

| Subject: | Cam and followers |
| Date: | Fri, 14 Jul 1995 13:52:24 -0700 |
Mitch, Personally, I'd replace the lifter/followers. New ones, even 8 new ones, are cheap, and you can't change your mind without splitting the case. Same for the cam. Cheap insurance. You CAN have the old parts checked for dimensional tolerance, and accept or reject them on that basis, I suppose. The engine in my first bus, my 69, died horribly from some malady that I suspect involved worn lifters. First there was the ominous knocking sound. I traced it to the #1,2 side. I pulled the rocker and there was wear on the cam end of the pushrod! But worse, when I pulled the pushrod out to inspect it, the rocker fell - "Bloop!" - into the oil. When I split the case, I found that the rockers were worn to dramatic undersize, and the bores the ride in were trashed- bent, jagged pieces of metal. What came out of the oil screen looked like silver paint there were so many little pieces of aluminum in it. To this day I'm a loss to explain exactly what happened here- I'd only put 2500 miles on the car, set the valves twice and changed the oil twice when disaster overtook me. Can I have fouled up the valve setting so badly that it ran ok but worked itself to pieces? Its very possible I did something wrong, but I've never figured out *what*. (Bob, Jim, anyone, got a theory on this? I've asked before. I still have two of the lifters and one of the pushrods, 17 years later.) Bill
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