The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Camshaft replacement?

I have a 1956 235 truck engine originally tied to a 3-spd. column shift. I am rebuilding the engine and have it all the way down to the block shell. My question is how do you determine if the camshaft should be replaced in a static engine? I have never heard it run, but it is in very good condition throughout. The lifters have normal wear and the cam has no runout issues or unusual wear. Does everyone typically do a cam and lifter replacement regardless in this situation, or do you ever re-use the original equipment?

Did you keep lifters in original order?
If so, you can reuse them at your discression.

If at all possible, reuse your lifters and rockers and any other original parts if possible. New parts are a crapshoot - usually junk.

I've had two experiences in the last two years where new lifters collapsed during the break-in period ruining a Chevy 350 and a Pontiac 400. Parts came from reputable sources like Summit Racing and both engines were built by guys who've been doing this their whole lives. Chinese junk.

I've been building engines since the late 1950s, at least several hundred of them, and I don't consider myself qualified to do an eyeball inspection of a cam and decide if it's reusable. if you have a degree wheel, a dial indicator, and the experience to use them, do like Sun Electric company's slogan used to be- - - - -"We test, not guess!"
Jerry

With the kind of money and time you are about to invest in rebuilding that motor, you don’t really want to be messing with a cam and lifters that you don’t anything about. More so If you did not keep the lifters in exactly the same order as the holes they came out of. In fact, the question is even easier to answer, which is no, once you lose track of which lifter went to which lifter bore, you are done.

So the best call is to send the cam to Schneider Racing Cams in San Diego. They can regrind to stock if you want or wild or anything in between. They have a lot of experience with our six motors.

As for the lifters, if you did not bugger them up getting them out of the lifter bore, you can send them to Rocker Arms Unlimited, also in California. They are the only source I know of to rebuild a rocker arm assembly, but for your question, they also reface lifters so you can send your originals to them and have them reground. Now you have a nice fresh grind on the cam and a nice fresh grind on the lifters. Use Schneider’s brake in lube, some Penn Grade 1 30 wt brake in oil, and you should be in the best position to have a successful brake in of your new motor.

Yes, lifters are tagged and kept in order. I understand there is supposed to be a .0005"-.001" maximum crown for rotation, and I have the tools to do an inspection so I think I will take a look.....

Thank you for all the information, I am still weighing out my options. However, I am not trying to create a racing engine, I am only trying to restore it to original specifications.

I do have a degree wheel, and I am a machinist so I have plenty of indicators to use; I will give it a try! Thank you!

I use a fixture I built for my lathe to put the right radius on the bottom of a lifter with a tool post grinder. It's approximately a 60" radius to get the proper crown on the base of the lifter. Drop me a private message and I can pass on some techniques to do a good degree check on the cam- - - - -I use a set of V blocks and a surface plate along with the degree wheel and dial indicator to plot the lift curve.

I was not suggesting that you were trying to create a racing engine.