I only wrench on my own now but back in "the day" I worked at a GM dealership for a couple of years and the number of busted, oem nylon cam gears we replaced was phenomenal. It was rivaled only by the worn out 307 camshafts.
Many years ago when I lived in Chicago, I bought a '69 Riv in LA and drove it home cross-country. Ran great! The day after my return to Chicago, it was dead. Game over. Chain jumped! Lucky it happened close to home where I had a fresh 455 waiting to go..
Had me one of those too - an under powered, full size '77 Pontiac Parisienne Broughm, sounded just like a movie house pop-corn machine as it backfired through the carb at WOT. Ended up re&reing the cam/lifters and it ran like a brandy new car ! :TU: Sorry - "It was a 'high mileage', hard driven '68 Cat Aubrey !" . . . keep us posted though ! :laugh: :TU:
I had a '79 Malibu wagon with a 267 V8 that rounded several lobes on it's cam. The fix was a small-block 400 with an Edelbrock performer plus cam, a roller timing chain with steel gears, and Crane valve springs. No more valvetrain problems. Ever.:grin:
