Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 10:33PM
Location: washington
Posts: 163
Comp cams hydraulic roller tie bar let go while cruising down the highway at 55 mph. I let off the gas and heard a little ticking. The tie bar pins failed letting the lifters rotate in the bores. As you can guess it ruined the cam and put metal everywhere. I called comp and they told me tough luck, 1 year warranty. I estimate i have about 6500 miles total on this cam/motor combo. I expected these to last basically forever.
512 Stroker Comp retro-fit hydraulic roller XR280HR and their lifters and springs. 75 psi oil pressure Valvoline VR1 20w50 oil
Altho I woudnt expect much fors to occur that woud want to rotate the lifter in its bore, if it duz happen that sliding pin duznt hav much leveraj to prevent the rotation. Any little bit uv junk thats not on sentr uv the roller will try to turn it.
A good enjineer woud figure that at wutever averaj rpm, say 1500, multiplied by a reazonable number uv minits uv operation you expect the enjin to last, its going to be a common occurans.
A better dezine woud be 2 long barz on either side uv the lifter rodz and extended sectionz uv the lifterz for flats to keep them strate.
Not a drop-in install, kuz youd haf to drill & tap bolt holez, but it will never fail. Plus it removez the mass uv the chintzy antirotation parts from the lifterz.
Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 10:33PM
Location: washington
Posts: 163
Fury440 wrote ...
That sucks! I notice Comp no longer says "Made in the USA" so I assume this another example of cheap Chinese crap. Any US cam builders left?
Funny you should mention that
When I got the lifters new from summit, sealed in the cardboard box, they smelled like harbor freight chinesium, and looked different than the ones I have used in the past. So much so, that i called comp cams and asked them if I had counterfeit lifters.
He asked me some questions about the markings and such on the box and lifters and assured me they were genuine.
Then when I called them yesterday they told me again that they were made my Shaffer (spelling?) and were most assuredly made in the USA.
Joined: Tue Oct 11 2005, 01:33AM
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 5893
I'm a little China paranoid these days. Some companies source component parts from who knows where and assemble here so they can say 'Made in the US' or in my case 'Made in Canada'. Moog did it a few years ago and I guess Comp maybe playing the same game. Same thing happened back in the 50's and 60's with stuff from Japan.
Joined: Sat Mar 29 2008, 03:36PM
Location: North eastern Wis.
Posts: 1638
KurazyJO wrote ...
Well, big surprize, it iz possible for American companyz to make junk.
Passing the buck is as old as the Sun. Much easier to blame another ethnicity. Poor quality? Been happening for ever too. The very reason a warranty even exists. It was never unheard of for new items to have to be taken back. Good stuff has always been the "standard", but not necessarily the reality. I worked in a few manufacturing jobs in the 70's and 80's, piece work would always trump quality control. Memory suffers the same fate. We only remember what makes us feel good.
Joined: Sat Apr 29 2006, 05:11PM
Location: Cincy
Posts: 269
BTW - 20-50 oil is way too heavy for a hydraulic roller cam in a big block. 10 - 30 is what I have been told by a smart person is the heaviest oil you want in this combination. Now is that good enough for protecting the rest of the motor? - I don't know.
The problem is that these lifters are so heavy you can't rev them past 5800 rpm or so, and many times they do want to go way above that (DAMHIK). The heavy oil makes it much worse because the lifter can't fill the heavy oil fast enough.
How high do you rev the motor? Could you have failed the link due to severe valve float?
I have $1200 invested in a Lunati hydraulic big block cam setup that has very little time on it that I pulled out of the motor and no idea if I will repurpose the cam or what I will do with it but it was a nasty failed exercise..........
