Moly paste on the lobes and lifter face. Make sure it's ready to fire. Don't sit there cranking for a half hour get it running quick.I agree pull the pan it's not a hard job and clean that pan out.and the pickup.not a bad time to change the oil pump. Good luck. Flat tapes have been around about a hundred years and. Work well just be careful of the oil,no big deal.

 

Well, running a roller is just my opinion just like others that have there's above. Again, in my opinion even on a limited budget and a stock motor it seems like a better idea to spend maybe another $500ish to get a piece of mind vs. putting a stock FT cam and lifters in and "hoping" that you do the break-in properly and if not you get to do it all over again... after you pull the motor this time because of all the metal you sent through the motor from the cam lobe(s) that went flat, the expense will get MUCH higher of course than a mere $500ish this time around not to mention all the labor involved. Using GM EOS used to be the ticket and I used it a bottle at every oil change for a lot of years with my FT cams, it's cheap insurance. However, the GM EOS you get at the dealer now is not the same as it used to be, read the bottle. So now, you must make sure that the oil used has a significant amount of ZINC in it to keep your cam lobes happy as your insurance. You don't have to worry about that with a roller and the motor will probably perform a little better as well.

All this is like the old transmission commercial from back in the day..."You can pay me now, or you can pay me later". The latter will be much more expensive in the long run if things go bad. This is all hypothetical of course, if everything goes well and done properly, you are golden. If not, it's just another story to read on the forum on how things went bad. The choice is the OP and how much does he want to spend without killing his budget. Good luck either way and keep the wave.

 

I venture to say in my lifetime I have installed at least a hundred cams hydraulic,solid and roller and never had a failure with the exception of a valve breaking making a pass on the drag strip.
I venture to say that a vast majority of these break in failures are due to not following the right procedures.
Flat tappet or not you should be using oil with zinc anyway.

 

+1. This is very often overlooked.....organization. I disassemble and assemble in stages. Set goals for each day and stick to them, don't do to much in 1 day.

Tip: Set your crank to TDC before disassebly

 

Let me ask this...If lifters only are removed and they're all good is it safe to assume the cam lobes are ok?

 

You can usually see any scoring marks on the lobes by shining a flashlight in the lifter bores. What you can't see is the other side of the lobe unless the crank / cam is rotated. From past experience with F.T. cams, both the lobe and lifter wear down almost evenly. The lifters base will become concave and sometimes have a pin-hole worn in.
Back to your question? Yes, its pretty safe to assume the lobes are ok. If you know your cams profile, then using a dial indicator set-up you can compare lift data.

 

It's possible you have collapsed lifters and not a bad camshaft. Take the intake off. Crank the motor over with the starter look at the lifters going up and down. If they are all moving the same amount, and the pushrods going down inside the lifter instead of going up with the lifter it's the lift or not the cam. and the intake has to come off anyway. Whether you're changing lifters or changing the camshaft. Be sure you're taking out bad parts.

 

Those early 80's small block Chevy cams are known to be soft from the factory. Had 3 of them wear out over the years - not due to lack of the right oil or changes. Do as Derek pointed out - seek what's wrong before you buy anything.

 

 

Definitely got some awesome advice here, i took the past few days to do some research here on what to do. my biggest priority is having the engine light immediately first try. so im going to make a check list of every single connection that i take off to make sure everything is good before i start cranking. i took about 100 pictures of every angle possible and every single surface i will have to remove bolts from. i have bags labled for everything, im going to replace most of my vacuum lines and rad hoses while im at it since they all have to come off anyway and many of them are cracked and worn. my biggest concern is making sure i dont mess the timing up in the process so that its good to go on first start. once i get it to top dead center before disassembly i plan on just making a reference mark on the valve cover and then one on the dizzy so i know its exactly as it was before (let me know if this is a dumb idea). i have my year specific manual so i have the proper specs for all the bolts, i know how to set the valve lash so i think im mostly ready to go here. anyone wanna start a friendly bet on how bad i mess my car up and have to throw it on a trailer to my nearest mechanic with my tail between my legs? im giving myself a 66% chance of perfect success.

