Camshaft diagnosis. Take a look.

maulcruiser

maulcruiser

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Location
Bladenboro/Wilmington, NC
Looking at the cam in the 8.1 I'm tearing down. Supposedly over 400k on the motor. No ridge in the cylinders, heard it run, but this wear pattern on the cam leaves me with questions. It's not a great picture, so do what you can with it. No gouges or ridges on the lobes. Look normal to you guys? I'll see if I can convince my phone to take a better shot.

1000009716.jpg
 
On those last pics the surface isn't just worn, it looks broken down.
You need to fix that before it decides to undergo a sudden and autonomous disassembly of parts.
IMHO, I'm not an 8.whatever guy, YMMV, lather rinse and repeat.
 
What’s the likelihood of catastrophic failure vs gradual wear?

How difficult is it to change it in the vehicle vs on the stand?

How much does a new cam and related components cost?
 
I'd say I'd run it. I would be nice to scratch a fingernail over the lobes to make the final call. I dont see mushrooming on the lifter either on what I can see.
 
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you're there. replace it with something a little more aggressive. Unless you would risk crying later,
 
The chatter pattern is my concern. She's entering wear past the hardened surface. It will deteriorate much faster now.
 
Thanks for the input, guys! I took it down to this point because I had zero history on the engine, but did hear it run before buying. I'm with y'all on saving the headache of taking it out later and risking more damage from the unscheduled rapid disassembly.

As for parts, not cheap. Not sure what kind of cam to put in it. I'd like to keep the stock valve covers, but higher lift and longer duration stuff requires a different cover. I'm running a manual, so not worried about torque convertor stall or vacuum loss since I'm running hydroboost.
 

Vortec 8100 8.1L GEN 7 Big Block Chevy GM Camshafts / 496cid Valvetrain - Raylar Engineering

Vortec 8100 8.1L 496cid performance billet steel camshafts and valvetrain components.
www.raylarengineering.com

A lot of their stuff specifies if it fits stock valve covers.

willness33 said:
I dont see mushrooming on the lifter either on what I can see.
Click to expand...

It'd be pretty weird to see mushrooming on a roller lifter :D


@maulcruiser FWIW, not a whole helluva lot of 8.1 lifter failures, but it can happen. It would scatter bits, pieces, and needle bearings all over everywhere. It probably got neglected and they probably didn't keep up on the oil level, much less oil changes. That makes cams unhappy!
 
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