Hot Rods You think there will ever be a market for billet cam cores for vintage engines?

With the talk of phasing out cast cam cores for flat tappet engines, just wondering if anyone will fill that void?

I know the hyd rollers are all the rage for now, but what about the Y block etc? That’s not really an option. Flatheads?

Could a guy make billet cores that would live using a hyd lifter?

I am not a machinist, nor do I play one on TV, so I have no idea of the cost involved for the equipment.

Just thinking out loud.

Thoughts?

 

I think someone needs to. Surely there is enough market for some of the old stuff to justify the investment. Probably doesn’t make sense for the big name cam builders, but I could see it definitely being a profitable niche.

 

We aren't that big a market and we are getting old and dying off.

 

That’s what I was thinking, but I am
not in that arena.

I would think starting with the common stuff first, like the sbc and then branch out. Caddys, Y blocks, Olds etc


I would think the cores would be similar in size for the most part.

 

This feels a lot like when Sid told me he was going to quit his job and just drop axles. I would have never guessed the market for that. The demand is bigger than we think of folks wanting old stuff.

 

Eventually, there will be thousands of blocks laying around, relegated to the junk pile, if no one picks up the torch.

 

I bought a blank steel cam for a GMC 6. It was never rough in. It’s taken me 24 months to find someone to grind it for a rollers that had found prior to the cam…. I’m guessing $2-3,000 for a finished cam. Is there a market……only for a very few..

 

I think the business plan would have to also include grinding the finished cams. To that point, seems we still have a cam grinder in OKC Chris…

 

Or would it just be better to pay the money to have some nitrided? I keep trying to decide if I should buy up cams while they are still available for future projects.

I'll probably die before I ever get to them all anyway.....

 

That may have happened at the point where going to work at his day job was costing him more money than dropping axles would bring in in the same period of time. I have known a few guys with businesses that started as home garage sideline work and grew to the point that they became a business.

As for roller cam cores for older engines that may depend on the individual engines and the ease or dificulty of converting them to run roller lifters.

 

Joe Panek of Rotofaze use to sell billet cam blanks for banger and flathead v8, if memory is correct. I dont think there is much of a market outside of racing endeavors of course.

 

I’m saving my old ones hoping the regrinders stay around

 

Hate to suggest it but find someone in “that” country and have a batch of chilled cast blanks made. Problem will be QC. There is probably a company in India that could do better for a bit more. All it takes is someone to come up with the money. Reground cams will suffice for most not wanting huge amounts of lift . Regrinds will keep engines going for the foreseeable future if the grinders stay open. I’d be more worried about cam grinders disappearing, they , and engine reconditioned and slowly closing in my area.

 

I see a little of both happening. Companies that specialize in popular "niche" engines such as Hemis, Flatheads, and Nail Heads work with cam manufacturers to produce replacement and performance flat tappet cams. Where the cores come from is another matter. Even they admit getting good lifters is a problem. "Belly button" engines (Chevy and Ford) will probably have to go the roller cam route. Odd ball engines most likely going to re-grinds and rebuilt/resurfaced lifters, and whether someone will take up that mantle is the issue.