Corey are you saying Kap didn't pay his bill. I would find that hard to believe.
Rev I guess I'll butt in. I don't think Mark ever intended on saying anything negative about you or your shop. The little I know I do know him, he's not that type of person, but me on the other hand...
I'm dumb when it comes to mechanics, but you bragged on what a great job the previousbuilder did on Kap's engine. The attention to detail and such. I find it hard to believe that he / they installed a cam bearing wrong. It would be easier knocking it out of alignment installing a cam with the engine still in a vehicle then with it mounted on an engine stand. Anyhow, that's what I'm thinking. Now go ahead and start your rant at me. :rofl1:
The issue was not with the previous builder, but the machine shop that installed the cam bearings. Rarely does a builder do the machining as well.....most have cam bearings pressed in at the machine shop where the boring , etc. is done. And it is the very back bearing, no way to knock it out during a cam replacement....one of the others yes, but the rear most is to be seated all the way into the journal and you can see from the pictures it is out far enough to obstruct most of the flow.
That is where the issue was (look closely at all the pictures).
Here is a detailed report on the issue and the work done after the intial in-car cam swap.....it is not hard for a non-mechanic to understand, and I have included the contact info of the lifter manufacturer that anyone can call....he is one of the best in the industry & is a great guy who spent a ton of time on solving the issue. Also, Potter Performnce who does our machining and came to the shop several times to help solve the issues as well.
Ken & I will work out the details on payment, and he has been a perfect proffesional gentelman in this....but needs to look further into what the issues were , why, and what we did to fix it.
but to say Thor had no ill intent is hard to believe as he made it such a mission to get info and then has nothing to say after delivering the end result.
So read on:
The pictures documenting everything show that the cam bearing not seated was obstructing most of the needed oil flow to the top end. Our intial job was an in-car cam swap to a roller cam/lifters/rockers. The flat tappet cam you were shown had wear, allthough not as much as I had suspected it would have. Also, a GM stock flat tappet lifter has no check-valve internally and will allow oil flow through no matter what....as long as it has oil pressure (which your motor has very good pressure) but a Crane (or yours are Gaterman....do a google search for bill gaterman performance valve train....he was the chief engineer for Crane for years and designed most of Cranes current lifters....his are an improvement over Crane....feel free to call him up: 386-253-1899 and he will be glad to discuss your engine & the lifter issue....) has an internal valving system that only allows oil flow to the rockers if enough pre-load is set or they stay closed. Now, your new cam is a higher lift & duration of your old one (you made the comment that the car has never had the power it has now) and it requires a stronger spring rate to control, thus any upper end oiling issue will be compounded by the higher lift. (back to the pictures of the cam bearing...it was fine for a flat tappet low lift/duration cam w/stock rockers, but not the extra flow & pressure needed for roller set-up with higher lift/longer duration). So that is why the stud failed. There was never any over heating of any other component....only the rockers that were not getting enough oil to properly lubricate & cool....that is what caused the stud to fail......fricton of the part not properly lubricated caused the heat & failure of that part only. Also, the roller rockers have oil passages that require pressure to properly lubricate, where the stock stamped ones rely on oil splashing to lubricate. I did not trust delivering the car yesterday so even though Greg & Myself were pretty sure all was well, I decided it was best to put another hundred or so miles on it to make sure. It ran great, started this AM as quite as could be & ran great all day so I filled it up & sent my tech to deliver it at my expense (Ken had already wasted an entire day).
Now the bill I sent, and call a Chevy garage for a quote on removing a 454 from a 72, dissasembling the motor, cleaning all oil passages & galley's, and installing a new set of the best coated bearings money can buy (the same ones we use in our 1000 hp plus drag motors & off-shore power boat engines), replace a failing harmonic balancer, refinsh exhaust manifolds, replace every gasket in the motor, port match the intake to the heads (your heads have an excellent port job done on them) and reinstall it all without damaging the cars show finish, fix a wiring issue not related to our work (I removed the faulty fuseable link and put a common splice in it), and still deliver it to Ken. I have built hundreds of Chevy big & small block motors in my 53 years, and yes, every now and then an issue arises that will stump me....but I have always found the cause & cured it, just as I did here.
I ask you to call Greg at Antivenom (a competitor but a very skilled mechanic) to verify the symptoms and the final result....call Bill Gaterman and hear how much time was spent on diagnosing the problem (yes, the bearing is undeniable....look close at the pictures of it fulley assembled & with the rear plug out & then with the bearing removed....it is very clear to see how the flow was obstructed to much for a high lift roller set-up), and go one further....call Potter Performance Engines:
http://www.potterperformance.com/
and talk to Ron himself, one of the most respected BBC engine builders in the country...we had him at the shop several times consulting on the issue & he was extremely helpfull in solving it).
We only invoiced Ken for the parts & 1/4th the labor (already discounted from what a chevy dealer would have charged). Ken now has a car with all the power you could want, that runs fantastic, and that I would not just set aside and say "sorry, tuff luck....you only paid for a cam/lifter swap in-car". I took pictures of every step, and yes, it took a long time as it was a very labor intensive job & I still had to do the full-rate jobs to pay the bills & employees.
, :banghead:
for all the help....he was in the middle of a header/exhaust install on a new Viper (at Antivenom???
) and he set it aside to assist in getting Goldie Golden.....and that from a competitor.:thumbsup:
