Dan H.

Hey all, thought I would share some pics. This started when I removed the heads to get the valve guides replaced. I looked at the lifters while it was apart and found that they were worn badly. Last week I put the new cam in and was able to finally take a look at the original. As you can see in the pics, some of the lobes were pitted. I like that I'm finding wear/damage, it reinforces the work I am doing. Glad I caught this when I did, looks like it wasn't far away from big time failure.

Car is a 49k mile 71 LT-1. Seems crazy that there would be this amount of wear. But I'll fix it up to run for a long time!

Thanks to all the folks on the forum that have helped me through this process :o) I'm finally done with dis assembly, I'm starting to put it back together. New timing chain just came in the mail. And the oil pan is on the back porch near the wood stove getting ready for paint.

jb78L-82

Just curious what brand and grade of oil have you been using for the last few years? Thanx.

Dan H.

Car was in storage for 10-12 years.

Before Storage (1988-2000)
Castrol GTX 10W-40

After Storage (2010-now)
Amsoil 10W-40 (high zinc content oil)

jb78L-82

Thanx! Definitely was not the oil you ran recently-Amsoil is one of the best. Castrol GTX-the old formulation-was pretty decent as well.

So much for the oil theory! The 70's cams were not great castings. My 73 nova SS wiped a cam in 1987 with 118,000 miles on the motor! Still have my oem L-82 cam in the 78-66,000 miles-BUT have a bad oil ring on cylinder #6 that I just discovered recently-90 PSI compression! I have heard the cast iron rings used in these motors were crap too-now I know.