ripple for $.69, a six pack of Brew 102 for $.79. My liver is still in shock
Is there cell charges for calling the US from Canada? If so I could see the use of email, but maybe a phone call is in order by now?
About 15+ years ago I received a brand new Max1 cam from a vendor in Florida (that is no longer in business) and it was broken in half (I figured from shipping abuse). I called the vendor and they sent a new one immediately without any drama. Did you buy yours through a vendor or the manufacturer?
If it's Nolan Jamora who is their COO, he's a pretty busy guy. I would expect a response before now too, but you were already writing them off when they only just received the cam. The tone of your communication with them may tune their urgency as well.
Ugh, phonecalls. Some of us would be much happier if we had gone straight from the telegraph to text messaging, without ever inventing the phone. The only possible upside of phonecalls it that they don't automatically leave evidence of exactly what was said - which is also one of the downsides, when you tend to forget things. A mail you can easily go back and read again, as many times as you like, and reply to whenever you have the time. Although some people don't get to replying at all, but that isn't any fault of the mail, that's a problem with the person.
I bought all the parts to assemble a new bed for a 56 Chevy truck from LMC. When I test fit them together, the right step wouldn't fit. It was completely wrong. It would need a pie cut and welding to even bolt in place. I contacted them and sent pictures showing the problem. They said they would look into it. Several months went by........then a new one showed up and it fit just right. I think sometimes maybe it takes a while to resolve a problem. Tooling changes and stuff. With the cam, maybe they got a bad bunch of cams and have to go back to their source for resolution rather than send another defective cam to you. Yes, a phone call would be nice and it doesn't help when you are being held up waiting for the part. On the other hand, I had Comp Cams lie to me about the availabilty of a catalog camshaft promising delivery in 3 times in 6 months and then admitting they didn't have any cam cores for it and weren't even trying to get any because it wasn't as popular as Chevys. Summit normally stocked this cam and had sold out. Comp was still offering it for sale a year later at a much increased price and still not delivering. I bought a Howards and they delivered pretty much when they said they would.
Based on the date this thread came out "last Friday" would have been July 28th ... surely you've heard back from them by now right??? Interested in hearing the outcome ...
I just had absolutely pathetic customer service from Bell Canada (over the course of a couple of days and multiple lies on their end) ... horrible. Nowadays that is pretty much expected when your only possible company contact is some call center on the other side of the world where the employees can outright lie with no chance of being disciplined/fired or even identified ... in the case of Isky, that is NOT the case. If it's out being sonic tested or whatever, the least they could do would be to keep you informed. At this point it almost seems like they're hoping you'll just go away (based on their lack of response). Pretty sad ...
Poor customer service for sure. I have a few cars, and I will never ever buy a Isky camshaft again. Any camshaft except Iskendarian cams.
I have noticed on a certain TV show featuring some high profile/high dollar "street racers" that a lot of them wear the Isky Cams logo on their shirts. Must be doing something right.
Selling shirts is much different then selling camshafts, or at least I would hope. Want a bunch of street racers to wear your shirts? Drop off a box of shirts at their next meet, the next time you see them, everyone will be wearing one of your shirts.
Wait till you try to deal with Comp Cams! You thought Isky customer service was bad..... Comp is a whole new level last time I dealt with them. Do yourself a solid, buy a regrind next time!
Those guys wearing brand shirts on racing TV shows aren't wearing them by accident. Those are the sponsors that support them. Isky has camshafts in a lot of those fast cars on those shows, at drag and drive events, etc.
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