I see Northern Auto Parts has a real good sale on Comp Cams stuff. I like the XE 4x4 270 profile, 111 LSA, good low end torque and good idle vacuum.
Anyway I haven't seen any posts recently on "failed cams" that was so popular a year or so back.
Just wondered if all the cam grinders have worked through the problems.
If not I may try a Voo Doo cam. Haven't heard anything bad about this Lunati product!

 

Prolly the same reason why you haven't heard of any cam failures and why you can get a good deal XE cams these days

 

Good Point...no one has bought any in the last year!!!!
I also noticed that in the Summit catalog they have a small space for XE's, "Call for Pricing"....

 

Crane has dual pattern cams as well......



You could agrue the ramps on the comp XEs are a big deal to you, but then again, they might not help the quick failure problem.

 

The voodoo is a great cam. I put one in my 78 chevy 4x4 and also in my 71 vette.

 

I have a Comp Cams XE282 and am very happy with it. I do not have much experience with other cams, but this has been working fine for me since I got the car and it has plenty of power.

 

It has been stated that some of the comp cam failures are due to the zinc in most of the motor oils has been removed. This was done because it is said that the zinc in the motor oil damages cat cons of todays cars. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

We're not going through this again. The problem is lack of zinc in the oil not the camshaft. All flat tappet cams have this problem, but rollers do not. If you install a new flat tappet cam & don't use a break in lubricant you are asking for failure. It is not manufacturer specific. You had better look again at Summit, they have a boatload of Comp XE cams, but they are listed by part number not necessairly with the XE designation. Search this forum, there is more info than you want to read on this subject.

 

IBT

-Mark.

 

 

........
The same here...Only I'm running the XE268............

 

I KNOW ..I KNOW...we have been over this quite a few times...but it is an open forum and we all choose what posts we want to read and respond to!!!!

Did the searchs....we all know about the zinc...Rotella oil, ramp issues, break in procdures, breakk in oils, etc
I have also read articles that the industry was working through some bad cam cores...
Seems like every other post on here was about "a bad cam" and then the number of posts seemed to go down.
Could this be due to better cam cores? a change in grinding?? Change in chemical coatings or heat treatments on the lobes???

 

I don't think any of the above are correct. I think people that post on here read posts that pertain to them. A lot of people now go with a roller cam because they have read posts here and elsewhere about the obvious advantages. If they go with a solid flat tappet use EOS and high zink oils and only the outer valve spring for break in and so you have less failures due to educated end users. The solid flat tappet seemed to be the only cam with these issues. Comp got ripped pretty good simply because they sell a LOT more cams and their ramp rates are more aggressive which does provide better performance but also a better chance at lobe failure if not properly broken in with the correct lubricants and procedures Armed with the knowledge you now have you can probably use a XE, break it in properly and get good service out of it. EDIT: I also believe a lot of the falures after break in are because of failure to keep the valvetrain adjusted properly. The solid roller guys usually got a lot invested in the motor and set their lash regularly. You have some building on a budget that want the solid cam performance but don't keep up on this critical maintainance. A solid cam will buzz up to 7500 RPM but if the lash is not correct at that kind of RPM and an aggressive ramp rate it will mill the hump off a lobe in short order. Then they blame the cam manufacturer. You here this on the forum " My Comp XE only has 1500 miles on it and I got a bad lobe, Must be crap" I bet a lot of these stories come from guys that set their initial lash correctly but then don't do the adjustments that you need after that at 100 miles, 500 miles 1000 miles to compensate for the wear you will get in the valvetrain during the initial wear in, not just the break in.

 

63 Make I agree totally..my point of this thread was to see if ther were any "update" or any revelations in this perceived bad cam era. Like we know it appears all manufacturers seemed to suffer from some cam failures. Like I said I had read there may have been some bad cores in the industry and with the aggressive lobe profiles seemed to spike the number of cam failures...

thanks to all who commented

 

I think you raise some good questions. The failure rate here on the forum sure has seemed to all but disappear. Is it because everyone is using a high zinc oil like Rotella T or did Comp change something? I think it's a stretch to think it's because many started using rollers.

If I were putting in a new cam I'd go with a Lunati or Crane just to be safe.

 

Exactly.

If I wanted to try my luck with a cam with that last 5% agressiveness (like comp apparently makes in their XEs), I'd go to a roller...but not for the same reasons of all those dopes who bought rollers only because they read the stories of hundreds of morons couldn't follow instructions on a new flat tappet cam.