 

put engine to #6 firing position.
scribe line at base of distributor to manifold
good luck

 

What calwldlife is referring to is about the dots on the timing chain sprockets. The crank dot will be at "noon" and the cam timing dot will be at 6: o'clock. If you remove the chain in this position and install the new chain w/o rotating the crank, everything will be good to go. You have not altered anything. This is very important, to not move anything when you install the new chain & sprockets. Add a couple drops of LocTite Blue to the cam bolts.
Some other tips:
When you are ready to pull out the old cam, some people thread in a long bolt for a handle. Another way is to remove the cam sprocket & chain, then put the sprocket back on with one or two bolts. Use the sprocket for leverage to pull out the cam w/o damaging any cam bearings. When the cam is 90% out, remove the sprocket so the end of the cam will clear the A/C condenser. The condenser must be moved forward an inch by removing four bracket bolts.

The new crank sprocket can be installed with a piece of pipe over the end of the crank snout. Go slow, watch the keyway, tap gently until flush.
Before installing timing cover, saturated the timing chain in clean oil. Excess will run into the pan.

As I recall, remove the clutch fan / belts, loosen the fan shroud and lay it on the waterpump. Then, once the rad hoses are off the rad can be pulled almost straight up and out, slowly, carefully. Then remove shroud. Now you have access to the entire front.

 

It's a big job, did it for the same reasons on the same model year. There is extensive amounts of disassembly and reassembly. Took me at least a couple long days IIRC. I did paint and detail as I went along. Same deal for me as car had fresh paint and great interior and ran badly. I used the same cam even. Ran really well afterwards, no problems with the computer. Those suggesting a roller-if the car is still running the CCC system that must be considered. I seem to think I dropped the oil pan enough to sneak in a new gasket under the oil pump pick up. I eventually got good money for the car but it took about 6 months-it looked great and ran great. If you have a more experienced buddy you could coerce/bribe to help you you should try.

I had many years in the hobby and it all went fine-but there are fiddly steps-like the fuel pump and push rod, balancer etc that if you have no experience can be time consuming and frustrating. Be patient, very patient-don't break off any old bolts, stop when it's fighting you. BE attentive to torque settings putting it back together. Be super careful and gentle with all the little fittings and sensors on the intake-easy to break old plastic and then you are chasing expensive replacements that add up on a job like this. Make sure your cooling system is full-be sure to fill the engine block not jsut the radiator on reassembly, run it with the cap loose (one click, not fully locked)at first in case you need to add water. Even this little step can be tricky-you don't want it to start to overheat and then suddenly the thermostat opens and blows boiling coolant. Get a buddy to help you at breaking time-someone has to hold the revs up and watch gauges, someone has to look for leaks or other problems-fool with timing and carb if required. Do it outside, not in the garage-you don't need a very hot engine run for 20 minutes suddenly leaking fuel or something and catching fire. Study procedure to prelub the engine via the distrib drive-it takes a long time to get oil all the way to the top of the engine, not just to put out the oil pressure light.

 

Odd tools you'll need:
Moly lube
Balance Puller
Crank gear puller
Balance installer
Long bolt to hold fuel pump push rod in place.
Razor blades
Loctite (cam bolts)
Black, Grey and Blue RTV depending on what you read
Torque wrench.

Parts:
Oil pan gasket
Timing cover gasket set
Intake manifold gaskets
Timing chain set
Cam & lifter
Valve cover gasket
Anti-freeze (2-3 gallons)

What else am I missing?

 

Waterpump gaskets.
Fuel pump gaskets (2) change both.
Maybe new hose clamps.
Recommend new ARP balancer bolt & washer.

 

I am using oils with zinc in the car and until I started it about 1+ year ago, it hadn't been on the road since 2004. From those in the know, did this soft cam issue extend to the L82's the last of which was in the 1980 models, including mine.

 

Yes.

 

Good to know

And here I used to make fun of my brother for buying a 79 280ZX at the same time and they were later found to have soft cams. But I guess theirs were softer than GM's.

 

Their EFI/computer sysem was a nightmare, too!
THink a lot of the flat cam syndrome is due to 1) installer error 2) crappy core quality, not so much the oil

 

surprised your 81 oe cam lasted so long.
my new 81 lost the cam within the 3 year 36,000 mile warranty.
and oil back then had plenty of zddp.